Originally designed as a cargo and paratroop transport during World War II, the Fairchild C-82 Packet is today mainly remembered for its starring role in the Hollywood film The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). Its ungainly appearance earned it the nickname "the flying boxcar" but the aircraft was the first to achieve practical end-loading and aerial delivery of cargoes. Its outsized capacity served the U.S. military's needs for more than ten years-civilian operators flew it in remote locations like Alaska and South America for a further three decades. This book provides a comprehensive history of the C-82, detailing each of the 224 aircraft built, with technical diagrams, multiple appendices and more than 200 photos.

The names Raoul Lufbery, Doug Campbell, Reed Chambers, Ham Coolidge, and the greatest American fighter ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, are those most closely associated with Uncle Sam's "Hat in the Ring" squadron, the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S. Air Service, 1917-1919. This all new book, "The Hat in the Ring Gang," contains a rich mixture of official as well as personal contemporarily written accounts of the 94th Aero Squadron, the most successful pursuit squadron in the United States Air Service. Combat reports, letters of the aces, and diary entries of other pilots are woven together to tell the story. Over 375 photographs, color profiles on Nieuports and Spads, rosters of pilots, aircraft, and citations for bravery awards round out this lively history of war in the air American style, spotlighting the gallant 94th.

Oswald Boelcke was Germany's first ace in World War One with a total of forty victories. His character, inspirational leadership, organisational genius, development of air-to-air tactics and impact on aerial doctrine are all reasons why Boelcke remains an important figure in the history of air warfare. Paving the way for modern air forces across the world with his pioneering tactics, Boelcke had a dramatic effect on his contemporaries. The fact that he was the Red Baron's mentor, instructor, squadron commander and friend demonstrates the influence he had upon the German air force. He was one of the first pilots to be awarded the famous Pour le Merite commonly recognised as the 'Blue Max'. All of this was achieved after overcoming medical obstacles in his childhood and later life with a willpower and determination. Boelcke even gained the admiration of his enemies. After his tragic death in a midair collision, the Royal Flying Corps dropped a wreath on his funeral, and several of his victims sent another wreath from their German prison camp. His name and legacy of leadership and inspiration live on, as seen in the Luftwaffe's designation of the Tactical Air Force Wing 31 'Boelcke'. In this definitive biography RG Head explores why Oswald Boelcke deserves consideration as the most important fighter pilot of the 20th century and beyond; but also for setting the standard in military aviation flying. This book will appeal to enthusiasts of the German air force, military aviation in general and World War One in particular.

An expertly written, illustrated new analysis of the Desert Storm air campaign fought against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which shattered the world's fourth-largest army and sixth-largest air force in just 39 days, and revolutionized the world's ideas about modern air power. Operation Desert Storm took just over six weeks to destroy Saddam Hussein's war machine: a 39-day air campaign followed by a four-day ground assault. It shattered what had been the world's fourth-largest army and sixth-largest air force, and overturned conventional military assumptions about the effectiveness and value of air power. In this book, Richard P. Hallion, one of the world's foremost experts on air warfare, explains why Desert Storm was a revolutionary victory, a war won with no single climatic battle. Instead, victory came thanks largely to a rigorously planned air campaign. It began with an opening night that smashed Iraq's advanced air defense system, and allowed systematic follow-on strikes to savage its military infrastructure and field capabilities. When the Coalition tanks finally rolled into Iraq, it was less an assault than an occupation. The rapid victory in Desert Storm, which surprised many observers, led to widespread military reform as the world saw the new capabilities of precision air power, and it ushered in today's era of high-tech air warfare.

The Douglas Devastator was the US Navy's first all-metal combat aircraft, the Navy's first airplane with a fully enclosed cockpit, the first aircraft to have hydraulically folding wings, and the first US Navy torpedo bomber to see combat. Although facing staggering losses in the early stages of the war in the Pacific, the brave men flying the Devastator from the decks of such famed ships as Enterprise, Hornet, Yorktown, and Lexington held the line against the enemy. Through carefully researched photos, many of which have never before been published and which are reproduced in remarkable clarity, the history and details of this iconic aircraft are revealed. This clarity, and the large size of many of the photos, coupled with descriptive and informative captions, puts the reader in the skies with this historic aircraft.

