Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith were the original pioneers of Australian aviation. Together they succeeded in a number of record-breaking flights that made them instant celebrities in Australia and around the world: the first east-to-west crossing of the Pacific, the first trans-Tasman flight, Australia to New Zealand, the first flight from New Zealand to Australia. Business ventures followed for them, as they set up Australian National Airways in late 1928. Smithy was the face of the airline, happier in the cockpit or in front of an audience than in the boardroom. Ulm on the other hand was in his element as managing director. Ulm had the tenacity and organisational skills, yet Smithy had the charisma and the public acclaim. In 1932, Kingsford Smith received a knighthood for his services to flying, Ulm did not. Business setbacks and dramas followed, as Ulm tried to develop the embryonic Australian airline industry. ANA fought hard against the young Qantas, already an establishment favourite, but a catastrophic crash on the airline's regular route from Sydney to Melbourne and the increasing bite of the Great Depression forced ANA's bankruptcy in 1933. Desperate to drum up publicity for a new airline venture, Ulm's final flight was meant to demonstrate the potential for a regular trans-Pacific passenger service. Somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii his plane, Stella Australis, disappeared. No trace of the plane or crew were ever found. In the years since his death, attention has focused more and more on Smithy, leaving Ulm neglected and overshadowed. This biography will attempt to rectify that, showing that Ulm was at least Smithy's equal as a flyer, and in many ways his superior as a visionary, as an organiser and as a businessman. His untimely death robbed Australia of a huge talent.

Alarmstart South completes Patrick Eriksson's Alarmstart trilogy on Second World War German fighter pilots, detailing their experiences in the Mediterranean theatre (1941-1944), and during the closing stages of the war over Normandy, Norway and Germany (1944-1945). He utilises extensive personal reminiscences of veterans and original documents, set within a brief factual framework of campaigns, equipment and the progress of the war. Veterans who flew in Me 109, Fw 190 and Me 110/410 aircraft provide their stories in their own words. They range from junior NCOs to Colonels, including a senior fighter controller and even one of the Luftwaffe's psychologists. The Mediterranean theatre provided the top scoring aces on both sides for the entire war (excluding the Russian front battles): Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 victory claims) on the German side and South African 'Pat' Pattle (an estimated 41+), on the Allied side. In the air battles over the Mediterranean region, many aircrew ended up 'in the drink' with little chance of being found. Occasionally, a miracle would happen, as with Dr Felix Sauer of JG 53, a pre-war biology teacher, who used his knowledge of chemistry and a calm demeanour to survive eight days in a dinghy at sea without water, apart from rain or dew. For many pilots the war would end only in death, for others in imprisonment. Oberfeldwebel Horst Petzschler endured forced labour in southern Russia: 'On 22 September 1949 I arrived in Berlin, my home town, weighing 118 pounds, half dead but having survived!'

Mike Brooke's successful RAF career had taken him from Cold War Canberra pilot to flying instructor at the Central Flying School in the 1970s. For his next step he undertook the demanding training regime at the UK's Empire Test Pilots' School. His goal: to become a fully qualified experimental test pilot. Trials and Errors follows his personal journey during five years of experimental test flying, during which he flew a wide variety of aircraft for research and development trials. Mike then returned to ETPS to teach pilots from all over the world to become test pilots. In this, the sequel to his successful debut book A Bucket of Sunshine and its follow-up Follow Me Through, he continues to use his personal experiences to reveal insights into trials of the times, successes and failures. Trials and Errors will prove fascinating reading for any aviation enthusiast.

This is the fascinating true story behind one of the key reasons that RAF Fighter Command saw such success in the Second World War and emerged victorious from the Battle of Britain – the incredible training school that transformed young men from inexperienced pilots into some of the finest airmen in the world. From peacetime Armament Practice Camp, to fighter Operational Training Unit, to Central Gunnery School, this is the story of how, between 1926 and 1946, the RAF developed and implemented a world-beating training system. This allowed the RAF to have total faith in the men tasked with combatting the Nazi threat from the air, and School of Aces tells the astonishing story of the station through a wealth of individual stories – with famous names, drama, courage and pathos a-plenty – recalling how pilots, air gunners and ground crew came to be at RAF Sutton Bridge, what life was like for them there and what happened to them afterwards. Prior to and during the Battles of France and Britain, RAF Sutton Bridge played a vital role in the British success by creating, in a remarkably short time, an effective training programme for potential fighter pilots. It then turned out 494 Hurricane pilots with such rapidity that summer that no fewer than 390 graduates flew as part of that illustrious band of men known forever as 'The Few'.