The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft with a two-man crew that served during and after the Second World War. It was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the era constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder". The Mosquito was also known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber the Mosquito was adapted to a wide range of bombing roles. It was also used by BOAC as a fast transport to carry small high-value cargoes to, and from neutral countries through enemy controlled airspace.

The book collates a variety of pamphlets and manuals on the plane that were produced throughout the war for the benefit of pilots and others associated with the aircraft.

On 13 September 1931 the Schneider Trophy was won outright for Britain on Southampton Water by Flt Lt John Boothman flying Supermarine S6B, S1595, with a record-breaking average speed of 379.08mph. Ralph Pegram relates the story of the Schneider Trophy competitions and describes the development of British high-speed seaplane designs. He examines the anatomy of the S6B (including the Rolls-Royce R engine), as well as giving rare insights into its flying characteristics and how it was maintained, operated and - of course - raced in the final competition.

The Dams Raid is the RAF’s most famous bombing operation of the Second World War, and Guy Gibson, who was in command, its most famous bomber pilot. Of the six men who made up his crew — two Canadians, an Australian and three Englishmen – only one had previously flown with him, but altogether they had amassed more than 180 operations. Drawing on rare and unpublished sources and family archives, this new study, written by the author of the acclaimed 2018 title, The Complete Dambusters, is the first book to fully detail their stories. It explores the previous connections between the seven men who would fly on just one operation together and examines how their relationships developed in the few months they spent in each other’s company.

Man's attempts to harness the use of electricity for his dream to fly go back to well before the 19th century. Until the 1990's, due to battery weight and low energy, electricity could only remain a faithful accessory to piston aircraft, but with the arrival of lightweight construction materials, solar power, improved engines and the LiPo battery, the skies recently opened up to a whole fleet of electric aircraft around the world - from thumbnail insect-styled drones (UAVs) to stratospheric airships. About aviation's third revolution (following heavier-than-air and turbojet), this book also outlines the diversity of future trends for electric aircraft in the 21st century.

The Jaguar was an iconic aircraft to come from Anglo-French collaboration and one of the first to be conceived with a predatory attack and low-level strike capability. First planned as a trainer, it emerged as a fighter bomber taking much from the TSR2 concept when a string of cancelled projects identified a gap in strike/attack capability; it soon evolved into a supersonic aircraft ready for reconnaissance and tactical nuclear strike roles. Retired before its time, for France in 2005 and for the RAF in 2007, it is still revered both by those that operated it and those that stared in wonder. The end for the Jaguar in the United Kingdom was sudden and rushed with the big cat going out with a meow rather than a roar. However, it survived on other continents providing a growl and bite in maintaining sovereignty for several decades on. This book is a stunning pictorial tribute to those final days.

Once known as the "Last of the Gunfighters", the Vought F-8 Crusader has since become a legend in the histories of the U.S. and French navies, as well as a scourge in the skies over North Vietnam in the late 1960s!\nCRUSADER! is a vital oral history of one of the most controversial fighter planes in carrier aviation. A key to the authenticity of this story are the author\s personal interviews with sixteen of the seventeen living Crusader pilots who became MiG killers in the Vietnam air war. His analysis of their aerial engagements over North Vietnam from 1965 to 1973 contains some startling surprises, as well as a validation of many of the tactical lessons learned from World War II and Korea. \nCRUSADER! also contains personal accounts by F-8 speed record holders such as U.S. Marine Corps Major (now Senator) John Glenn and Captains Bob Dose and "Duke" Windsor. Other aviation records held by the Crusader, (not so enviable) are told, in anecdotal form, for the first time by the author, an F-8 driver and participant in some of them!\nColorful, and sometimes humorous, accounts of events involving the F-8 and "Crusader Drivers" abound in this chronicle of carrier aviation covering the three decades when this remarkable airplane was an important element of the U.S. Navy\s carrier strike forces.\nRear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist commanded a fleet Crusader squadron, then a carrier air wing and finally, as a flag officer, became wing commander for all Pacific Fleet fighter squadrons. During his fleet squadron command he completed three carrier deployments to the Tonkin Gulf and flew 167 combat missions in the Crusader for which he was awarded seventeen combat decorations. The author of FEET WET, Reflections of a Carrier Pilot (1990) and TOMCAT, The Grumman F-14 Story (1994), Admiral Gillcrist is well qualified to write the story of the Crusader!

