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Edward Teddy Mortlock Donaldson was one of three aviator brothers to win the D.S.O. during World War II. He joined his brother in the R.A.F. and was granted a sort-service commission. He quickly became both a stunt pilot and a crack-shot, winning the R.A.F.s Gunnery Trophy One and leading the R.A.F.s aerobatic display team. When war was declared Donaldson was commanding No 151(F) Squadron flying Hurricanes and in their first engagement destroyed six enemy aircraft, shooting down many more in the following months. For his leadership of the squadron during the battle and his personal tally of eleven, plus ten probable destruction's he was awarded the D.S.O. He then spent three years as a gunnery instructor in the USA where he taught American Gun Instructors and helped set up new gunnery schools. On his return to England he converted onto jet aircraft and commanded a Meteor squadron. This lead to him being selected to command the Air Speed Flight, established in 1946 to break the world record. Teddy eventually snatched the title, setting a new speed record and breaking the 1000 km/h barrier. He retired as an Air Commodore and became the Air Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. He died in 1992.
An account of what being a jet pilot or navigator involves, looking at the stress and prestige associated with being a member of the RAF's 29 Squadron, and providing insight into characters and activities, and the use of modern technology. To accompany a six-part ITV series.
“This unique, impressive study presents a history in microcosm of the entire Luftwaffe Fighter Corps . . . [a] spellbinding work.” —Library Journal Jagdgeschwader 26, the German elite fighter unit, was more feared by the Allies than any other Luftwaffe group. Based on extensive archival research in Europe, personal combat diaries and interviews with more than 50 surviving pilots, Caldwell has assembled a superb day-to-day chronicle of JG 26 operations, from its first air victory in 1939 to its final combat patrol in 1945. A microcosm of World War II exists in the rise and fall of this famous fighter wing. For the first two years of the war it was an even match between the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs; but the scales tipped in favor of the Allies in 1943 with the arrival of the Eighth US Air Force and its peerless P-51 Mustang. The book has been endorsed by the top fighter commanders of three air forces: the RAF (Johnnie Johnson), the USAAF (Hub Zemke), and the Luftwaffe (Adolf Galland) and is considered essential reading for anyone interested in the aerial war of 1941–45.
Author : Michael Paris Publisher : Manchester University Press Page : 228 pages File Size : 45,8 Mb Release : 1995 Category : Flight in motion pictures ISBN : 0719040744
From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun by Michael Paris Pdf
The cinema and aviation developed alongside each other, and were both products of the technology and imagination of the early 20th century. This book examines the ways in which aeroplanes and flying have been portrayed in the many different genres within popular cinema, from Hollywood epics to comedy spoofs to modern tragedies. It covers over 500 American and British films, including, The Dambusters, The High and the Mighty, Airplane, Top Gun and The Shadowmakers.
Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World Warmemoirs, 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 Goultys 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 individuals 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.
Absent Aviators by Albert Mills,Jane Neal-Smith,Donna Bridges Pdf
The objective of this book is to present a number of related chapters on the subject of gender issues in the workplace of the aviation industry. More specifically, the chapters address the continuing shortfall in the number of women pilots in both civilian and military aviation. Considerable research has been carried out on gender issues in the workplace and, for example, women represent about 10% of employees in engineering. This example is often used to show that the consequences of gender discrimination are embedded and difficult to overcome in masculine-dominated occupations. However, women represent only 5-6% of the profession of pilot. Clearly there are many factors which mitigate women seeking to become pilots. The chapters within this volume raise both theoretical and practical issues, endeavouring to address the imbalance of women pilots in this occupation. Absent Aviators consolidates a diverse range of issues from a number of authors from Australia, Austria, the United States, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Each of the chapters is research-based and aims to present a broad picture of gender issues in aviation, gendered workplaces and sociology, underpinned by sound theoretical perspectives and methodologies. One chapter additionally raises issues on the historical exclusion of race from an airline. The book will prove to be a valuable contribution to the debates on women in masculine-oriented occupations and a practical guide for the aviation industry to help overcome the looming shortfall of pilots. It is also hoped it will directly encourage young women to identify and overcome the barriers to becoming a civilian or military pilot.
