'Brilliantly researched and sympathetically told, 44 DAYS is more than just a fitting tribute to brave but overlooked heroes. It's also a top read.' DAILY TELEGRAPH The epic World War II story of the heroes of Australia's 75 Squadron - and the 44 days when these brave and barely trained pilots fought alone against the Japanese. In March and April 1942, RAAF 75 Squadron bravely defended Port Moresby for 44 days when Australia truly stood alone against the Japanese. This group of raw young recruits scrambled ceaselessly in their Kittyhawk fighters to an extraordinary and heroic battle, the story of which has been left largely untold. The recruits had almost nothing going for them against the Japanese war machine, except for one extraordinary leader named John Jackson, a balding, tubby Queenslander - at 35 possibly the oldest fighter pilot in the world - who said little, led from the front, and who had absolutely no sense of physical fear. Time and time again this brave group were hurled into battle, against all odds and logic, and succeeded in mauling a far superior enemy - whilst also fighting against the air force hierarchy. After relentless attack, the squadron was almost wiped out by the time relief came, having succeeded in their mission - but also paying a terrible price. Michael Veitch, actor, presenter and critically acclaimed author, brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of this courageous squadron of Australian heroes.

Written by a pilot for the non-aviator, Strike Eagle puts the reader inside the cockpit of one of the world's most advanced fighters - the F-15E. It is a human-scale account of men at war.

This book covers the author's flying career from the finish of World War II until his final appointment as CO of the Naval Test Squadron at Boscombe Down. Having had an outstanding wartime record 'Mike' Crosley became heavily involved with the introduction of Britain's first carrier-borne jet aircraft. The book explains how modern techniques, such as the angled flight deck, steam catapult and deck landing mirror sights were developed and tested. At Boscombe down he developed the 'hand's-off' launch technique for the Buccaneer which saved it from probable cancellation at a very difficult time for British naval aviation.

The redundancy of 8th Air Force in WWII documentaries, books, and the exclusion of all other Air Forces in the above Historical Archives, prompted me to write of my 12th Air Force operations in our two and a half years overseas. Never is the role of Ground support personnel mentioned. The 321st Bomb Group had many, many firsts

This is the author's personal account of how the 22 pilots of No 258 Squadron RAF left Scotland in late October 1941 until 120 days later when all those who had not been killed became prisoners of the Japanese. The story takes us to the final defence of Singapore and then on to Sumatra and Java where the author recaptures the atmosphere of the bitter aerial engagements with the Japanese enemy and the hostile jungle terrain over which they fought.

The world entered the atomic age in August 1945, when the B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Enola Gay flew some 1,500 miles from the island of Tinian and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The "Little Boy" bomb exploded with the force of 12.5 kilotons of TNT, nearly destroying the city. Three days later, another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese government, which had been preparing a bloody defense against an invasion, surrendered six days later. The aircraft was the primary artifact in an exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum from 1995 to 1998. The original, controversial exhibit script was changed, and the final exhibition attracted some 4 million visitors, testifying to the enduring interest in the aircraft and its mission. This book tells the story of the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 program, and the combat operations of the B-29 type. After nearly two decades of restoration, the Enola Gay will be one of the highlights of the museum's new Udvar-Hazy Center, which is scheduled to open at Dulles International Airport on December 15, 2003.

The story of Air Marshal Sir Ivor Broom who completed three full tours of operations over enemy territory, including 31 low-level attacks from his operations base in Malta. After the war, he went on to set a new speed record while flying from Canada to the UK, and was one of the early squadron commanders of the Red Arrows display team.

