If the Dakota transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flying from Delhi with troops of the Indian Army had not landed at Srinagar on the morning of October 27, 1947, the history and geography of the subcontinent may well have been different! Or if the four Hunter fighters had not destroyed the bulk of Pakistani tanks at Longewala in 1971, the road to Jaisalmer for their armour thrust was wide open. The history of the Indian Air Force over the past 75 years is replete with such incidents and actions which had seminal implications for the country's defence. The list of such historical landmarks in the history of our defence from the defence of Imphal in 1944 to Kargil is long. Air forces are unique in the sense that they are the only national military institution exclusively devoted to military operations in the aerospace continuum. The Indian Air Force is no different. But its operations take place away and beyond the optical horizons of even the army jawans, leave alone the civilians. The mind pays less attention to what the eyes don't see - out of sight, out of mind is so true about the functioning of air forces. But their dominant role in modern warfare, the high costs of aerospace power, and a host of other factors demand closer attention to their role in modern defence and the protection of national interests in pursuit of our foreign policy. Air forces don't win wars by themselves; and no one in the Indian Air Force has ever claimed it. But no war can be won without them. We learnt that seminal lesson the hard way when we did not use the potent force of lAF's combat fleet in the Sino-India War of 1962 since the decision-makers at the very top did not understand air power and its role in national defence. And 37 years later it still took some vacillation in the summer of 99 before the air force was allowed to reduce the enemy's ability to fight and make the task of our army that much easier during the Kargil War. The air force has the unique capability to shape and influence operations on land and sea; and this makes it the dominant force in national defence. Land and naval forces, vital to national defence for a variety of reasons, cannot interfere with air operations except at the edges when they are able to employ some elements of air power in extension of land and maritime operations. It is from this perspective that this study - or rather an interpretative essay reflecting on the significant issues and events of the past 75 years - approaches the challenges the Indian Air Force faces in the coming decades. IAF combat forces levels have slumped while its commitments are growing rapidly in consonance with our expanding economic and political interests well beyond our territorial boundaries. The author, a leading expert in national defence, brings his vast experience and knowledge of air operations in peace and war to suggest some guidelines in this volume for the future defence of India from the skies.

A moving and personal account of a young woman's experiences of the Second World War from the mother of Sir Tim Rice. Joan Rice had the same ambitions as many young women of her generation: she wanted to write; wanted to travel; wanted to be famous. With the outbreak of World War II she hurried to enlist - aged 20 - in the Women's Auxillary Air Force, hoping for change, for adventure, and for the chance to 'swank around in uniform'. Throughout the early years of the conflict she kept a regular diary of her life as a WAAF. Working first at RAF Hendon, she soon moved to a job in British Intelligence, and ultimately to postings in Egypt and Palestine. She witnessed the 'phoney war' explode into the Battle of Britain, lived through the London Blitz and was forced by Rommell's advance to flee Cairo. But her diary also tells the story of everyday war life, of the social whirl of service society and of her very first encounter with the man who would become her husband. 'Sand in my Shoes' is a compelling first-hand account of life and love in a defeated Europe. Written with flair and exuberance, Joan's story has lain untouched for some fifty years. Incorporating additional material from her husband's own notes, her diary is a testament to the many women who kept the RAF in the air.

Picking up where his acclaimed When Thunder Rolled left off, Palace Cobra is the story of Ed Rasimus's return to Vietnam to fight a war that many Americans tried to forget
When F-105 pilot Ed Rasimus completed his 100 missions over Vietnam, he returned stateside to a normal life: sitting at a desk and teaching student pilots. Two years later, he volunteered to go for a second tour of duty. Determined not to die in a losing cause, and relentlessly searching for that next adrenaline rush, Rasimus and the other F-4 Phantom pilots continued the ferocious air war in the North--dodging SAMs and gunning for MiGs--and routinely cheated death.
When America finally got serious about ending the war, Rasimus and the other pilots put it all on the line, pounding Hanoi with everything they had, and flying above POW camps to let the troops know they were not alone. Gripping, earnest, and unforgettable, Rasimus's combat memoir is, in the end, a heartfelt tribute to those who never made it back.

