Raf Fighters Before The Storm

Author : Martin Derry
Publisher : Air World
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781526786210

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RAF Fighters Before the Storm by Martin Derry Pdf

When the First World War ended the then recently established Royal Air Force was awash with aircraft of all descriptions. More surprising, perhaps, was the fact that despite an ongoing cull of obsolescing types, on the last day of 1919, the RAF still possessed 9,122 non-obsolete aircraft , with a further 1,100 more assigned to the Fleet Air Arm. while the famous SE.5A and Sopwith Camel had by this time largely been consigned to history, the RAF possessed no less than 1,860 Sopwith Snipes which, from 1920, would become the RAF’s standard single-seat fighter for years to come. Other core types on charge on 31 December 1919 included some 1,650 Bristol F.2B fighters and 1,250 de Havilland DH.9As, which, together with the Snipe, accounted for over fifty per cent of the RAF’s inventory at that time. Avro 504 training aircraft accounted for a further 2,700 airframes. In this Flight Craft Special, the authors provide a detailed and informative pictorial history of those scout/fighter aircraft that served in an operational capacity with the RAF from January 1920 until the last day of 1939 – a period in which Britain once again moved from an era of peace to war with an old enemy, albeit this time Hitler’s totalitarian National Socialist Germany as opposed to the Imperial Germany of old. As well as covering each of the fighter types used during the inter-war period, and featuring most of the squadrons, the photographs themselves convey the sense of the technical advances that rapidly took root within Britain’s aero industries from the mid-1930s onwards, moving from the brightly-marked overall silver wood and linen biplanes to the dull camouflaged metal-skinned monoplanes. The progression of machine-gun development – from the Lewis and Vickers of the First World War to the later Browning – is covered, spanning the days of the biplanes’ two fixed synchronised Lewis or Vickers .303-inch machine-guns mounted in the forward fuselage to eight wing-mounted .303-inch Browning machine-guns in the ‘new’ monoplane fighters. There is also a small, but fascinating, section on the monoplane ‘also rans’ – the monoplane fighters that were designed and had prototypes built but failed to reach the finishing post!

Author : Robert Jackson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1972
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015030676996

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Before the Storm by Robert Jackson Pdf

Author : Philip Birtles
Publisher : Fonthill Media
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2017-06-25
Category : History
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Hawker Hurricane by Philip Birtles Pdf

Author : Mantelli - Brown - Kittel - Graf
Publisher : Edizioni R.E.I.
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2017-03-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9782372973311

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The Hawker Huricane - The Supermarine Spitfire by Mantelli - Brown - Kittel - Graf Pdf

The Hawker Hurricane was the first modern British fighter before the outbreak of World War II. Until 1941 the Hurricane was the most widely used combat aircraft from the Royal Air Force and the one that bore the brunt of the first clashes with aircraft of the Luftwaffe in the skies of France and Britain. Almost 3,000 aircraft of this type were delivered to the USSR, for the law Rentals & Loans, but the Soviet pilots were generally very critical of the fighter Hawker, considered inferior, not only to the German fighters, but also its. First fighter monoplane of the RAF, the first aircraft equipped with eight machine guns, was the plane means available in greater numbers to counter the waves of attack by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Available in twenty-six departments in the early summer of 1940, to August, there were thirty-two against nineteen Spitfire. Piloted by aces like Douglas Bader that made him a legend, the Hawker Hurricane Mk I, although less than the Bf 109-E, however, he proved to be a horse race, and especially at high altitudes could be more maneuverable and thus, to this, more suitable bomber hunter. "His majesty the Spitfire". This airplane is an air legend, a real brand, and his image is inextricably linked to the British victory in the Battle of Britain. It is one of the few, perhaps the only one, whose name evokes some images even in a profane things of historical aviation. Excellent defensive machine, heavily armed, very agile, climbing fast, but the lack of range and of sufficient load capacity has not helped in the war below. The Spitfire name was suggested by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers-Armstrongs at the time, who called his daughter Ann "a little spitfire," a saying Elizabethan to indicate a person impetuous.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Airplanes, Military
ISBN : 1840370491

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Hurricane by Anonim Pdf

Designed before the onset of World War II, this fast and manoeuvrable fighter became the backbone of the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. This work includes photographs of living historians in accurate uniforms and flying kit from the 1940s.

Author : Tony O'Toole,Martin Derry,Neil Robinson
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473851016

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Hawker Hurricane and Sea Hurricane by Tony O'Toole,Martin Derry,Neil Robinson Pdf

This fully illustrated volume examines the legendary RAF fighter with full details on its WWII service and design modifications. The Hawker Hurricane was aeronautical engineer Sidney Camm's masterpiece. The fighter entered Royal Air Force service in 1937 and quickly became one of the most important aircraft in Britain's military arsenal—especially in the first three years of the Second World War. It served in every wartime theatre, from Norway and France, to the Battle of Britain, the defense of Malta, the campaigns in the Western Desert, the Russian Front, and in the Far East where it saw service until the end of hostilities. Martin Derry offers a concise yet informative history of the Hurricane's development, operational career and design improvements, including many contemporary photographs with detailed captions; a 16-page color illustration section offering profiles and 2-views of 48 separate aircraft; and finally a section prepared by master maker Tony O'Toole, listing and illustrating the plastic model kits of the Hurricane available in all scales.