This book expands the information the factory provided pilot's operating handbook (POH) gives and provides valuable information for pilots flying or going to fly the Robinson R-44.Whether you are a student pilot getting to know the R-44 or an experienced pilot reviewing content for recency or biannual check rides this Handbook will provide the information you need.It features and explains the main content of the POH giving a more detailed and in-depth description about the Systems, the Performance and the Limitations of the Robinson R-44 helicopter.Be able to do a more throughout, knowledgeable Pre-Flight inspection and get a better understanding about the R-44's features by reading the enhanced System descriptions.For the pilot to get a more thorough safety understanding the Robinson Awareness Training is included, as well as a special emphasis on the Performance and Loading Limits of this specific helicopter.This book covers all models of the R44 series. Regarding a significant difference between these models, the principles and limitations of the carburetor, as well as the fuel injection are explained in an easy to understand manner. Also provided in this Handbook are conversion tables for multiple units.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 three-engine jet is one of the most distinctive wide-bodied aircraft and since the early 1970s has been operated by many airlines on medium- and long-distance routes throughout the world. Successfully flying passenger service for over 40 years, the DC-10 currently still flies for FedEx in an airfreight delivery role. Filled with design and construction information, background history, technical data, and rare images, this book describes the exciting story of this aviation legend as flown by such current and past airlines as Aeroflot, American, Delta, Eastern, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest, Pan Am, Qantas, SAS, Swissair, United, and many others. Also, the US Air Force has been flying the KC-10 Extender aerial-refueling tanker variant since the early 1980s. Coverage of the follow-on MD-11 series of aircraft is also included.

The second edition of airline ticket designs from exotic places like Naura, Nicaragua, New Caledonia, Afghanistan and Burkino-Faso is now in hardback. More new tickets from the biggest private collection of tickets in the world and follows the success of the first edition Tickets Please! Transadriatica, Alitalia, Concorde, Malev, Bursa, Brymon, El Al and Royal Nepal continue the adventure This extended 176 page hardback covers the gamut of airlines from flagship megabrands to some of the least known operators. Air Ceylon, Tunis, Air Atlas, Braniff, Spantax and Vasp will fly you to the most obscure corners of the world. The tickets all share a sharp eye for colour and design and no aviation library is complete without this book.

This is the story of 32 years of Boeing 747 jumbo jet service with French leisure carrier Corsair, bringing together the individual history of their 24 747s, and two in-depth historical essays: the story of the Boeing 747, and the complete story of Corsair through four eventful decades. Also included is a detailed technical description of the 747, and a special history of the only French 747SP. The heart of the book is the employee memories, from warzones to Caribbean paradise. 288 pages and over 500 photos and illustrations. Also published in French language.

Twelve years since the amazing account of Peter Vacher’s discovery in India was originally published, Grub Street is thrilled to bring readers the updated story of Hurricane R4118. Since the restoration of this magnificent aircraft to flight in 2004, Peter Vacher continued to research its history, and more stories of R4118’s origins are told, including the extraordinary tale of how this aircraft shot down a friendly Whitley bomber before it was assigned to a RAF squadron. With brand new photography and sources, including wartime letters from Bunny Currant, this book is essential reading for all Hurricane enthusiasts.

September 1940: In the midst of the Second World War, The Luftwaffe unleashed a series of devastating raids on Southampton, all but destroying its Spitfire factories. But production didn't stop. Instead, manufacturing of this iconic fighter moved underground, to secret locations staffed by women, children and non-combatant men. With little engineering experience between them, they built a fleet of one of the greatest war planes that has ever existed. This is their story.

The incredible true story of the origin of human flight, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough. On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot. Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did? David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the surprising, profoundly human story of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Far more than a couple of unschooled Dayton bicycle mechanics who happened to hit on success, they were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity, much of which they attributed to their upbringing. In this thrilling book, McCullough draws on the immense riches of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks and more than a thousand letters from private family correspondence to tell the human side of the Wright Brothers' story, including the little-known contributions of their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them.