Ever since its introduction in the late 1950s, the B-52 Stratofortress has been the United States' primary heavy bomber and a powerful symbol of its immense military might. Its powerful electronic countermeasures equipment (ECM) was thought to make the B-52 immune to ground-to-air missile attack, but in Vietnam, and later conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm in 1991, it came up against the Soviet-designed SA-2 SAM which used heavy salvoes of missiles to bring down the bombers.

The losses of several of its most feared, powerful and supposedly invincible bombers per night to a torrent of Soviet missiles during the closing stages of the Vietnam War was sobering to Americans, but the B-52s' crushing attacks virtually eliminated North Vietnam's defences and forced a peace settlement. This fascinating book analyses the roles of the SA-2 operators and the B-52 Electronic Warfare Officers (EWOs) using specially commissioned artwork as well as first-hand accounts, and traces the cat-and-mouse tactics that each side employed.

From best-selling author of Tail-End Charlie and Tornado Down comes this powerful and deeply moving account of Bomber Command's 1944 Nuremberg Raid - the RAF's bloodiest night of the Second World War More men from Royal Air Force Bomber Command died on one single night of the Second World War than the total RAF aircrew losses during the whole of the four-month-long Battle of Britain. This is the story of the air raid intended to be the climax of Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris's relentless campaign to defeat Nazi Germany. The target was Nuremberg: 795 aircraft set out, nearly 700 men did not return. In 'The Red Line', we meet the young aircrew who flew on the night of 30 March 1944. John Nichol has interviewed the few surviving veterans, British and German, in the air and on the ground, to record the voices of a diminishing generation. While the airmen of Bomber Command were among the greatest heroes of the conflict, their contribution and sacrifice has been sidelined in the face of post-war criticism of Bomber Command's tactics. John Nichol's dramatic tribute to the men who flew on the RAF's bloodiest raid has provided the surviving veterans with the chance to tell the story of that terrible night - the night they flew to Nuremberg.

This book aims to provide a complete exposure about armaments from their design to launch from the combat aircraft. The book details modern ammunition and their tactical roles in warfare. The proposed book discusses aerodynamics, propulsion, structural as well as navigation, control, and guidance of aircraft armament. It also introduces the various types of ammunition developed by different countries and their changing trends. The book imparts knowledge in the field of design, and development of aircraft armaments to aerospace engineers and covers the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping and disarmament. The book will be very useful to researchers, students, and professionals working in design and manufacturing of aircraft armaments. The book will also serve air force and naval aspirants, and those interested in working on defence research and developments organizations.

This series of books provides a fresh user-friendly look at the military airfields of the British Isles. The series is split geographically, each book including a number of counties on a regional basis. Entries cover every military airfield within the counties, from WW1 to the present day and comprise:

Development and operations of the German Mistel aircraft were kept under the tightest security, in an era fraught with the chaotic turmoil of a losing war. Aside from the limited space available - which precludes a detailed account of this unusual variant of the air war - it should also be mentioned that the quality of the photographic material often leaves something to be desired. This concession, which should be considered the exception rather than the rule, is necessary in the interest of providing a good general overview.

Jagdgeschwader 26, the German elite fighter unit, was more feared by the Allies than any other Luftwaffe group. Based on extensive archival research in Europe, personal combat diaries and interviews with more than 50 surviving pilots, Caldwell has assembled a superb day-to-day chronicle of JG 26 operations, from its first air victory in 1939 to its final combat patrol in 1945. A microcosm of World War II exists in the rise and fall of this famous fighter wing. For the first two years of the war it was an even match between the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs; but the scales tipped in favour of the Allies in 1943 with the arrival of the Eighth US Air Force and its peerless P-51 Mustang. The book has been endorsed by the top fighter commanders of three air forces: the RAF (Johnnie Johnson), the USAAF (Hub Zemke), and the Luftwaffe (Adolf Galland) and is considered essential reading for anyone interested in the aerial war of 194145.

