Download or read book Air Force Blue The RAF in World War Two Spearhead of Victory written by Patrick Bishop and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2018 the RAF is one hundred years old. In his new book, destined to be a classic, Patrick Bishop examines the high point of its existence – the Second World War, when the Air Force saved the nation from defeat then led the advance to victory. A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Download or read book Air Force Blue the RAF in World War Two written by Patrick Bishop and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 1 April 2018, the Royal Air Force will be a hundred years old - a short life by military standards but an extraordinarily important and eventful one. From the start it was special, standing sometimes awkwardly but always proudly a little apart from the existing services. It was a product of the modern age, whose fortunes depended on ever-more sophisticated machines and the right calibre of men to fly them and to keep them airborne. Its achievements between 1939 and 1945 - when it was Britain's last line of defence and the spearhead of its counter-attack, were central to the entire war effort. During these years, one in four of those in uniform wore air force blue and the ethos of the RAF was indistinguishable from the spirit of the nation. "Air Force Blue" tells personal stories of those who served, using the letters, diaries and memoirs of the participants to create a true picture of what it was like to be a pilot, a navigator, a gunner, a fitter or a WAAF ops room clerk.
Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Combat Squadrons of the Air Force World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of squadron histories has been prepared by the USAF Historical Division to complement the Division's book, Air Force Combat Units of World War II. The 1,226 units covered by this volume are the combat (tactical) squadrons that were active between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. Each squadron is traced from its beginning through 5 March 1963, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the 1st Aero (later Bombardment) Squadron, the first Army unit to be equipped with aircraft for tactical operations. For each squadron there is a statement of the official lineage and data on the unit's assignments, stations, aircraft and missiles, operations, service streamers, campaign participation, decorations, and emblem.
Download or read book The Royal Air Force in Texas written by Tom Killebrew and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the outbreak of World War II, British RAF officials sought to train aircrews outside of England, safe from enemy attack and poor weather. In the USA, six civilian flight schools dedicated themselves to instructing RAF pilots. Tom Killebrew explores the history of the Terrell Aviation School.
Download or read book The Royal Air Force written by Michael Napier and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fully illustrated history of the Royal Air Force while on operations, publishing to mark the centenary of its foundation in World War I. The world's first independent air force, the Royal Air Force celebrates its centenary in 2018. In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the service has been involved in almost continuous operations around the globe, giving the RAF the longest and most wide-ranging history of any air force in the world. But over the years this history has also become entangled with myths. The Royal Air Force: A Centenary of Operations sets the record straight, dispelling these as it uncovers – in both words and photographs – the true exploits and accomplishments of RAF personnel over the last 100 years. From its formation as an independent service in the dying days of World War I, its desperate fight against the Axis air forces in World War II, to its commitments during both the Cold War and modern times, this is the complete story of how the RAF has defended Britain for a century.
Download or read book Eagles of the RAF written by Philip D. Caine and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1994-07 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: U.S. citizens fought and died in WW II long before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Among them were the pilots of the Eagle Squadrons, three fighter squadrons of Britain's Royal Air Force manned by young U.S. flyers. This book tells how the Eagle squadrons were formed and summarizes the history of the units and evaluates their deeds, motivations, and contributions. Draws on interviews from more than 35 surviving Eagles, their letters and memoirs, and official records. Depicts their daily lives along with special heroes and amazing sacrifices. "An important contribution to the study of American involvement in WWII. Highly recommended."