'Nerve-shattering, enlightening and deeply moving' - JOHN NICHOL 'A powerful and compelling read' - ROWLAND WHITE On 5 December 2002, trainee pilot Nathan Gray walked away from an 'unsurvivable' crash at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire. His instructor, seated behind him, was killed instantly. Despite the physical pain and mental scars, he found the strength and resilience to continue his flying career. Today Commander Nathan Gray is one of the UK's elite test pilots - the best of the best. Hazard Spectrum allows us to share Nathan's dizzying journey to the top of the Fleet Air Arm. With over 140 combat missions to his name, he is among the most decorated pilots in the British armed forces - our very own Maverick. In an exhilarating first-person narrative, Nathan takes us inside the cockpit as he holds Taliban fighters at bay in Afghanistan, and leads a top-secret mission to seek out Osama Bin Laden in the mountains of the Hindu Kush. In 2018, Nathan was chosen to complete the first take-off and landing of the world's most advanced fighter aircraft - the F35 stealth jet - on the flight deck of the flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth. A television audience of millions held its collective breath as he geared up for the task. This is the inspiring and unforgettable story of a man with a supreme ability to fly the most sophisticated and deadly planes ever created, who overcomes his personal demons to push the hazard spectrum to the limit - and beyond.
A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times bestselling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days When the Nazi blitzkrieg rolled over continental Europe in the early days of World War II, the city of London became a refuge for the governments and armed forces of six occupied nations who escaped there to continue the fight. So, too, did General Charles de Gaulle, the self-appointed representative of free France. As the only European democracy still holding out against Hitler, Britain became known to occupied countries as “Last Hope Island.” Getting there, one young emigré declared, was “like getting to heaven.” In this epic, character-driven narrative, acclaimed historian Lynne Olson takes us back to those perilous days when the British and their European guests joined forces to combat the mightiest military force in history. Here we meet the courageous King Haakon of Norway, whose distinctive “H7” monogram became a symbol of his country’s resistance to Nazi rule, and his fiery Dutch counterpart, Queen Wilhelmina, whose antifascist radio broadcasts rallied the spirits of her defeated people. Here, too, is the Earl of Suffolk, a swashbuckling British aristocrat whose rescue of two nuclear physicists from France helped make the Manhattan Project possible. Last Hope Island also recounts some of the Europeans’ heretofore unsung exploits that helped tilt the balance against the Axis: the crucial efforts of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain; the vital role played by French and Polish code breakers in cracking the Germans’ reputedly indecipherable Enigma code; and the flood of top-secret intelligence about German operations—gathered by spies throughout occupied Europe—that helped ensure the success of the 1944 Allied invasion. A fascinating companion to Citizens of London, Olson’s bestselling chronicle of the Anglo-American alliance, Last Hope Island recalls with vivid humanity that brief moment in time when the peoples of Europe stood together in their effort to roll back the tide of conquest and restore order to a broken continent. Praise for Last Hope Island “In Last Hope Island [Lynne Olson] argues an arresting new thesis: that the people of occupied Europe and the expatriate leaders did far more for their own liberation than historians and the public alike recognize. . . . The scale of the organization she describes is breathtaking.”—The New York Times Book Review “Last Hope Island is a book to be welcomed, both for the past it recovers and also, quite simply, for being such a pleasant tome to read.”—The Washington Post “[A] pointed volume . . . [Olson] tells a great story and has a fine eye for character.”—The Boston Globe
The authoritative biography of the WWII ace fighter pilot, hero of the Battle of Britain and author of the classic wartime memoir The Last Enemy. As both a legendary flying ace and an accomplished author, Richard Hillary achieved a unique kind of immortality during his tragically short life. Born in Australia and raised in England, he attended Oxford University before joining the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. Flying Spitfires in the 603 Squadron, he became an ace in the Battle of Britain. Though he managed to survive being shot down in September 1940, he suffered severe burns to his face and hands. It was during his long and painful recovery that Hillary wrote his masterpiece, The Last Enemy. Then, anxious to return to flying, he died when his Bristol Blenheim bomber crashed in ‘mysterious’ circumstances in 1943. Cutting through myth and misinformation, biographer David Ross draws on extensive archival research, including from the Richard Hillary Trust Archive in Oxford, as well as interviews with Hillary’s contemporaries. This complete biography also features many previously unseen photographs.