The Imperial War Museum's archive is home to more than 20,000 hours of moving image material spanning the twentieth century in Britain. The clips range from documentary film and official newsreels, to unedited combat footage, and amateur shots. In the museum's early days the films could only be viewed through Mutoscope machines from the late nineteenth century that functioned much like a flipbook, giving life to a series of motionless images. The Mutoscope did not project images on a screen, rather the machine was used by one person at a time. To re-create the experience of watching these historical film reals, some of the most compelling scenes have been reproduced in these action-filled flipbooks.
As you flip through the "Spitfire Flipbook," you'll come face to face with a 1940s Spitfire plane flying through the air. The single seat fighter aircraft dips and dives at lightning speeds as the pages progress. The Spitfire was the most commonly used airplane during the Battle of Britain and was used as both a fighter-bomber and for training.
Replicating the action of old-time film strips, these flipbooks will be a delight for both children and adults, transporting those who flip the pages to Britain's wartime past.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 F (Friedrich) is one of the most important versions of this famous fighter. It was powered by the same engine (DB 601E) as the preceding Bf 109 E (Emil), but the airframe design differed significantly compared to its predecessor. The plane gained a more aerodynamic profile due to the new engine cowling (the engine had its own starter, which resulted in the extension of the unit), a new, rounder propeller hub and rounded wing tips. In addition, supports were removed under horizontal stabilizers. Bf 109 F had its first flight on January 26, 1939. Two prototypes were built. Two machines in version Bf 109 D were also rebuilt for testing the new engine installations. Friedrich had new under-wing radiators, which were twice as wide and lower than those used in the previous version of the aircraft. They were equipped with a two-part flap regulating the air supply. The prolonged tests and new requirements on the fighter's armament delayed the implementation of Bf 109 F for series production. The Messerschmitt company had signed a contract with the Reich Ministry of Aviation, which specified the requirements for two variants of the fighter's weaponry: a light variant with MG151/15 in the fuselage and a heavy variant with MG FF/M in the fuselage.

`A must-have for any serious scholar of the Pacific War' -Air & Space `An illuminating roadmap following the rise of Japanese naval aviation from its inception in 1909 to its devastating capability on the eve of the Pacific war' -Sea Power `Undoubtedly one of the most important books concerning World War II to appear in the last decade' -The Hook This acclaimed sequel to the Peattie/Evans prize-winning work, Kaigun, illuminates the rise of Japanese naval aviation from its genesis in 1909 to its thunderbolt capability on the eve of the Pacific War. In the process of explaining the navy's essential strengths and weaknesses, the book provides the most detailed account available in English of Japan's naval air campaign over China from 1937 to 1941. A final chapter analyzes the utter destruction of Japanese naval air power by 1944. Peattie traces the development of the Imperial Navy's land-based air power as well as the evolution of its carrier forces. He also treats the salient aspects of Japan's naval air service: training, personnel, tactics, doctrine, technology, and industrial base. In doing so, Peattie combines data found in previous handbooks with important new information derived from Japanese-language sources. Includes extensive appendices, detailed drawings and data on Japanese carriers and naval aircraft, and information on Japanese naval air bases and land-based air groups as of 7 December 1941. About the Author Mark R. Peattie is the author, co-author, and co-editor of many books, including the award-winning Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941, coauthored with the late David Evans.

This book provides a unique, illustrated history of the US Navy Fighter Weapons School's 50-year history. Currently located at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, TOPGUN was formed in late 1968 at Naval Air Station Miramar, California, to create a graduate-level course in fighter tactics for Navy pilots deploying to Vietnam. Before TOPGUN, Navy F-4 Phantom II fighter crews in Vietnam managed only a 2.5:1 kill ratio versus Soviet-built MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters: after TOPGUN formed, the community tallied a 12.5:1 kill ratio. Since then, TOPGUN has become the standard-bearer of Navy fighter and strike fighter tactics and training and is recognized worldwide as a center of excellence. TOPGUN's tactics and pilot training are explained, as well as changes and developments throughout the years to the present day. All aircraft flown at TOPGUN since its founding are also shown, including A-4 Skyhawk,T-38A/B Talon, F-5E/F Tiger II, F-16N Viper, F-14A Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, F-16A/B Falcon, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

As part of the AHT series, the airfields and interest in this book are concentrated in a particular area - in this case Norfolk and Suffolk. The Second Air Division's first bombing mission was flown on November 7, 1942; the last on April 25, 1945. A total of 95, 948 sorties were flown in 493 operational missions by the division's B-24s, dropping 199,883 tons of bombs. Targets attacked ranged from Norway in the north, as far east as Poland and Romania, while several Mediterranean countries were reached from temporary bases in North Africa. Six 2nd Air Division groups received special presidential citations for outstanding actions and five airmen received the Medal of Honor (highest US award for bravery), four posthumously. In combat the 2nd Air Division gunners claimed 1,079 enemy fighters destroyed against losses of 1,458 B-24s missing in action and many others lost in accidents. This book looks at the history and personalities associated with each base, what remains today and explores the favourite local wartime haunts where aircrew and ground crew would go.

