The air campaign that opened the Gulf War in January 1991 was one of the most stunning in history. For five weeks, American and other Coalition aircraft pounded enemy targets with 88,000 tons of bombs. Sorties - more than 100,000 of them - were launched from bases in Saudi Arabia, from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and even from bases in the United States. The skies over Iraq and Kuwait were filled with a dizzying array of new and improved weapons - Tomahawk and Hellfire missiles, stealth aircraft, and laser-guided smart bombs - and the results were impressive. The Coalition swiftly established air superiority and laid the foundation for the successful five-day ground campaign that followed. The results were also highly visible as the American people watched the bombings unfold in grainy green video-game-like footage broadcast on CNN and the nightly news. The overwhelming success of the Desert Storm air campaign has made it influential ever since, from the “shock and awe” bombing during the Iraq War in 2003 to more recent drone operations, but the apparent ease with which the campaign was won has masked the difficulty - and the true achievement - of executing such a vast and complex operation. Using government reports, scholarly studies, and original interviews, Jim Corrigan reconstructs events through the eyes of not only the strategists who planned it, but also the pilots who flew the missions.

Two American pilots above the Western Front
Accounts of the lives of the young men who flew and fought as pilots during the First World War-the first war of the air-are comparatively few in number. All are, of course, interesting and essential for preserving the historical record of these pioneering combat pilots. The rate of mortality among these brave young men was high and, indeed, the two accounts here both concern American pilots who were killed. Walcott joined the French air service and was assigned to Escadrille Spad 84 and was shot down in December of 1917 having gained one victory. Briggs Kilburn Adams' book is comprised of letters describing his experiences on the Western Front. He enlisted as a volunteer with the American Ambulance Service in France before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. He was attached to No. 18 Squadron R. F. C and was killed in March 1918. Each of these accounts is short and this special Leonaur book brings them together in a single, good value edition that allows modern readers to own these vital works of aviation history.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot and retired USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton offers the first comprehensive popular history of combat aviation--a unique, entertaining, and action-packed look at the aces of the air and their machines, from the trailblazing aviators of World War I to today's technologically expert warriors flying supersonic jets.One of the most decorated fighter pilots in history, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton goes back 100 years to tell the extraordinary stories of the most famous fighter planes and the brave and daring heroes who made them legend. Told in his acclaimed high-octane style, Lords of the Sky is a fresh and exhilarating look at the development of aviation for history and military buffs alike.

Allied Fighters 1939-45 offers an highly-illustrated guide to Allied fighter aircraft that fought in Europe during World War II. Featuring all the main models flown by the Allied air forces from 1939 to 1945, the book offers a wealth of detail, including unit markings, organization, numbers of aircraft flown by campaign and exhaustive specifications for each model. The book is arranged first by country and then chronologically by campaign so that every aspect of the air war in Europe is covered. The guide features fighters from throughout World War II, including early models, such as the Morane Saulnier MS.406C.1, Hawker Hurricane Mk I and Fokker D XXI, and the most advanced fighters of the period, such as the Lavochkin La-7, P-51K Mustang and Gloster Meteor Mk I.The book also covers aircraft that were used for air-to-air combat (Supermarine Spitfire), ground attack (P-47 Thunderbolt), bomber escort (P-51B Mustang), night defence (Bristol Beaufighter) and photographic reconnaissance (P-38 Lightning). Packed with more than 200 profiles and dozens of archive photographs of every major Allied fighter aircraft, Allied Fighters 1939-45 is a core reference volume for modellers and World War II aviation enthusiasts.

The cultural legacy of the air war on Germany is explored in this comparative study of two bombed cities from different sides of the subsequently divided nation. Contrary to what is often assumed, Allied bombing left a lasting imprint on German society, spawning vibrant memory cultures that can be traced from the 1940s to the present. While the death of half a million civilians and the destruction of much of Germany's urban landscape provided 'usable' rallying points in the great political confrontations of the day, the cataclysms were above all remembered on a local level, in the very spaces that had been hit by the bombs and transformed beyond recognition. The author investigates how lived experience in the shadow of Nazism and war was translated into cultural memory by local communities in Kassel and Magdeburg struggling to find ways of coming to terms with catastrophic events unprecedented in living memory.