In the Second World War, Malta was subjected to continual air attacks during a siege lasting nearly two and a half years.This is part of that story, from the early days in June 1940, when only a few Gladiator biplanes were available to combat Italian bombers and fighters, to the intervention of the Luftwaffe and the tenuous defence by outclassed Hurricanes, culminating in the desperate months of fighting following the arrival on Malta of the first Spitfires in March 1942.Of more than 1,000 aircraft destroyed during the battle, many fell into the Mediterranean or were written off in landing, and at least 200 crashed among the Maltese Islands.This book documents all known aircraft crashes that occurred in and around Malta and Gozo during 1940-42, describing in detail the circumstances of each loss and what became of the pilot or crew, including some who even today are officially listed as missing.The immediacy of eyewitness accounts from both sides provide a fascinating perspective of an epic battle - much of the material is previously unpublished, not least the narratives by those who were there. Meticulously researched ... not only documents the location of all known air crashes - Allied and Axis - that occurred in and around the Maltese Islands ... but also tells the often fascinating story of each and every one ... This engagingly-written tome details the various crashes in chronological order, and includes in its appendices a table containing all the details of each crash, full endnote references and a properly compiled index, making it a valuable work of reference. - NICK STROUD - THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Unbiased, poignant, tragic - but also humorous - account of events during [the] air battles over Malta. - LUKE VINCENTI - THE SUNDAY TIMES OF MALTA Compelling and utterly fascinating. - JAMES HOLLAND Excellent. - FLYPAST Recommended. - AVIATION HISTORY

The Douglas Dauntless was a Second World War American naval scout plane and dive bomber that saw active service during the course of this conflict and beyond, before being retired in 1959. US Navy and Marine Corps SBD's (Small But Deadly) saw their first action at Pearl Harbour and went on to enjoy an illustrious career thereafter. The Battle of Midway was an important milestone in the career of the Dauntless; they delivered the crushing blows to the Japanese carriers in June 1942\. Action was also seen during the Guadalcanal Campaign, Operation Torch, the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Pacific War. Peter C. Smith brings his many years of experience to this new publication, over the course of which the full history of the mighty Dauntless is relayed in exceptional detail.

This is a book about men and war. Not real conflict but war as it has filtered down to generations of boys and men through toys, comics, games, and movies. Harry Pearson belongs to the great battalion of men who grew up playing with toy soldiers--refighting World War II--and then stopped growing up. Inspired by the photos of the gallant pilot uncles that decorated the wall above his father's model-making table, by toys such as Action Man (according to Pearson--"not" a doll) and board games such as Escape from Colditz, dressed in Clarks' commando shoes and with the Airfix Army in support, he battled in the fields and on the beaches, in his head and on the living room floor, and across his bedroom ceiling. And 30 years later he still is. This hilariously self-deprecating memoir is a celebration of those glory days, a boy's own story of the urge to play, to conquer, and to adopt very bad German accents, shouting "Donner und Blitzen!" at every opportunity. This is a tale of obsession, glue, and plastic kits. It is the story of one boy's imaginary war and where it led him.

South African Mirages and Cuban MiG-21s dogfighting over Cuito Cuanavale, the largest tank battle on African soil since El Alamein; Puma troopships shot out of the skies by Strela missiles and RPG-7 rockets; Alouette III gunships hovering menacingly above Koevoet tracker-combat teams as they close in for the kill; Hercules and Transall transports disgorging their loads of Parabats over Cassinga; suicidal helicopter hot-extractions of Recce operators deep in enemy territory; and a lone Alouette pilot who disobeyed orders and under intense ground fire evacuated a critically wounded soldier ... such is the story of the South African Air Force, the SAAF, over the 23-year period 1966-1989, the period of conflict that became known as the 'Border War'. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, the SAAF was effectively South Africa's first line of defence against Soviet expansionism in southern Africa. That the Soviets, through their surrogates - the Cuban military, Angola's FAPLA and Namibia's SWAPO - sought a communist regime in South Africa is indisputable, as too was the SAAF's skill, quality, determination and capability to defeat the best Soviet air defences of the time. This account covers all the major operations that the SAAF was involved in, from Operation Blouwildebees, the opening salvo of the conflict at Omgulumbashe, South West Africa in 1966 to the final curtain, Operation Merlyn, the so-called April Fool's Day 'war' of 1989 when the SAAF and Koevoet, almost alone, frustrated SWAPO's last throw of the dice with its illegal invasion of South West Africa. In this account, highlighting such operations as Reindeer, Bootlace/Uric, Sceptic, Protea, Daisy, Askari, Moduler, Hooper and Packer, among many, as well as the ongoing methodological operations like Lunar, Maanskyn, Donkermaan and Butterfly, Baxter examines and brings to life the squadrons and aviators that fought in both counter-insurgency and conventional warfare roles. Besides an extensive selection of rare photographs, the book features a comprehensive section on camouflage and markings and 11 pages of colour aircraft profiles and insignia by noted SAAF authority William Marshall, making this title especially useful for modelers.

