Download or read book RAF Fighters vs Luftwaffe Bombers written by Andy Saunders and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-26 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Britain was a fight for survival against a seemingly unstoppable foe. With the German army poised to invade, only the fighters of the Royal Air Force stood between Hitler and the conquest of Britain. Losses were high on both sides, but the Spitfires, Hurricanes, Havocs and Defiants of the RAF began to take their toll on the overextended, under-protected Kampfgruppen of Heinkel He 111s, Junkers Ju 87s and 88s, and Dornier Do 17s. Both sides learned and adapted as the campaign went on. As the advantage began to shift from the Luftwaffe to the RAF, the Germans were forced to switch from round-the-clock bombing to only launching night-raids, often hitting civilian targets in the dreaded Blitz. This beautifully illustrated study dissects the tactics and technology of the duels in this new kind of war, bringing the reader into the cockpits of the RAF fighters and Luftwaffe bombers to show precisely where the Battle of Britain was won and lost.

Download or read book RAF Cold War Jet Aircraft in Profile written by CHRIS. SANDHAM-BAILEY and published by HarperTempest. This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detailed profile artworks and descriptions of 14 different RAF jet aircraft types.

Download or read book Night Fighters written by Colin D. Heaton and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Night Fighters examines the historical, technological. tactical, and strategic evolution of limited-visibility aerial combat as the air forces of Great Britain and Germany dueled in the night skies during World War II. The book is based on extensive research and interviews with the key planners and policy makers responsible for their respective national strategies governing the conduct of the nighttime air war, as well as with the airmen who fought the war, which makes it far more detailed than previous works on this subject. The science developed by both nations greatly increased the momentum and lethality of air combat in that conflict. In addition, this arena of World War II combat also produced many technological innovations, the results of which are seen today in everyday military and civilian life."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book RAF Fighter Pilots in WWII written by Martin W. Bowman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pulsating account of the young RAF fighter boys who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants in England against the Luftwaffe and from Malta 1940-45 against the Regia Aeronautica. Their story is told using combat reports and first person accounts from RAF, German and Commonwealth pilots who fought in the skies in France in 1940, in England during the Battle of Britain, and in the great air offensives over Occupied Europe from 1942 onwards. Chapters include the stories of Wing Commander D. R. S. Bader, Wing Commander Adolph Gysbert 'Sailor' Malan, Oberleutnant Ulrich Steinhilper, Flight Lieutenant H. M. Stephen, Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, 'Johnny' Johnson, Squadron Leader M. N. Crossley, Squadron Leader A. McKellar, 'Cowboy' Blatchford and Squadron Leader D. H. Smith, an Australian veteran of the Battle of Malta and many others whose names have now become legendary.

Download or read book RAF Fighter Pilots in WWII written by Martin Bowman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pulsating account of the young RAF fighter boys who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants in England against the Luftwaffe and from Malta 1940-45 against the Regia Aeronautica. Their story is told using combat reports and first person accounts from RAF, German and Commonwealth pilots who fought in the skies in France in 1940, in England during the Battle of Britain, and in the great air offensives over Occupied Europe from 1942 onwards. Chapters include the stories of Wing Commander D. R. S. Bader, Wing Commander Adolph Gysbert 'Sailor' Malan, Oberleutnant Ulrich Steinhilper, Flight Lieutenant H. M. Stephen, Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, 'Johnny' Johnson, Squadron Leader M. N. Crossley, Squadron Leader A. McKellar, 'Cowboy' Blatchford and Squadron Leader D. H. Smith, an Australian veteran of the Battle of Malta and many others whose names have now become legendary.

Download or read book RAF Fighters Before the Storm written by Martin Derry and published by Air World. This book was released on 2024-06-30 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the First World War ended the then recently established Royal Air Force was awash with aircraft of all descriptions. More surprising, perhaps, was the fact that despite an ongoing cull of obsolescing types, on the last day of 1919, the RAF still possessed 9,122 non-obsolete aircraft , with a further 1,100 more assigned to the Fleet Air Arm. while the famous SE.5A and Sopwith Camel had by this time largely been consigned to history, the RAF possessed no less than 1,860 Sopwith Snipes which, from 1920, would become the RAF’s standard single-seat fighter for years to come. Other core types on charge on 31 December 1919 included some 1,650 Bristol F.2B fighters and 1,250 de Havilland DH.9As, which, together with the Snipe, accounted for over fifty per cent of the RAF’s inventory at that time. Avro 504 training aircraft accounted for a further 2,700 airframes. In this Flight Craft Special, the authors provide a detailed and informative pictorial history of those scout/fighter aircraft that served in an operational capacity with the RAF from January 1920 until the last day of 1939 – a period in which Britain once again moved from an era of peace to war with an old enemy, albeit this time Hitler’s totalitarian National Socialist Germany as opposed to the Imperial Germany of old. As well as covering each of the fighter types used during the inter-war period, and featuring most of the squadrons, the photographs themselves convey the sense of the technical advances that rapidly took root within Britain’s aero industries from the mid-1930s onwards, moving from the brightly-marked overall silver wood and linen biplanes to the dull camouflaged metal-skinned monoplanes. The progression of machine-gun development – from the Lewis and Vickers of the First World War to the later Browning – is covered, spanning the days of the biplanes’ two fixed synchronised Lewis or Vickers .303-inch machine-guns mounted in the forward fuselage to eight wing-mounted .303-inch Browning machine-guns in the ‘new’ monoplane fighters. There is also a small, but fascinating, section on the monoplane ‘also rans’ – the monoplane fighters that were designed and had prototypes built but failed to reach the finishing post!