Orginally published in 1991. From the foreword: "Although the United States did not enter World War II until the end of 1941, US citizens fought and died in the war 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 US flyers risking their lives in another nation's war. In this book, Colonel Philip D. Caine, US Air Force, tells how the Eagle Squadrons were formed, describes their RAF experiences, and evaluates their contribution to Britain's defense. Unlike other accounts, Eagles of the RAF is not simply a paean to the pilots as special heroes and "aces," though many performed heroically and some sacrificed their lives. Drawing almost exclusively on interviews with more than thirty-five surviving Eagles, on their letters and memoirs, and on official records of the squadrons, Caine shows who these men were and what drove them to endure the burdens of joining a foreign air force. We see them adjusting to life in a new country as they train, fly patrol and escort missions, and sit on alert in dispersal huts or in airplane cockpits. We see their routine suddenly shattered by the momentary chaos and exhilaration of aerial combat. The Eagles' story is a unique chapter in American military history; it deserves to be told as it really happened-not as romanticized by Hollywood or nostalgic recollection. Beyond reliably telling the story, Colonel Caine reveals much about why people enter the military, how military life satisfies or disappoints their preconceptions, and how at least some of them reacted to the realities of combat."

Since World War I, nose art has adorned military aircraft around the world. Intended for friendly rather than enemy eyes, these images--with a wide range of artistic expression--are part of the personal and unit histories of pilots and aircrews. As civilian and military attitudes and rationales for war change from one conflict to the next, changes can also be seen in the iconography of nose art. This analysis from a cultural perspective compares nose art in the United States, Great Britain and France from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

This comprehensive volume tells the rarely recounted stories of the numerous foreign air forces that supported the German Luftwaffe as part of the Axis' quest to dominate the European and Pacific theaters-a highly compelling and often overlooked chapter of World War II history. The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe presents an untold history of that global conflict's little-known combatants, who nonetheless contributed significantly to the war's outcome. While most other books only attempt to address this subject in passing, author Frank Joseph provides not only an extremely comprehensive account of the "unsung heroes" of the Axis fliers, but also describes the efforts of Axis air forces such as those of the Iraqi, Manchurian, Thai or Chinese-specific groups of wartime aviators that have never been discussed before at length. This book examines the distinct but allied Axis air forces of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. An extensive introduction provides coverage of Luftwaffe volunteers from Greece, Lithuania, Holland, Denmark, Norway and even the United States. Detailed descriptions of the personnel themselves and the aircraft they operated are portrayed against the broader scope of combat missions, field operations, and military campaigns, supplying invaluable historical perspective on the importance of their sorties. Photographs of the aircraft described in the text A comprehensive bibliography lists source materials

An in-depth history of the time when airpower became the great equalizer, changing military strategy forever and bringing once-safe targets in reach. Military Aircraft, 1919-1945: An Illustrated History of Their Impact covers a crucial era in modern warfare technology. Ranging from the development of airpower doctrines in the aftermath of World War I to the aircraft and missions that put those doctrines into action during World War II, it provides an expert summing-up of the decades when the use of aircraft in battle came of age. In chapters covering both the history of air power and specific types of aircraft (fighters, bombers, reconnaissance and auxiliary planes), Military Aircraft, 1919-1945 introduces key theorists and designers, describes important changes in technology and production, and recreates spectacular episodes from Pearl Harbor to the London Blitz to the Enola Gay. Readers will see the dramatic impact of the first generation of modern military aircraft on land and sea. They will also see how the expansion of war to the skies brought economic opportunity to some home fronts, and looming terror and devastation to others. Comparative charts of aircraft production of the major powers during the interwar years and the Second World War Approximately 80 photographs and tables of the most important aircraft of the era, organized by type and by country