We Seek the Highest has been the motto of the thousands of Officer Cadets who, over ten decades, have passed through the rigorous training regime at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Lincolnshire. The words embody the College ethos: to strive to reach the tough standards demanded by the RAF, in the air and on the ground. This book tells the 100-year story from the point of view of the Officer Cadets themselves. The College was founded in 1919 - some eighteen months after the birth of the RAF itself - with the aim of providing a cadre of disciplined, highly-trained officers, ready to lead the service through the uncertain post-war and post-Empire times to come. Since then, it has responded continuously to the UK's political, economic and military requirements. The RAF Officer Cadets' world has thus been one of change. The author documents these changes from 1919 to today, overlaying the historical and social scene with the candidly related airborne and ground-based exploits of three-score ex-cadets. The core narrative is based on the three years at Cranwell of 81 Entry of Flight Cadets, who graduated in July 1962 with thirty-seven jet pilots and eight navigators, having launched a curriculum-changing experiment in degree-level studies. With a Foreword from an Air Chief Marshal former cadet, 130 illustrations, and a full index, the whole offers a cadets' tribute to a world-famous military academy on its centenary.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the Second World War, yet it has also become one of the most misunderstood. Max Hastings tells the gripping story of the Dambusters raid, from the invention of the bouncing bomb to the moonlit cockpits of young pilots flying at treetop height through lethal enemy fire. But Hastings also challenges what we think we know about the Dambusters, bringing to light the difficult truths that have often been left out of the legend. 'Brings it to life as never before ... Hour by nerve-jangling hour' Daily Mail 'Superb ... The heroes shine, but their achievement haunts' Times 'A virtuoso performance from a veteran military historian. It is a white-knuckle narrative that brings clarity and insight to a much-loved tale, as well as offering a vital corrective to the drum-thumping conclusions of earlier books' Sunday Times

Americas Hundred Thousand covers in detail the eleven U.S. fighter aircraft types produced just before and during World War II - with a combined production total of just over 100,000 aircraft. Covered are the Army Lockheed P-38 Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk/Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, and the Navy F2A - Buffalo, F4F - Wildcat, F4U - Corsair, and F6F - Hellcat fighters. The text is supplemented by more than 650 photographs, and 200 tables and graphs. Fighter production figures are also included. After an introduction of each type, a heavily illustrated overview of earlier inter-war production from 1920-on, along with a discussion and illustration of wartime experimental types, is provided. A lengthy section considering several technical factors affecting fighter performance follows. These include engine models, supercharger types, propellers, aerodynamic thrust, lift and drag, aircraft weight, balance, stability and control, and armament. Americas Hundred Thousand also provides details of each U.S. World War II production fighter in terms of models and changes, numbers produced, and major engine and aircraft performance aspects - in tabular and graphical form - details of weights, discussion of handling qualities and general comments, along with detailed descriptions containing many illustrations of aircraft structures and systems showing the technology of that time. In addition a comprehensive week-to-week and month-to-month chronology of development and wartime combat operational life for each fighter is provided, including many photos. This study concludes with comparisons of the eleven types in terms of program milestones, aircraft drag, power available at various altitudes, speed, climb, rolling and turning, acceleration, and diving performance, as well as general evaluations by World War II pilots.

From August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the most difficult campaign in its history. Between the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the final withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific base at Rabaul, the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it refused to publicly release total casualty figures. The Solomons campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use of those ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other units of the pre-war navy that had been hastily transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after the American victory at Midway, USS Enterprise was the only pre-war carrier left in the South Pacific and the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the face of Japanese naval power had there been a third major fleet action. At the same time, another under-resourced campaign had broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japanese attempt to reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral Sea in May and through to the end of the year, American and Australian armed forces were only just able to prevent a Japanese conquest of New Guinea. The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in both the Solomons and New Guinea, but it would take another 18 hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from the South Pacific. Under the Southern Cross draws on extensive first-hand accounts and new analysis to examine the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns which laid the groundwork for Allied victory in the Pacific War.

The P-40E Warhawk is often viewed as one of the less successful American fighter designs of World War II, but in 1942 the aircraft was all that was available to the USAAC in-theatre. Units equipped with the aircraft were duly forced into combat against the deadly A6M2 Zero-sen, which had already earned itself a near-mythical reputation following its exploits over China and Pearl Harbor. During an eight-month period in 1942, an extended air campaign was fought out between the two fighters for air superiority over the Javanese and then northern Australian skies. During this time, the P-40Es and the Zero-sens regularly clashed without interference from other fighter types. In respect to losses, the Japanese 'won' these engagements, for many more P-40Es were shot down than Zero-sens. However, the American Warhawks provided a potent deterrent that forced the IJNAF to attack from high altitudes, where crews' bombing efficiency was much poorer. Fully illustrated throughout, and supported by rare and previously unpublished photographs, this book draws on both American and Japanese sources to tell the full story of the clashes between these iconic two fighters in Darwin and the East Indies.

