Eyewitness Raf

Author : James Goulty
Publisher : Pen and Sword Aviation
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2020-12-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781526752406

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Eyewitness RAF by James Goulty Pdf

Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War–memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits – but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty’s Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual’s experience of the RAF – the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties – airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some postwar accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.

Author : James Goulty
Publisher : Pen & Sword Aviation
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-30
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1526752379

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Eyewitness RAF by James Goulty Pdf

Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War-memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits - but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty's Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service.Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual's experience of the RAF - the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties - airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner.A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some post-war accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.

Author : Bryn Evans
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2014-04-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473834811

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The Decisive Campaigns of the Desert Air Force, 1942–1945 by Bryn Evans Pdf

“Absorbing . . . this is an excellent account of air operations and tactics of the air battles in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Italy.”—Firetrench Compared to the RAF’s Fighter and Bomber Commands, the Desert Air Force (DAF) is far less well known, yet its achievements were spectacular. DAF led the way in North Africa and Italy in pioneering new tactics in close Army-Air Force cooperation on the battlefield; DAF and Allied air forces gave Allied armies in North Africa and Italy a decisive cutting edge. While the Axis forces used the many rivers and mountains of Tunisia and Italy to slow the Allies’ advance, DAF was there to provide that extra mobile firepower—the artillery from the sky. They were the first multinational air force, and the first to introduce air controllers in the front lines of the battlefield. With first-hand accounts by veteran airmen from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, this book “tells the previously untold story of how the DAF was the most decisive single factor in winning the three battles of El Alamein, and victory in the North Africa and Italy campaigns” (Yorkshire Evening Post). “A most welcome addition to the historiography of the air aspects of the war in North Africa and the wider Mediterranean . . . [it] will have considerable appeal to a wide ranging readership, but especially those interested in the tactical detail and personal experiences of the airmen involved in the various campaigns.”—British Journal for Military History

Author : R. Leslie Oliver
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 158 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781787200067

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Malta At Bay: An Eye-Witness Account by R. Leslie Oliver Pdf

In this detailed eye-witness account the author describes the realities of the fighting over and around Malta during World War II, up to and including 21 March 1942, when Malta became the subject of more heavy attacks. Written under the incessant bombardments that the small island was subjected to, R. Leslie Oliver records the unfailing courage of the defenders of the George Cross Island.

Author : David F. Crew
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2017-05-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780472130139

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Bodies and Ruins by David F. Crew Pdf

Explores visual representations of the Allied bombing war on Germany to reveal how Germans remembered and commemorated WWII

Author : Tom Docherty
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2009-07-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781783409266

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Swift to Battle: No 72 Fighter Squadron RAF in Action, 1937–1942 by Tom Docherty Pdf

This first of three volumes traces the history of 72 Fighter Squadron, one of the premier squadrons in the Royal Air Force. The aircraft flown, operational personnel and missions flown are fully described with firsthand accounts from pilots and both air and ground crew.Having been first established in 1917 the squadron was disbanded in February 1918. It was re-formed in February 1937 from B Flight of 1 Squadron and was equipped with Gloster Gladiators. In 1939 it was re-equipped with Spitfires which were used in air defense and convoy protection sorties following the start of the war. In 1940 the squadron moved to assist in the evacuation of Dunkirk. During The Battle of Britain, 72 spent the early days at RAF Acklington as part of 13 Group before moving south during September to assist the main defense force. The squadron then flew penetration Circus missions over occupied Europe with the intention of causing havoc to the German forces and also to lure German fighters into combat.

Author : Max Arthur
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2012-02-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9781848947443

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Lost Voices of The Royal Air Force by Max Arthur Pdf

Max Arthur, bestselling author of FORGOTTEN VOICES: THE GREAT WAR, presents this moving collection of first-hand accounts of life in the Royal Air Force, from 1918 to the present day. LOST VOICES OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE records the role of the RAF in World War II, and, particularly, the Battle of Britain and the desert battles of North Africa, as well as in the Falklands and in the Gulf War. Through original interviews with air and ground crew, the spirit and comradeship, the stress, courage, isolation, vulnerability and the wonder of the wartime flying experience is vividly explored.

Author : John Carey
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 564 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Reference
ISBN : 067428755X

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Eyewitness to Science by John Carey Pdf

Plotting the development of modern science from Leonardo da Vinci to Chaos Theory, John Carey chooses accounts by scientists themselves that are both elegant and arrestingly written. The classic science-writers are here: Darwin, Huxley, Fabre. So, too, are the luminaries of the late 20th-century genre of popular science writing.

Author : Ross Reyburn
Publisher : Pen and Sword History
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2022-10-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399059992

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Eyewitness at Dieppe by Ross Reyburn Pdf

In August 1942, Allied forces mounted an attack on the German-held port of Dieppe; titled Operation Jubilee, it represented a rehearsal for invasion. The amphibious attack saw over 6,000 infantrymen, predominantly Canadian, put ashore, tasked with destroying German structures and gathering intelligence. The doomed raid was an abject failure, and became Canada’s worst military disaster. Eyewitness at Dieppe is a long-overdue reissue of New Zealand-born writer Wallace Reyburn’s dramatic account of the raid. He was with the first soldiers clambering ashore, and aboard the last ship returning to England after six hours of carnage. Awarded an OBE as the only war correspondent to witness the street fighting first-hand, Reyburn was fortunate not be numbered among Dieppe’s dead, suffering just a minor wound inflicted by mortar shell fragments. His book, Rehearsal for Invasion was a wartime bestseller. Accompanied by freelance journalist Ross Reyburn’s new foreword on his father’s account, this new edition tells us more about Wallace’s intriguing life and details the shortcomings of his father’s book, dictated by wartime censorship corrected in the post-war years through a withering condemnation of raid’s mastermind Lord Mountbatten.