Nimrod Boys is a complementary book to Nimrod Rise and Fall from acclaimed author Tony Blackman. It is a collection of over twenty first-hand accounts of operating the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod - an aircraft which served at the forefront of the Cold War. As the first jet-powered maritime aircraft, it could reach critical points for rescues or for operational requirements in rapid time. Its outstanding navigation and electronics systems also allowed the Nimrod to be a first-class machine in anti-submarine warfare. The book focuses on the Nimrod's UK-based and worldwide operations. With detailed accounts of the Nimrod's role during the Falklands Campaign and in later conflicts such as the First Gulf War to modern-day anti-drug smuggling operations in the Caribbean. There are also descriptions of the Nimrod's achievements in the International Fincastle Competition - where RAF squadrons competed against counterparts from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. With a variety of perspectives on Nimrod crew life, including from a female air electronic operator, readers will find dramatic, engaging and occasionally humorous stories. One flight test observer also reflects on the cancelled Nimrod MR4 project. Nimrod Boys written by Tony Blackman with Joe Kennedy and with a foreword by AVM Andrew Roberts is more than worthy addition to the celebrated Boys series.

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.

Seventy years ago, as Hitler's army continued its relentless advance across Europe, Britain - a country ill-prepared for war - faced its darkest hour.Acclaimed as 'Brilliant' by the Daily Mail and 'Compelling' by the Telegraph, Finest Hour recreates the terror, tragedy and triumph of the Battle of Britain through the testimony of the very men and women who were there. Taken from the diaries, letters and memoirs of those who survived it - and those who lost their lives - Finest Hour creates a powerful and incisive account of the events of 1940. Containing individual accounts of love and loss by these witnesses of war, the book also contains a provocative analysis of the conflicts and the politics of the period, and questions some cherished national myths. Cutting through the nostalgic haze, Finest Hour enables readers to experience a time when a nation's darkest hour became its finest.

"Enthralling eye witness histories" John Keegan
On the night of 17-18 August 1943, RAF Bomber Command attacked a remote research establishment on the German Baltic coast. The site was Peenemunde, where Hitler's scientists were developing both the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket whose destructive powers could have swung the course of the War. The raid was meticulously planned and hopes were high. But the night sky was so cloudless that the British bombers presented an easy target for German night fighters, and over 40 were lost.
Martin Middlebrook draws on the memories of over 400 people involved in the dramatic events on that night: RAF and Luftwaffe aircrew, German personnel at the research site and foreign laborers who had been forced to work there. The result is a truly compelling account of this hazardous attempt to disrupt Hitler's V-weapons program.

During the Second World War, 10,000 Germans and Austrians volunteered to join the British Forces from the UK. Most were refugees, but there were others also. From 1939 until 1943 most served in the 18 so-called Alien Companies of the Pioneer Corps. After that almost all branches of the services were opened to them and they used this chance to its fullest extent. In this period they were spread over the whole of the Navy, the Army, and the RAF. To write the history of the Alien Pioneers is not difficult. The history of the men who in 1943 were dispersed over all the rest of the services however is the history of the Services as a whole. Peter Leighton-Langer, himself one of the 10,000, has tried to solve this by concentrating on the fate and the actions of individuals, who may or may not be typical for all the others. To do this he has been in direct or indirect contact with some 600 of his former colleagues, whose adventures he cites, often in their own words, to give a picture of the