This book examines the evolution of airpower and specifically the growth and proliferation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs). While most existing literature examines either the law or ethics of RPAs, and some newer scholarship looks to the battlefield effectiveness (the gains from strikes versus the potential for 'blowback, etc.), this work investigates it from a broader military perspective. It examines the strategy for employment of RPAs across the spectrum of warfare, the potential deterrent value of RPAs in some circumstances, and the resulting ability of RPAs to fundamentally shift the character of when and how wars are fought. The central aim of this book is to evaluate the role of 'drones' in warfare to date, and make basic projections on how states will adopt RPAs and UCAVs in the future. At the core is the goal of answering a broad, underlying research question: How will the RPA innovation impact military strategy and international security? This book will be of much interest to students of airpower, drone warfare, military and strategic studies, security studies and IR.

The 27th Air Transport Group, part of the 302nd Transport Wing, supported the 8th and 9th Air Forces in World War II with ferry and transport services. Though their role was extremely vital to the success of the air and ground wars in Europe, their story has remained largely untold - until now. Flying primarily C-47s the 27th ATG performed a broad assortment of duties including resupply of frontline units, medical evacuation, transportation of VIPs and many others. The 27th supported Patton's drive across Europe by hauling gasoline - an extremely hazardous undertaking - to the front lines. On Christmas Eve 1944 the Group flew a special, all-out mission to transport reinforcement troops from Marseille to the Battle of the Bulge front - this operation involved over 100 aircraft with the 302nd Wing receiving a commendation from Gen. Spaatz for their efforts. Elements of the 27th also participated in a secret mission to Sweden to support Norwegian underground forces - both American and German forces used the same Swedish airfield! Many first-person anecdotes, over 600 photographs, and a reprint of the "official" 302nd Wing unit history make this volume, by Group historian Jon Maguire, a fitting, and long-overdue tribute to the men and women of the 27th ATG.

As a child, Dilip Sarkar was fascinated by the haunting image of an anonymous RAF Spitfire pilot. Taken minutes after landing from a Battle of Britain combat, this was Squadron Leader Brian Lane DFC, the commander of 19 Squadron, based at Fowlmere -and author of the stirring first-hand account Spitfire! The Experiences of a Fighter Pilot, published under the pseudonym B.J. Ellan. Deeply moving was the discovery that in 1942 Brian was reported missing after a futile nuisance raid over the Dutch coast. During the mid-1980s, Dilip began researching the life and times of both Brian Lane and 19 Squadron, forging close friendships with many of the unit's surviving Battle of Britain pilots and support staff. This enabled identification of the wartime censor's blanks regarding people and places in Brian's book, and the publication in 1990 of Dilip's first ever book, Spitfire Squadron: 19 Squadron at War 1939-41. Nearly thirty years later, sadly all of the survivors are now deceased, but Dilip's close relationship has provided a huge archive of correspondence and interviews in addition to a unique photographic collection. Furthermore, the author, a retired police detective, has thoroughly investigated the life -and death -of Squadron Leader Lane. This completely new Spitfire Squadron covers everything we would ever need to know about such a unit during the critical pre and early war period: the social, political, aviation and military history all in one volume -emphasising the human experience involved and the stories of casualties. With an immense photographic collection -many published here for the first time -this book is destined to become a classic. So, strap yourself in, turn gun button to fire', and join 19 Squadron's Spitfire pilots during our Darkest and Finest Hours the ultimate Band of Brothers'?

In 1919, Hermann Goering went to Denmark as a stunt flyer, then on to Sweden to fly passengers, one of whom introduced the daredevil to his future first wife, a then married Swedish Countess; they scandalized Stockholm. Goering joined the Nazi Party, as commander of the early SA Stormtroopers. In the celebrated Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Goering was severely wounded, and fled. Thus began a four-year exile in which Goering became a practicing morphine addict in Austria, Italy, and Sweden, and was committed to an insane asylum in a straitjacket. Goering returned to Germany under a political amnesty, and blackmailed Hitler into putting him up for election to the Reichstag as a Nazi candidate in 1928. He won, and four years later, was elected its President. He helped convince Germany's power elite to name Hitler Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Taking over Prussia's police force-and during the upheaval of the Reichstag fire and trial-Goering ruthlessly smashed all non-Nazi parties. Then came the inter-Party Blood Purge of the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 that Goering directed in Berlin. This cemented his position as the Fuhrer's second-in-command, after having been declared insane!