The 345th Bomb Group, Air Apaches, Fifth Air Force, as the first full Air Force Combat Group sent to the Pacific in World War II, added a new dimension to the ever-growing saga of the B-25 . . . a minimum altitude bomber-strafer. We Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of their use of the B-25 in the finest tradition and heritage of their use of the B-25 in the finest tradition and heritage of the U.S. Air Force. - Lt. General J.H. Doolittle (Retired), U.S. Air Force. R.E. Peppy Blount has been a public figure in Texas since he returned from the South Pacific as a veteran of World War II. Captain Blount was highly decorated with honors including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was also awarded the DAR Medal of Honor and inducted into the CAF Combat Airman's Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 1907, H.G. Wells published a science fiction novel called The War in the Air. It proved to be portentous. In the early years of the First World War, German lighter-than-air flying machines, Zeppelins, undertook a series of attacks on the British mainland. German military strategy was to subdue Britain, both by the damage these raids caused and by the terrifying nature of the craft that carried them out. This strategy proved successful. The early raids caused significant damage, many civilian casualties and provoked terror and anger in equal measure. But the British rapidly learnt how to deal with these futuristic monsters. A variety of defence mechanisms were developed: searchlights, guns and fighter aircraft were deployed, the British learnt to pick up the airships' radio messages and a central communications headquarters was set up. Within months aerial strategy and its impact on the lives of civilians and the course of conflict became part of human warfare. As the Chief of the Imperial German Naval Airship Division, Peter Strasser, crisply put it: 'There is no such thing as a non-combatant any more. Modern war is total war.' Zeppelin Blitz is the first full, raid-by-raid, year-by-year account of the Zeppelin air raids on Britain during the First World War, based on contemporary official reports and documents.

In February 1938, the United States Navy opened a competition for a new fighter. Its maximum speed and operational ceiling were to exceed all the machines that the American aviation had at the time. Among others, the Chance Vought company entered the competition. The Corsair was designed by a team of engineers led by Rex Beisel, the company's chief constructor. The prototype XF4U-1 was flown on May 29, 1940. The Corsair was powered by an eighteen-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, the largest and the most powerful radial engine ever installed in a single-seat front fighter.

This meticulously researched and illustrated book focuses on the evolution of aircraft carriers and naval aircraft. It features chronological histories and comprehensive directories of the world's most important aviation ships and aircraft, including the first ships to launch primitive aircraft; biplanes that were catapulted from converted destroyers; modern warships capable of carrying jets and helicopters; and state-of-the-art jets that are unique for their vertical take-off ability. With more than 1100 magnificent photographs, this book provides historians and enthusiasts with key information about the world's greatest aircraft carriers and naval aircraft.

In the Pacific War's early years, Japanese air power was dominant. The only way for the Allies to defeat their enemy was to know it. This made the task of maintaining productive intelligence gathering efforts on Japan imperative. Establishing Technical Air Intelligence Units in the Pacific Theatre and the Technical Air Intelligence Center in Washington DC, the Allies were able to begin to reveal the secrets of Japanese air power through extensive flight testing and evaluation of captured enemy aircraft and equipment. These provided an illuminating perspective on Japanese aircraft and aerial weapon design philosophy and manufacturing practice.

Fully illustrated throughout with a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, Mark Chambers explores Allied efforts to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese air power during the war years, and how this intelligence helped them achieve victory in the Pacific.

Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck was one of the RAF's top-scoring aces until he was shot down and taken prisoner in January 1942, thus curtailing his probability of being the top-scorer. This work offers an exact facsimile edition of his flying log book covering his entire RAF career from October 1935, when he learned to fly on Avro Tutor biplanes, to his work as a test pilot with English Electric on Canberra jets in 1954. The bulk of the interest in this work, however, lies in the 1940 period and readers are given the opportunity to own their very own Battle of Britain pilot's log book. Each comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity denoting its place in the limited edition of 2500 copies.

