Of the RAF's trio of four-engined heavy bombers in World War 2, the mighty Short Stirling was the first to enter service in August 1940. From its first raid in February 1941, the Stirling was at the forefront of the British night bombing offensive against Germany before unacceptably high losses forced its relegation to second-line duties later in the war. In its modified form as the Mark IV the Stirling fulfilled vital roles with the RAF as a paratroop transport and glider tug on D-Day, at Arnhem and on the Rhine crossing as well as flying countless Special Duties operations over Occupied Europe and Norway. Its last gasp was in 1948-49 when a handful of Mk Vs were acquired by the Royal Egyptian Air Force to bomb Israel in the First Arab–Israeli War. Containing numerous first-hand combat accounts from the crews that flew the bomber and detailed profile artwork, Short Stirling Units of World War 2 uncovers the history of one of the RAF's greatest World War 2 bombers.
Southern England. Late summer 1940. The nation is fighting for its very survival and the Luftwaffe's aerial offensive is unrelenting. All that lies between invasion and salvation for Britain is the 'thin blue line' of RAF Fighter Command and its pilots. This newly illustrated anniversary edition of Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot reveals what it was like to fly a fighter plane in the Battle of Britain. Who were the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of 1940? How did they spend a typical day? And when pitched together in combat at 30,000 feet, which was the better machine - Spitfire or Me109? Read Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot and then ask yourself: would I have been up to the job?
The raid on the great dams of western Germany by Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron in May 1943 is one of the best known, most widely told stories of the Second World War. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, each Lancaster in the nineteen-strong force was equipped with the revolutionary bouncing bomb designed by the inventor Barnes Wallis. Two of the three main dams were breached and the unleashed floodwaters inundated the Ruhr valley below, killing thousands andcausing German industry to grind to a halt. In later years the strategic impact of the raid was deemed to be less than was thought at the time, but the fillip it gave to civilian an d Service moral in wartime Britain was incalculable.The Dam Busters Story is a short but authoritative narrative account of the RAF’s famous dam buster raid, supported by a superb selection of colour and black and white photographs. Jonathan Falconer’s narrative covers the development of the bouncing bomb, the planning of the raid, its dramatic execution and aftermath. An appendix provides a definitive listing of all the Lancasters and crews that flew in the raid, and their fates.
The daring raid on the great dams of western Germany by Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron in May 1943 is probably one of the best known and most widely told stories of the Second World War. In 1955 the raid was immortalized on film by director Michael Anderson in The Dam Busters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. It became Britain's top grossing film of 1955 and in the half-century that has followed, thanks to its almost annual airing on the small screen, it has become a film classic. It is also a firm favorite with aviation enthusiasts due in no small measure to the breathtaking flying sequences featuring the Avro Lancaster. Tucked away in the Pinewood Studios archives are hundreds of rarely seen 'still' photographs from the making of the film. Including everything from storyboarding to location shots, and from the stars and personalities to the aircraft themselves, it is estimated that only about 10 per cent of these high quality pictures have ever been published before. In this book they are supplemented by stunning and previously unpublished air-to-air photographs, taken by the aircrews who flew the Lancasters on camera. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and interviews with film unit and flying personnel, Filming the Dam Busters evokes the optimistic outlook of the new postwar Elizabethan Age, when British cinema had a force and reach not equalled before or since.
Illustrated by more than 140 photographs, many previously unpublished, Stirling Wings is a sequence of gripping narrative snapshots of the Short Stirling in action during the Second World War. Comprehensive appendices include details of the Stirling's principal manufacturing sites, squadrons and airfields associated with the aircraft, and squadron commanders."--Back cover.
En komplet skildring af RAF's jagerflyvepladser under 2. verdenskrig i lighed med en tidligere bog om RAF bombeflyvepladser. Desuden en række piloters personlige oplevelser.
First published in 1995 and now available in paperback, a portrait of the role of the Short Stirling during the Second World War, which contains a sequence of narrative snapshots of the bomber in action, together with a number of first-hand accounts by Stirling crew.
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