The Vickers Wellington was one of very few aircraft types to have been in production and frontline service throughout World War II, and more than 10,000 Wellingtons were built in the period. They took part in the first RAF bombing mission of the conflict when, on 4 September 1939, 14 examples from Nos 9 and 149 Sqns undertook a daring daylight attack on the Kiel Canal. However, after suffering high losses on follow-up raids, Wellingtons were withdrawn from daytime missions and began to operate at night from May 1940. They subsequently took part in raids against the Italian port city of Genoa in July 1940, and against Berlin the following month, followed by key missions in the 'Battle of the Barges' in September and October, as the RAF targeted the Germany's invasion fleet being assembled in French Channel ports. When RAF's strike force expanded the next year following the introduction of the improved Wellington II, the 21 squadrons equipped with the Vickers aircraft, which included Polish-, Canadian- and Australian-manned units, formed the backbone of the Bomber Command night bombing force. Over the next two years Wellingtons participated in all the major operations by Bomber Command, including the daylight raid against German battleships in Brest harbour in July 1942 and the first three 'Thousand Bomber' raids in the summer of 1942. This illustrated study explores the design, development, and deployment of the Vickers-Wellington type, charting its role in World War II from its earliest missions to its use in training after its withdrawal from frontline bomber missions in 1943. The text is supported by stunning full-colour artwork.

Why do seemingly successful wars never seem to end? The problem centers on drones, now accumulated in the thousands, the front end of a spying and killing machine that is disconnected from either security or safety. Drones, however, are only part of the problem. William Arkin shows that security is actually undermined by an impulse to gather as much data as possible, the appetite and the theory both skewed towards the notion that no amount is too much. And yet the very endeavor of putting fewer humans in potential danger in fact places everyone in greater danger. Wars officially end, but the Data Machine lives on forever.

The inside story of today's Dambusters, 617 Squadron RAF, at war in Afghanistan. In May 1943, 617 Squadron RAF executed one of the most daring operations in military history as bombers mounted a raid against hydro-electric dams in Germany. 617 Squadron became a Second World War legend. Nearly 70 years later, in April 2011, a new generation of elite flyers, now flying supersonic Tornado GR4 bombers, was deployed to Afghanistan - their mission: to provide close air support to troops on the ground. Tim Bouquet was given unprecedented access to 617's pre-deployment training and blistering tour in Afghanistan. From dramatic air strikes to the life-and-death search for IEDs and low-flying shows of force designed to drive insurgents from civilian cover, he tracked every mission - and the skill, resilience, banter and exceptional airmanship that saw 617 through.

Lasting sixteen weeks during the momentous year of 1940, the Battle of Britain ended with the Luftwaffe having failed to achieve the decisive victory that Hitler had demanded. Whilst the technical details of the aircraft and weapons involved are, of course, crucial to our understanding of the events that summer, the Battle was fought by human beings - and it is that human experience and contribution, to this author, is the most important thing to acknowledge, record and share. Nearly 3,000 Fighter Command aircrew fought in the Battle of Britain, immortalised by Churchill as The Few'. Of these, 544 lost their lives that blood-stained summer, and 700 more would die before the Second World War ended - a victory very likely impossible had The Few not held out in 1940. The names of some of these young men, aces such as Douglas Bader, Sailor' Malan and Eric Lock, were well-known to the free world at the time - and certainly the legless Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader remains, even today, the best-known British fighter pilot of the war. However, the vast majority of The Few remained anonymous, owing partially to Air Ministry policy and equally a desire to play down their august achievements. Since the Second World War, the memoirs of a number of the Few have been published, privately and commercially, and books have been written about others. The record is a rich legacy, overall - and yet, if we investigate the Battle of Britain further, we find many forgotten heroes, no less-deserving of recognition. This book, therefore, seeks to explore the lives and contribution made by certain of these men, to give currency back to their brave deeds. In truth, the list of deserving subjects is virtually endless; those included in this book are individuals whose stories have crossed the author's path at some stage during his long career - and which he feels are truly Forgotten Heroes'. Clearly, then the list is not definitive, and could never be, but these men at least now have their stories told.