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Highlights include several chapters on the Mediterranean air forces, with special emphasis placed on the brave but futile attempts of the South African Air Force Liberator crews in Italy to supply Polish patriots during the Warsaw uprising. Individual chapters covering various aspects of the war in the Mediterranean, Malta and the Western Desert are told by the combatants themselves in crisp unerring detail. The author recounts the thrilling RAF Wellington...
22) Gold Juno Sword
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This is the final volume of a comprehensive five part work, including a multitude of personal accounts of every aspect of the aerial operations on 'Gold' 'Juno and 'Sword' beaches during D-Day. It relays the sense of relief experienced as Allied troops gained a foothold on the continent of Europe after D-Day, both by the men caught up in the proceedings and the jubilant civilians on the home front. By the end of June 875,000 men had landed in Normandy;...
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On 23 November 1943, 100 (Bomber Support) Group of RAF Bomber Command was formed. The object was to consolidate the various squadrons and units that had been fighting a secret war of electronics and radar countermeasures, attempting to reduce the losses of the heavy bombers-and their hard pressed crews-in Bomber Command. This secret war involved the use of air and ground radars, homing and jamming equipment, special radio and navigational aids, and...
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'The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the air. The Fighters are our salvation but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory...' So said Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the War Cabinet on the first anniversary of the outbreak of war. But when Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 her bombers were predominantly twin-engined types like...
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This is the second volume of a comprehensive five part work on D-Day that includes a multitude of personal military accounts from both Allied and German Aviation personnel who were there. Overlord began with an assault by more than 23,000 airborne troops, 15,500 of them American, behind enemy lines to soften up the German troops and to secure key objectives. 6,600 paratroopers of the US 101st Screaming Eagles Division in 633 C-47s and 83 gliders and...
26) The Build Up
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For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day'. So said Field Marshall Erwin Rommel of the operations on D-Day; and he was correct. This is the first volume of a most impressive tribute and comprehensive five-part work that includes a multitude of personal military and civilian accounts of the aerial operations, which were carried out on D-Day. At fifteen minutes after midnight on 6 June 1944 Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion...
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The 3rd Air Division: Elveden Hall was the Headquarters of this division of the 8th US Army Air Force. Broadly speaking it flew B17 Flying Fortresses out of Suffolk, but included some bases in Norfolk. Some units had short periods flying B24 Liberators. The famous Bloody Hundredth, based at Thorpe Abbotts was typical of the units within the 3rd Air Division. From June 1943 to January 1944 it concentrated its efforts against airfields, submarine facilities...
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Of the 7,953 Bomber Command aircraft lost on night operations during the Second World War, an estimated 5,833 fell victim to Luftwaffe night fighters. In this detailed re-enactment of the air war over Western Europe and the raids flown by the men of RAF Bomber Command, the author has pieced together official data and the words and memories of the pilots and air crew who participated in the proceedings. Across fifteen chapters, many unique experiences...
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This massive work provides a comprehensive insight to the experiences of Bomber Commands pilots and aircrew throughout WWII. From the early wartime years when the RAFs first attempts to avenge Germanys onslaught were bedeviled by poor navigation and inaccurate bombing, to the last winning onslaught that finally tamed Hitler in his Berlin lair, these volumes trace the true experiences of the men who flew the bombers. Hundreds of firsthand accounts...
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The Wooden Wonder was probably the most versatile combat aircraft that operated on all fronts in World War Two and was still giving valuable service in first-line service after 1945 when it enjoyed a limited renaissance both at home, in Germany and abroad until the advent of jet aircraft. Martin Bowmans well-tried and respected formula of incorporating background information with scores of RAF, Dominion, and overseas pilots and navigators personal...
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This is the story of the air war over Western Europe, told first hand by the American and German pilots and aircrew who took part. It spans the period between 1942 and 1945 and covers the encounters between the audacious Luftwaffe fighter pilots and the Fortress and Liberator bomber crews of the American 8th Air Forces flying from East Anglia.
Many unique experiences are recounted from both the night and day bombing raids that were hurled against...
32) Bloody Beaches
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This fourth volume of a comprehensive five part work on D-Day covers every aspect of aerial operations on and behind the beaches at 'Omaha' and 'Utah' beaches on 6 June 1944. It might be imagined that the passing years would blunt the outlines of the experience but the D-Day veterans do not forget. Their accounts convey the chaos, terror and hysteria as the first salvos of German fire clanged off the landing craft, in language that is all the more...
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Using narrative accounts and new insights, this book catalogues the dramatic and first-hand oral testimonies of the US Army Air Corps' bomber crews of the newly created Eighth Air Force that became stationed in East Anglia in 1942. It begins with shock of the unannounced Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and how it affected the young men who were destined to fly and fight in Europe. American troops, or GIs as they were known because of their own derisive...
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Boeing's mighty B-52 Stratofortress has seen continuous operational service with the United States Air Force since the type was introduced in 1957. The aircraft has been upgraded several times and has assumed many different new roles since it was originally conceived and then provided the key airborne platform for America's strategic nuclear force. It is predicted that it will serve as a front-line aircraft until 2040. Apart from the formidable threat...
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From the beginning of World War Two the RAF s Bomber Command had been the only means of striking Hitler s Reich and its war machine. The entry into the war of the United States and the subsequent arrival in the UK of the Eighth Air Force was to more than double the Allied capability. The Flying Fortress and Liberator heavy bombers were mostly flown across the Atlantic by their young unblooded aircrew and many succumbed en route and never arrived....
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This riveting and highly intriguing collection of pilot and civilian reminiscences works to commemorate the spirit of the almighty Lancaster bomber. Each chapter is dedicated to a unique individual or group of individuals who took part in its history in some capacity. Be they pilot, civilian, or journalist, each played their own part and their accounts offer a host of fascinating insights. Episodes featured include the battle for Munich and the Nuremburg...
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The book contains twenty-three stirring accounts of what life flying as air-crew in World War Two was really like. The writers are a mixed bunch of pilots, navigators and gunners who flew medium and heavy bombers or Mosquitoes. It conveys the terror of being coned by German searchlights over the target, attacks by Luftwaffe night-fighters, catastrophic damage to aircraft and the ensuing struggle to keep the machine airborne on the return trip to base....
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This is a brand-new, updated history of the Nuremburg Raid, taking advantage of new stores of information that have come to light in recent years. In his usual, highly-praised style, Martin Bowman's historical narrative is supplemented throughout by first-hand snippets of pilot testimony, offering an authentic sense of events as they played out. Having access to extensive archives of images ensures that this is a visually pleasing and comprehensive...
39) Air War Varsity
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Here, Martin Bowman brings us the first book on Operation Varsity to include both British and US air and ground operations, as well as the US, British and Canadian paratroop and resupply missions, all presented together in one ambitious volume.
Operation Varsity-Plunder, the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II, was certainly no walk-over. Varsity was the airborne part, whilst Plunder represented the British amphibious operations...
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This new publication from eminent military historian Martin Bowman chronicles the stories of airmen downed on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, representing a contribution on the author's part to the 100th anniversary of the Great War. It's speciality focus makes for a truly unique compendium of visceral First World War accounts of the incredible, bloody, aerial battles flown by the RFC, German, American, British and Commonwealth pilots shot...
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