DISCOVER THE EXHILARATING TRUE STORY BEHIND THE ACTION-PACKED CLASSIC FILM 'GOOSE AND MAVERICK MOVE OVER . . .' Admiral James Stavridis ________ March 1969. American jets are getting shot down at an unprecedented rate over Vietnam. In an urgent effort to regain the advantage the Admirals turn to a young naval aviator called Dan Pedersen. Officially, the programme he set up was called the US Navy Fighter Weapons School. To everyone else it was known simply as TOPGUN. Pedersen's hand-picked team of instructors - the Original Eight - were the best of the best. Together, they revolutionised aerial warfare and rediscovered the lost art of fighter combat. This is the extraordinary, thrilling story of how TOPGUN saw America reclaim the skies, by the man who created it. ________ 'It's hard to read Dan Pederson's Topgun and not think of Tom Cruise. A pleasure to read' Wall Street Journal 'Direct, vivid and unvarnished. A high-flying, supersonic tale' Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers 'Topgun earned Dan Pedersen the title of American Hero' Washington Times 'A riveting seat-of-the-pants flight into the lethal world of the fighter pilot' Dan Hampton, author of Viper Pilot

This is the second part of a two volume set exploring the inception, planning and preparation of the offensive to liberate Europe, Operation Overlord, culminating in its launch on D-Day.

Warfare in the first half of the 20th century was fundamentally and irrovocably altered by the birth and subsequent development of air power. This work assesses the role of air power in changing the face of battle on land and sea. Utilizing late-1990s research, the author demonstrates that the phenomenon of air power was both a cause and a crucial accelerating factor contributing to the theory and practice of total war. For instance, the expansion of warfare to the homefront was a direct result of bombing and indirectly due to the extent of national economic mobilization required to support first rate air power status. In addition, the move away from the principle of total war with the onset of the Cold War and the replacement of air power by ICBMs is thoroughly examined. This work should provide students of international history, war studies, defence and strategic studies with an insight into 20th-century warfare.

Table of Contents

1 Air power in the age of total war 2 The birth of air power 3 The First World War, 1914–18 4 The development of air power doctrine and theory, 1918–39 5 Global air power, 1918–39 6 The war in Europe, 1939–45 7 The war in the Far East, 1937–45 8 Air power and the post-war world 9 Conclusions

The Battle of Britain (July to October 1940), one of World War II's turning points, as seen by the German attackers who ultimately lost the battle Personal accounts from the men who flew the Messerschmitt fighters and Junkers bombers Riveting stories of wheeling dogfights with British Spitfires and bomb runs amid exploding flak Packed with photos of pilots, crews, planes, equipment, and more

The vivid and largely untold story of the dramatic Allied air campaign against Germany that was a turning point in World War II and ultimately crucial to the success of D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as "Big Week," and it was one of the turning-point engagements of World War II. In Big Week, acclaimed World War II historian James Holland chronicles the massive air battle through the experiences of those who lived and died during it. Prior to Big Week, the air forces on both sides were in crisis. Allied raids into Germany were being decimated, but German resources--fuel and pilots--were strained to the breaking point. Ultimately new Allied aircraft--especially the American long-range P-51 Mustang--and superior tactics won out during Big Week. Through interviews, oral histories, diaries, and official records, Holland follows the fortunes of pilots, crew, and civilians on both sides, taking readers from command headquarters to fighter cockpits to anti-aircraft positions and civilian chaos on the ground, vividly recreating the campaign as it was conceived and unfolded. In the end, the six days of intense air battles largely cleared the skies of enemy aircraft when the invasion took place on June 6, 1944--D-Day. Big Week is both an original contribution to WWII literature and a brilliant piece of narrative history, recapturing a largely forgotten campaign that was one of the most critically important periods of the entire war.

Designed as a fast bomber that could out-run the fighters of the era, the twin-engine Junkers Ju 88 became one of the most versatile aircraft of the Second World War. Such was the success of the design that its production lines operated constantly from 1936 to 1945, with more than 16,000 examples being built in dozens of variants - more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. From an early stage it was intended that it would be used as a conventional light bomber and as a dive-bomber. As such, it served in the invasion of Poland, the Norway campaign, the Blitzkrieg and the invasion of France and the Battle of Britain. This latest volume in Frontline's Air War Archive examines the Ju 88s use in the latter years of the Second World War. The type's use as a torpedo bomber or reconnaissance aircraft, as well as its deployment in Russia, over the Bay of Biscay and in the Mediterranean theatre are all explored. Even its use in the Mistel flying-bomb is covered. In this selection of unrivalled images collected over many years, the operations of this famous aircraft in its twilight years are portrayed and brought to life.