The brave efforts of the pilots and crew of the RAF during the Second World War are well-known but there was another body of aviators that played a significant role in the conflict the men and women of the civilian airlines. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was formed shortly after the outbreak of war in November 1939 by the amalgamation of Imperial Airways and British Airways. During the war BOAC operated as directed by the Secretary of State for Air, initially as the transport service for the RAF and with no requirement to act commercially. The inaugural BOAC had eighty-two aircraft, a large proportion of which were seaplanes and flying boats. With 54,000 miles of air routes over many parts of the world, ranging from the Arctic to South Africa, from the Atlantic coast of America to the eastern coast of India, the aircraft of the BOAC kept wartime Britain connected with its colonies and the free world, often under enemy fire. Over these routes, carrying mail, cargo and personnel, the men and machines of BOAC flew in the region of 19,000,000 miles a year. There can rarely have been a moment, throughout the war, when aircraft of the British merchant air service were not flying somewhere along the routes, despite losses from enemy action. This book explores much of their war history between 1939 and 1944 (the year that marked the 25th anniversary of British commercial aviation), something of their lives and their achievements in linking up the battlefronts at times cut off from any direct land or sea contacts with the Home Front and in transporting supplies through the new, dangerous and often uncharted regions of the air. With the Speedbird symbol or the Union Flag emblazoned on its aircraft the BOAC really did fly the flag for Britain throughout the wartime world.

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.

When a long serving trainer becomes one of the most potent warplanes of its size. The Cessna T-37 is only just leaving USAF service while its more warlike sibling enjoys continued usage in Latin America, as a Warbird having first made its name in Vietnam.

Bill Reed had it all ­- brains, looks, athleticism, courage and a talent for leadership. After a challenging childhood in Depression-era Iowa, Reed joined the US Army Air Corps, but the outbreak of World War II saw him give up his commission. Instead, he travelled to China to fly for the American Volunteer Group - the legendary Flying Tigers. After a brief return to America, he resumed the fight as a senior pilot and later squadron commander in the Chinese-American Composite Wing. Soon afterwards, Reed tragically lost his life in a desperate parachute jump late in the war, by which point he was a fighter ace with nine confirmed aerial victories. His obituary was front-page news throughout the state of Iowa.

This book is a biography of his extraordinary life, focusing on his time spent flying with some of the famous aerial groups of World War II. It draws heavily on Reed's own words, along with the author's deep knowledge of the China air war and years of research into Reed's life, to tell his compelling story.

No single human invention has changed the nature of war more that the development of the aeroplane. The History of Air Warfare is a highly illustrated and accessible account of the development of aerial warfare, from the first skirmishes over the Western Front in World War I to today's hi-tech netcentric aerial battlespace. Developing from unpowered observation hot air balloons in the 18th century and even the older kite, aerial warfare has become a multibillion-dollar industry and has led to many advances in technology and techniques such as aerodynamics, propulsion, radar and use of composites and engineered materials such as carbon fibre. Featuring more than 120 complex computer-generated battle maps and graphics, the History of Air Warfare explores every major air battle to have taken place in the world's skies, as well as documenting the air element of campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa and Operation Desert Storm. Extensively researched text tells the history and the stories behind these battles concisely and clearly.

Martin Easdown's compelling account of the German air raid on Folkestone in 1917 and its appalling aftermath is the first comprehensive history of an episode to be published. He gives a dramatic description of the event, relying heavily on the eyewitness testimony from the townspeople who were there on that fateful day. He records the experiences of the German airmen who carried out the raid and pioneered a new and terrifying method of warfare. In addition, he recounts in graphic detail similar attacks by bombers, seaplanes and Zepplins on other Kentish towns, including Dover, Ramsgate, Margate and Sheerness.

The history of seven unique American combat "aces" of World War II and Korea.

The true story documenting the short range history of the bomber force. Told in three parts, it demonstrates the versatility of the military pilot and observer and is a credit to the training they receive, coupled with the experience each one of them acquired.

On June 18, 1965, thirty B-52s took part in the first Strategic Air Command B-52 bombing mission in Vietnam, a mission that, if carried out successfully, might have halted the war in its tracks. Before two of the aircraft could deliver their payload, they collided midair, killing eight men as both planes exploded over the South China Sea. In Collision Over Vietnam, Lieutenant Don Harten, a pilot in the combat mission, recounts the harrowing yet miraculous true story of how he survived the B-52 collision and how he lived through the crash of his rescue plane to fly almost 200 more missions in the war. A remarkable account of comradery, courage, and loss, Collision Over Vietnam is sure to make its name in history as did the brave men who fought in Vietnam.

Feb 22, 1944-July 21, 1944