Author : John Dibbs,Tony Holmes,Gordon Riley
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2017-05-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472822963

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Hurricane by John Dibbs,Tony Holmes,Gordon Riley Pdf

2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the remarkable Hawker Hurricane formally entering service. The RAF's first monoplane fighter, it dragged the Air Force into a position where it could defend Britain in her 'hour of need'. The true workhorse of the RAF, the Hurricane came into its own in the hot summer months of 1940 valiantly defending the skies above Britain. Outnumbering Spitfires three to one, the Hurricane also downed far more enemy aircraft. Without the obvious elegance of the Me 109 or the Spitfire, the Hurricane was nonetheless beloved by its pilots for its ability to simultaneously take a battering and inflict serious damage from its remarkably stable gun platform. This stunning book reveals the Hurricane in all its glory – from fascinating first-hand accounts from the men who flew her to the truly breath-taking images from John Dibbs of the Hurricanes still in flight today. This lavish, fully illustrated edition is a must-have for all fans of aviation history.

Author : Jacky Hyams
Publisher : Michael O'Mara Books
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2023-06-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781789294903

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Hurricane by Jacky Hyams Pdf

Britain's first-ever wartime fighter plane, the Hawker Hurricane, shot down more enemy planes than any other fighter. It was the true aviation hero of the Battle of Britain. Often eclipsed by the legend and aerial heroics of the Spitfire, the Hurricane was the authentic warhorse of aviation history. Stable, rugged, less expensive to build - and far more easily repaired and maintained than the Spitfire - the 'Hurri' as it was affectionately known, proved to be the most fearsome fighter plane in aerial combat - at a time when Britain's survival was at stake like never before. In 1940 the Hurricane made its mark: more than half of the 1,200 German aircraft that were shot down in the war were taken down by Hurricanes. At the time, the RAF could call on 32 squadrons of Hurricanes and 19 Spitfires: the Hurricane was, in fact, the dominant British fighter plane, developing a reputation as a plane that could take more than a few hits from the enemy - and continue to fly. The Spit was the aviation thoroughbred, superb until damaged. The Hurri was much stronger. The skilled airmen came from all over the world; one of them from RAF 80 Squadron would later become a very famous author - Roald Dahl. Using documents, letters and first-hand accounts, this is the historic untold story of the Hawker Hurricane and the lives of the men and women who flew, helped design and construct, fit and worked behind the scenes of the 'Hurri', all contributing in ways big and small, to its outstanding success as a legend of the Second World War.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Ravi Rikhye
Page : 136 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-28
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780977607266

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Air War Over Greece and Albania 1949-1941 by Anonim Pdf

Author : Les Perera
Publisher : Character-19
Page : 127 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2020-08-27
Category : History
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Aircraft of World War II by Les Perera Pdf

It is generally accepted that the Spitfire was not only a great fighter aircraft but was also a symbol of Britain’s defiance of the Luftwaffe in the early years of WWII. Britain had been slow to react to German rearmament in the 1930s. Since WWI, the RAF’s front-line aircraft were mainly used in the colonial policing role where their (mostly) 1920s technology was not an issue. However, the political appeasement of Hitler’s Germany and subsequent lack of realisation had left the RAF ill-equipped to combat the potential threat posed by the German build-up. Almost too late, the government started to modernise Britain’s ageing fighter force, with orders for the Hurricane and Spitfire that were to prove invaluable in the defence of the country. These aircraft, together with others to follow, began to replace the biplane fighters and bombers that would have been hopelessly outclassed in the forthcoming war. Weapons technology, radar and electronic countermeasures all played a part in Britain’s ultimate victory. Without the aircraft and the courage of the crews who operated them, this outcome would not have been possible. Some of the aircraft that served during that period are profiled in this illustrated book with archive photography. There are many familiar names featured such as the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Avro Lancaster, but also lesser-known types including the Boulton Paul Defiant, Fairey Battle and Westland Lysander.