Author : G. Campion
Publisher : Springer
Page : 387 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2016-01-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780230291645

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The Good Fight by G. Campion Pdf

Propaganda during the Battle of Britain contributed to high national morale and optimism, with 'The 'Few's' prowess and valour projected through Air Ministry communiqués and daily claims 'scores'. The media was a willing partner in portraying their heroism, also later consolidated in wartime publications, films and historiography.

Author : David Oliver
Publisher : Collins
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : World War, 1939-1945
ISBN : 0004722205

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Fighter Command, 1939-1945 by David Oliver Pdf

"RAF Fighter Command fought and won the most crucial battle of the Second World War. Had it failed in the summer of 1940 and the Luftwaffe won air superiority over southern Britain, the course of world history might have been very different. In August 1940, General Erwin Rommel, later commander of the famous Afrika Korps, was scheduled to lead his 7th panzer division ashore in Kent. Instead, Fighter Command's victory in the Battle of Britain ruled out any possibility of a German invasion across the Channel. And so Hitler turned east, launched his armies into Russia and transformed the course of the war." "Sixty years on, the number of survivors of the Battle of Britain, and of Fighter Command's subsequent campaigns, is sadly dwindling. Aviation historian David Oliver has interviewed many veterans in the course of his research. His new history of the wartime RAF is based on eyewitness testimony as well as a lifetime's study of the Second World War in the air."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Author : John Manrho,Ron Pütz
Publisher : Stackpole Books
Page : 594 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Air bases
ISBN : 9780811706865

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Bodenplatte by John Manrho,Ron Pütz Pdf

"One of our goals was to describe, as accurately as possible, the events taking place in the morning of January 1st, 1945... We had to refrain from going into the nightfighter attacks of December 31st, 1944, and for reasons of brevity we also had to let go of any other bomber or escort missions of the Allied air forces on January 1st. The contents of the book have been divided into chapters dealing with the individual attacks of the Luftwaffe Geschwader. As a result, the subject matter is dealt with primarily from a Luftwaffe point of view. After all, it was a Luftwaffe operation. However, we have endeavoured to create a balanced view of each attack, showing in just as much detail the Allied perspective. At the end of each chapter, we have drawn our conclusions, carefully evaluating all available Luftwaffe and Allied points of view"--P. ix.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 944 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1944
Category : New York times
ISBN : UCD:31175029834002

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The New York Times Index by Anonim Pdf

Author : Jon E. Lewis
Publisher : Robinson
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472103994

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Voices from D-Day by Jon E. Lewis Pdf

The extraordinary and compelling story of the 6th of June, 1944, Operation Overlord and the Battle for Normandy is told here through first-hand testimonies from civilians and soldiers on both sides. It features classic accounts by soldiers such as Rommel and Bradley, together with frontline reports by some of the world?s finest authors and war correspondents, including Ernest Hemingway and Alan Melville. Highlights of this unique collection include the break-out from Omaha beach as told by the GI who led it, a French housewife?s story of what it was like to wake up to the invasion, German soldiers? accounts of finding themselves facing the biggest seaborne invasion in history, a view from the command post by a member of Eisenhower?s staff, combat reports, diaries and letters of British veterans of all forces and services, and accounts of the follow-up battle for Normandy, one of the bloodiest struggles of the war. The Allied armada involved over 5,000 craft, which had by the end of `the longest day? succeeded in landing 156,000 men, and in breaching Hitler?s much vaunted defensive wall. Dramatic and historic though the events of D-Day were, they were but the opening shots of a much larger and equally remarkable battle ? the battle for Normandy. It took the Allies ten weeks of bloody fighting to get out of Normandy, during which the infantry casualty rate rivalled that of the Western Front in the First World War. This book is the story of that fateful day, the preparations which led up to it, and the ten weeks of fighting in Normandy which followed it, told by the men and women who were there, who witnessed it at first hand. It is compiled from interviews with scores of veterans, from diaries, memoirs and letters. Occasionally, exact chronology has been sacrificed in the interests of communicating better the experience of Normandy, for above all this is a book about how the invasion looked and felt to those who were there. It is often brutally honest, far removed from the comfortable romantic version of D-Day and the battle for Normandy. (For example, there are accounts here of crimes committed against German POWs by Allied soldiers.)

Author : Michael Napier
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2018-02-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472825391

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The Royal Air Force by Michael Napier Pdf

A fully illustrated history of the Royal Air Force while on operations, publishing to mark the centenary of its foundation in World War I. The world's first independent air force, the Royal Air Force celebrates its centenary in 2018. In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the service has been involved in almost continuous operations around the globe, giving the RAF the longest and most wide-ranging history of any air force in the world. But over the years this history has also become entangled with myths. The Royal Air Force: A Centenary of Operations sets the record straight, dispelling these as it uncovers – in both words and photographs – the true exploits and accomplishments of RAF personnel over the last 100 years. From its formation as an independent service in the dying days of World War I, its desperate fight against the Axis air forces in World War II, to its commitments during both the Cold War and modern times, this is the complete story of how the RAF has defended Britain for a century.