A former aircraft engineer exposes the dangerous breakdown in airline safety due to lapses in maintenance and quality control. This book chronicles maintenance-related accidents caused by individual, corporate, or governmental negligence and brings the industry's current state of affairs into sharp focus. The author, a former aviation engineer, examines how failures of the smallest of parts have brought down airliners, explaining sometimes esoteric mechanical issues for readers with no technical background. Vividly describing the terror of accidents and close calls, the author then follows the painstaking investigations to determine causes. He focuses on maintenance errors, which rank as one of the top three causes of airline accidents, and points to the factors that have led to an alarming situation-- continued reduction of licensed mechanics, the shutting down of maintenance bases in the United States, and the outsourcing of maintenance to lowballing contractors. Outsourcing has forced thousands of licensed mechanics into retirement or different careers. For those mechanics still employed in the United States, the ever-present threat to their jobs does nothing to cultivate loyalty to an employer and devotion to a task. The Federal Aviation Administration, which should be overseeing quality control, is caught in a conflicted dual role--charged with regulating safety on the one hand and assuring the fiscal stability of airlines on the other. This disturbing wakeup call for improved airline safety standards highlights the critical importance of attention to detail. Porter recommends that the numbers and job security of airline mechanics be increased and that they be vested with an authority level akin to medical professionals.

On 17 July 2014, Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot out of the sky above Ukraine. Aboard were 298 people, 38 of whom were Australians. No one survived. Subsequently it was shown that the airliner was almost certainly hit by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired by Ukrainian separatists aided by the Russian military. The debris from the plane's disintegration mid-air was spread over 50 square kilometres, but for weeks rescue teams and investigators were denied access. The Russians have refused to take any responsibility for the deaths. This is the story of some of the people who boarded that fatal flight and the conflict below them that was doomed to destroy their lives and the happiness of the people they left behind. The fullest account yet published, it is also the story of a continuing clamour for justice. Unsettling, compelling and revealing, Shot Down will provoke both outrage that this criminal act could have happened and deep sadness for the lives lost. 'A compelling account of one of the most appalling aviation atrocities of our time.' JIM EAMES, author of Courage in the Skies

Although Amelia Earhart remains the best-known female pilot of the 1930s, Jacqueline Cochran stood as the more important aviation pioneer and America's top woman pilot. Among her many accomplishments, Cochran was the first female aviator to win the Bendix Air Race, to fly a bomber, to break the speed of sound, and to participate in astronaut training. This revealing biography explores Cochran's childhood in an impoverished Florida mill town, her early career as a pilot, and her role in creating and leading the WASPs during World War II. It also chronicles her postwar exploits, including her participation in the nascent space program, her unsuccessful 1956 bid for Congress, and her surprising reluctance to crusade for the advancement of women. This detailed profile, removing Cochran from Earhart's shadow, firmly establishes the aviatrix as a pivotal figure in the history of women in aviation and in war.

September 1940: In the midst of the Second World War, The Luftwaffe unleashed a series of devastating raids on Southampton, all but destroying its Spitfire factories. But production didn't stop. Instead, manufacturing of this iconic fighter moved underground, to secret locations staffed by women, children and non-combatant men. With little engineering experience between them, they built a fleet of one of the greatest war planes that has ever existed. This is their story.

Broken Wings is a fascinating history of Alaska aviation, encompassing numerous civil aircraft disasters over a period of seventy years. Derived from official accident reports, newspaper accounts, magazine articles and years of research, the author draws the reader into the true stories of aviation tragedy that have occurred in the Last Frontier.

Mid-flight non-combat malfunctions, mishaps, and blunders, occur frequently in the USAF during routine training and utility flights-sometimes unfortunately with the loss of life and regularly with the destruction of a military aircraft with a value of tens of millions-of-dollars. In the most extreme case presented here a B-2 Spirit bomber crashed soon after takeoff and was destroyed with a value of $2.2 billion. The events surrounding such accidents are meticulously gathered by USAF Investigators and a report is published in each case. Dr Bond has collected these reports over a number of years including some made available to him following FOI-Freedom of Information-requests made directly to the relevant US Air Base. The original official accident reports are rife with military jargon and acronyms rendering them near-impenetrable to the lay-reader. Dr Bond has written up forty of the most indicative reports as a series of accessible-but-comprehensive case histories in plain non-technical language. The causes of such blunders and mishaps are often surprising and sometimes horrifying: bird-strikes, joy-riding, unauthorized maneuvers, pilot disorientation, or more prosaically, an unseen binoculars-case blocking the action of a plane's joystick or unexpected moisture in an air-pressure gauge.

The NASM's 60,000 objects comprise the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. The content is culled from the museum's two public display facilities, one on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and the second at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Among the 100 artifacts profiled are the original 1903 Wright Flyer; Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis; Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1; John Glenn's Friendship 7 spacecraft; the Apollo 11 command module; Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay; the Dash 80 prototype for the 707; the sole-surviving Boeing 307 Stratoliner; and space shuttle Discovery.