Author : Gordon Riley
Publisher : Grub Street Publishing
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781910690796

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Hawker Hurricane Survivors by Gordon Riley Pdf

A comprehensive catalog of the remaining World War II fighter planes, including anecdotes and photos. With 2015 being the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain—arguably the Hawker Hurricane’s “finest hour”—it is appropriate to tell the story of the surviving Hurricanes from around the world. Building on research originally started thirty years ago, Gordon Riley has delved into the archives to amass new information—and in the process managed to identify positively one Hurricane that had proved elusive for more than forty years. Today a number of Hurricanes are being privately restored globally. However, the oldest in existence, a veteran of both the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1939 and the Battle of Britain, is displayed in the Science Museum in London, and the youngest—the very last Hurricane ever built—is still flying with the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. This book documents each aircraft by country of origin and mark by mark from the day it left the factory up to the present day. Some have incredible histories whereas others served in very mundane, but still essential, second-line roles until they were disposed of. Where possible each aircraft is illustrated with a present-day photograph along with others taken throughout its life. From the serious enthusiast to the casual museum or air show visitor, if you have an interest in the Hurricane, this is the book for you. “Heavily illustrated and well produced and will serve as an excellent guide not only for historians but also warbird enthusiasts.” —Air Classics

Author : Dilip Sarkar
Publisher : Air World
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2023-10-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399056458

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The Breaking Storm by Dilip Sarkar Pdf

In The Breaking Storm, the first of Dilip Sarkar’s unprecedented seven-volume series exploring the Battle of Britain, the events that led up to the outbreak of war in 1939, and which set the scene for the epic aerial conflict of summer 1940, are fully explored. Continuing his examination of the events of the Spitfire Summer, in The Breaking Storm Dilip provides a day-by-day chronicle of the Battle of Britain’s first phase – the so-called Kanalkampf – which was fought over the Channel-bound convoys between 10 July and 12 August 1940. This account, though, does not simply concern RAF Fighter Command, as the author recognizes the operations and efforts of the RAF’s Bomber and Coastal commands, the Royal Navy and mercantile marine – making this book part of what he calls ‘the Big story’. Hitler’s actual policies and intentions towards the ongoing war with Britain are also explored. If the Battle of Britain was fought to deny Germany the aerial superiority required to launch a seaborne invasion of southern England, then, the author argues, the conflict could surely only have begun when the Germans committed to Operation Seelöwe – which was not, in fact, until 21 July 1940. It has previously been accepted that Hitler’s War Directive of 16 July 1940 signaled the intention to invade, but the author proves that this was no more than another example of the ‘brinkmanship’ that Hitler was renowned for, and the air attacks at that time little more than ‘Air Fleet Diplomacy’, all of which was intended to frighten Britain into accepting the Führer’s ‘last appeal to reason’ of 19 July 1940. In his broadcast of 22 July 1940, Lord Halifax made the nation’s unbowed position quite clear. He called Hitler’s bluff: previously reluctant to fight Britain, Hitler’s preferred policy in the ongoing war had been blockade and diplomacy – but now he had no choice but to unleash the Luftwaffe against Britain. All of this is investigated in detail, aligning these wider events and high decisions with action in the air. Through diligent research, combined with crucial official primary sources and personal papers, Dilip unravels many myths, often challenging the accepted narrative. This is not simply another dull record of combat losses and claims – far from it. Drawing upon unique first-hand accounts from a wide-range of combatants and eyewitnesses, along with Daily Home Intelligence Reports and numerous other primary sources, this book forms part of what is likely to be the first and last such comprehensively woven account of this epic air battle.

Author : Philip Birtles
Publisher : Red Kite / Air Research
Page : 106 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Hurricane (Fighter pilots)
ISBN : 9780953806157

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Hurricane Squadrons by Philip Birtles Pdf

Author : Martyn Chorlton
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 67 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2013-02-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781780966038

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Hawker Hurricane Mk I–V by Martyn Chorlton Pdf

At the outbreak of World War II, only 111 Squadron and a handful of others were equipped with the Hurricane. Thanks to sudden massive orders and a well-organized Hawker sub-contracting production to Gloster and General Aircraft, more squadrons rapidly became operational. Cutting their teeth during the Battle of France, it was during the Battle of Britain that the type excelled and came to form the backbone of Fighter Command. While the Hurricane was steadily overtaken by the Spitfire in the fighter defence role, it remained the fighter of choice in North Africa and the Far East. Despite a large number being shot down in these far-flung conflicts, many received hasty repairs and returned to the fray while more fragile designs were permanently grounded. The Hurricane may not have been the prettiest or, the best-performing aircraft but, as Francis Mason stated: 'The Royal Air Force was glad to get the Spitfire...it had to have the Hurricane!'

Author : Mark Barber
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 66 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2012-09-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781849087803

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RAF Fighter Command Pilot by Mark Barber Pdf

The recent 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, combined with the threat of significant cuts to the current RAF, have highlighted the importance of Fighter Command in the early days of World War II once more. The role of the “few”, as described by Churchill, during the Battle of Britain has been the subject of much mythologizing both at the time and in the years since. This title will put Fighter Command in context; describing the lack of funding and attention which it received during the interwar period, until it was almost too late. The myth of the fighter pilot will be humanized, with first-hand accounts quoted which put nervous but brave human beings from all walks of life in the cockpit. Although the Battle of Britain may not have in itself been the decisive encounter that it has historically been portrayed as, the moral victory won by the RAF, the victory that proved that Germany could be defeated, was just as important as a military-strategic victory.