Download or read book The Right of the Line written by John Terraine and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2010-04-06 with total page 861 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, the right of the line is the vanguard, the place of honour and greatest danger in battle. In this history of the Royal Air Force during the European War of 1939-45, John Terraine shows how the RAF, which in 1939 was small and inadequate for the task it was called upon to perform had, by the end of the war, taken up its proper position. He describes the build-up to war, the early tests in France and at Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the RAF in North Africa and the Mediterranean, the strategic air offensive over Germany and eventual victory in Europe.His best book yet The TimesJohn Terraine is a fine historian but he also believes that history should be exciting and readable The Listener
Download or read book Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis written by Kevin A. Mahoney and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis: Combat Missions over Europe during World War II, historian Kevin A. Mahoney provides a detailed combat history of the crucial role played by this air force from November 1943 through May 1945. Presented by month in chronological order, Mahoney describes all the major bombing and fighter missions carried out by this air force within a strategic context. Each chapter includes an introduction describing developments in the evolution of the strategic air campaign against the Germans, highlights the purpose and importance of the month’s operations, and reviews the Luftwaffe’s resistance and changes in tactics and important developments in the Fifteenth Air Force’s organization. Each monthly narrative further explores most missions, detailing the number of aircraft lost during these missions. Losses are based on an exhaustively researched database compiled by Mahoney that contains details of almost 3,000 aircraft. Target damage is mentioned, while enemy opposition is also described for each mission. Appendices include four short essays on bombing operations (planning and flying of missions, tactics and techniques, bomb types, and bombing accuracy), tactics employed by fighter escort in aerial combat and strafing, combat crews and their aircraft (including a comparison of American fighters and bombers, the training of the crews, and their combat tours), and the Fifteenth Air Force command structure (including the use of intelligence, photo and weather reconnaissance, and the considerable effect of weather on Fifteenth Air Force operations). This work of military history is ideal for students and scholars of the air war in Europe.
Download or read book Rearming the RAF for the Second World War written by Adrian Phillips and published by Pen and Sword History. This book was released on 2022-07-28 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the RAF rearmed to meet the growing threat from Nazi Germany's remorseless expansion in the late 1930s, it faced immense challenges. It had to manage a huge increase in size as well as mastering rapid advances in aviation technology. To protect Britain from attack, the RAF's commanders had to choose the right strategy and the right balance in its forces. The choices had to be made in peacetime with no guidance from combat experience. These visions then had to be translated into practical reality. A shifting cast of government ministers, civil servants and industrialists with their own financial, political and military agendas brought further dynamics into play. The RAF's readiness for war was crucial to Britain's ability to respond to Nazi aggression before war broke out and when it did, the RAF's rearmament was put to the acid test of battle. Adrian Phillips uses the penetrating grasp of how top level decisions are made that he honed in his inside accounts of the abdication crisis and appeasement, to dissect the process which shaped the RAF of 1940. He looks beyond the familiar legends of the Battle of Britain and explores in depth the successes and failures of a vital element in British preparations for war.
Download or read book Rhapsody in Blue written by Graham Williams and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-03-19 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Out of the Blue written by Ian William Cowie and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War written by Norman L. R. Franks and published by Crecy Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This third volume of Fighter command losses deals with the final 16 months of the war. Plans for the Allied invasion of Europe were well under way in November 1943 when the 'Fighter command' nomenclature was put aside temporarily due to the RAF's fighter force being divided into two.
Download or read book The Battle of Britain written by T.C.G. James and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second volume of the classified history of air defence in Great Britain. Written while World War II was still being fought, the account has an analysis of the defensive tactics of Fighter Command, and attempts a day-by-day analysis of the action as it took place.
Download or read book The Flyer written by Martin Francis and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-05-19 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1939 and 1945, the British public was spellbound by the martial endeavours and dashing style of the young men of the RAF, especially those with silvery fabric wings sewn above the breast pocket of their glamorous slate-blue uniform. Martin Francis provides the first scholarly study of the place of 'the flyer' in British culture during the Second World War. Examining the lives of RAF personnel, and their popular representation in literary and cinematic texts, he illuminates broader issues of gender, social class, national and racial identities, emotional life, and the creation of a national myth in twentieth-century Britain. In particular, Francis argues that the flyer's relationship to fear, aggression, loss of his comrades, bodily dismemberment, and psychological breakdown reveals broader ambiguities surrounding the dominant understandings of masculinity in the middle decades of the century. Despite his star appeal, cultural representations of the flyer encompassed both the gentle, chivalrous warrior and the uncompromising agent of destruction. Paying particular attention to the romantic universe of wartime aircrew, Francis reveals the extraordinary contrasts of their daily lives: dicing with death in the sky one moment, before sitting down to lunch with wives and children in the next. Male and female experiences during the war were not polarized and antithetical, but were complementary and interrelated, a conclusion which has implications for the history of gender in modern Britain that reach well beyond either the specialized military culture of the wartime RAF or the chronological parameters of the Second World War.
Download or read book The Royal Air Force of World War Two in Colour written by Roger Anthony Freeman and published by . This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Eyewitness RAF written by James Goulty and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World Warmemoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goultys Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individuals experience of the RAF the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some postwar accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.