Download or read book Fighter Aces of the RAF in the Battle of Britain written by Philip Kaplan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the reality behind the myths of the legendary RAF fighter aces during the Battle of Britain. The accounts of the experiences of fighter pilots are based on archival research, diaries, letters, published and unpublished memoirs and personal interviews with veterans.

Download or read book RAF Fighter Command written by Ron Mackay and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2019-11-03 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal Air Force Fighter Command's brief was to provide an effective aerial barrier to any attempt at domination of British skies. The aircraft and technical resources on hand between 1936 and WWII's initiation were thankfully improved to a level that was barely sufficient to withstand the hitherto unchallengeable Luftwaffe's advance across Western Europe. Between 1940 and 1942 the Command generally found itself on the back-foot in terms of overall success. The introduction of aircraft designs that would change the situation, however costly, in its ultimate favour, featured prominently from the mid-point of WWII. The Luftwaffe found itself being challenged and regularly bested 'round the clock'; by the advent of D-Day the Command's efforts had materially contributed to the Allied on-surge that had placed its adversary on a permanent downward spiral towards total extinction.

Download or read book Fighter Aces of the RAF in the Battle of Britain written by Philip Kaplan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the reality behind the myths of the legendary RAF fighter aces during the Battle of Britain. The accounts of the experiences of fighter pilots are based on archival research, diaries, letters, published and unpublished memoirs and personal interviews with veterans.

Download or read book British Warplanes of World War II written by Daniel J. March and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully illustrated analysis of all World War II aircraft in British military service, including full descriptions and specifications, hundreds of action photos and highly accurate, full-color artwork.

Download or read book The RAF and Aircraft Design written by Colin S Sinnott and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-05-22 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines the evolution of the RAF's operational requirements for its home defence air force - for bombers to mount a deterrent counter offensive and for fighters to provide direct defence of Britain. It discusses the management processes, policies and decisions relevant to operational requirements on the basis of a detailed study of Air Ministry papers of the time. By tracing the development of operational requirements, the author exposes the thinking behind the RAF's quest for effective fighter and bomber aircraft. He describes the ideas and concepts of air warfare that were adopted in the 1920s, and shows how these evolved into the Air Staff's requirements for the aircraft which the RAF entered and fought in World War II.

Download or read book The RAF s French Foreign Legion written by G H Bennett and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the relationship between the Royal Air Force and the French Fighter pilots who flew for the RAF during WWII.

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 Into the Swarm written by Christopher Yeoman and published by . This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of bravery and sacrifice as The Few took on the might of the dreaded Luftwaffe against all odds

Download or read book Fighters Over the Fleet written by Norman Friedman and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-10-30 with total page 1247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tactical and technical history of the development of British, American, and Japanese naval air defense from the 1920s to the 1980s. This is an account of the evolution of naval fighters for fleet air defense and the parallel evolution of the ships operating and controlling them, concentrating on the three main exponents of carrier warfare: the British Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. It describes the earliest efforts from the 1920s, but it was not until radar allowed the direction of fighters that organized air defense became possible. Thus, major naval-air battles of the Second World War like Midway, the Pedestal convoy, the Philippine Sea, and Okinawa are portrayed as tests of the new technology. This was ultimately found wanting by the Kamikaze campaigns, leading to postwar moves towards computer control and new kinds of fighters. After 1945 the threats of nuclear weapons and standoff missiles compounded the difficulties of naval air defense. The second half of the book covers R.N. and U.S.N. attempts to solve these problems, looking at the American experience in Vietnam and British operations in the Falklands War. It concludes with the ultimate U.S. development of techniques and technology to fight the Outer Air Battle in the 1980s, which in turn point to the current state of carrier fighters and the supporting technology. Based largely on documentary sources, some previously unused, this book will appeal to both the naval and aviation communities. “Fighters Over the Fleet provides more information about fleet air defense than any other work currently available. It is recommended for specialist as well aviation-minded readers.” —Naval Historical Foundation

Download or read book To Defeat the Few written by Douglas C. Dildy and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past 80 years, histories of the Battle of Britain have consistently portrayed the feats of 'The Few' (as they were immortalized in Churchill's famous speech) as being responsible for the RAF's victory in the epic battle. However, this is only part of the story. The results of an air campaign cannot be measured in terms of territory captured, cities occupied or armies defeated, routed or annihilated. Successful air campaigns are those that achieve their intended aims or stated objectives. Victory in the Battle of Britain was determined by whether the Luftwaffe achieved its objectives. The Luftwaffe, of course, did not, and this detailed and rigorous study explains why. Analysing the battle in its entirety in the context of what it was – history's first independent offensive counter-air campaign against the world's first integrated air defence system – Douglas C. Dildy and Paul F. Crickmore set out to re-examine this remarkable conflict. Presenting the events of the Battle of Britain in the context of the Luftwaffe's campaign and RAF Fighter Command's battles against it, this title is a new and innovative history of the battle that kept alive the Allies' chances of defeating Nazi Germany.

Download or read book RAF Fighter Command Pilot written by Mark Barber and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, combined with the threat of significant cuts to the current RAF, have highlighted the importance of Fighter Command in the early days of World War II once more. The role of the “few”, as described by Churchill, during the Battle of Britain has been the subject of much mythologizing both at the time and in the years since. This title will put Fighter Command in context; describing the lack of funding and attention which it received during the interwar period, until it was almost too late. The myth of the fighter pilot will be humanized, with first-hand accounts quoted which put nervous but brave human beings from all walks of life in the cockpit. Although the Battle of Britain may not have in itself been the decisive encounter that it has historically been portrayed as, the moral victory won by the RAF, the victory that proved that Germany could be defeated, was just as important as a military-strategic victory.