The complete history of the Royal Air Force fighter station that played a vital role in D-Day, the Battle of Britain and throughout WWII. In its day, RAF Tangmere was one of the most famous and strategically important fighter stations in the British Isles. At the outbreak of World War II, it sent the first RAF squadron to France. During the Battle of Britain, Tangmere was one of the main fighter stations constantly engaging with the deadly Luftwaffe. Tangmere’s Hurricane and Spitfire pilots heroically defended southern England for the next three years and turned increasingly to an offensive role. Squadrons at Tangmere were involved in Operation Jubilee and the combined raid on Dieppe. They harassed the enemy across the Channel with ever-increasing accuracy—a practice that led to their pivotal role in Operation Overlord, the Normandy landings. As the cold war set in, Tangmere was no longer well positioned as an interceptor station and by the end of 1958 Fighter Command had withdrawn its last squadron. It was eventually decommissioned in 1970, but lives on as the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Expertly told with use of official diaries and operations records, this is the definitive history of RAF Tangmere.
Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain by Kristen Alexander Pdf
During the summer and autumn of 1940, the Germans launched their Luftwaffe campaign to gain superiority over the RAF, especially Fighter Command. They were not successful, and this defeat marked a turning point in the Allies' favour. This is the story of eight Australian fighter pilots engaged in the Battle of Britain, the first major battle of World War II (or any war) fought entirely in the air. Jack Kennedy, Stuart Walch, Dick Glyde, Ken Holland, Pat Hughes, Bill Millington, John Crossman and Des Sheen Ð only one of them came home.??A story we take for granted, here told afresh with insight and empathy.?Professor Peter Stanley, UNSW Canberra??In telling the stories of some of the Australians who flew in the Battle of Britain, Kristen Alexander has combined academic rigour with compelling personal detail. She has demonstrated that the ÒunknownsÓ of the Battle are as fascinating as those who gained celebrity status. This is a book for those who know much about what happened in 1940 and those who don't.... Geoff Simpson, Trustee, Battle of Britain Memorial Trust??The lives of eight Australian fighter pilots, from backyard to cockpit and beyond, lovingly and expertly told.... Andy Wright, Aircrew Book Review
10 July, the official first day of the Battle of Britain, witnessed increased aerial activity over the English Channel and along the eastern and southern seaboards of the British coastline. The main assaults by ever-increasing formations of Luftwaffe bombers, escorted by Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighters, were initially aimed at British merchant shipping convoys plying their trade of coal and other materials from the north of England to the southern ports. These attacks often met with increasing success although RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes endeavoured to repel the Heinkel He 111s, Dornier Do 17s and Junkers Ju 88s, frequently with ill-afforded loss in pilots and aircraft. Within a month, the English Channel was effectively closed to British shipping. Only a change in the Luftwaffe’s tactics in mid-August, when the main attack changed to the attempted destruction of the RAF’s southern airfields, allowed convoys to resume sneaking through without too greater hindrance.
In the summer of 1940 the fate of Europe hung in the balance. Victory in the forthcoming air battle would mean national survival; defeat would establish German tyranny. The Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the RAF, but during the Battle of Britain it was the RAF that emerged triumphant, thanks to two key fighter planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Hurricane made up over half of Fighter Command's front-line strength, and its revolutionary design transformed the RAF's capabilities. Leo McKinstry tells the story of the remarkable plane from its designers to the first-hand testimonies of those brave pilots who flew it; he takes in the full military and political background but always keeps the human stories to the fore - to restore the Hawker Hurricane to its rightful place in history.
British Aircraft Armament: RAF gun turrets from 1914 to the present day by R. Wallace Clarke Pdf
This is a comprehensive survey covering every weapon used by the British air services, featuring in detail weapon aiming systems, guns, powered turrets and guided missles, through to the 1990s Sidewinder missile.
The RAF's Armourers by Tony Lamsdale,Phil Appleby Pdf
It is said that one of the earliest trades in the world is that of the armorer. Historically, it is a profession dated slightly after prostitution, but well before banking! Since the birth of the Royal Flying Corps in 1912 through to the modern Royal Air Force, the role of the armorer has been pivotal. Not for nothing did the founder of the RAF, Lord Trenchard, once declare: ‘The armorer – without him there is no need for an air force.’ In the years since the need for RAF armorers was first recognized, it has been a role that has evolved with the times. What has remained constant, however, is the fact that it is still a fascinating and potentially dangerous trade with many different branches and specialisms. In this book the authors, one of whom, Tony Lamsdale, is himself a former RAF armorer, reveal the previously untold story of how the trade has adapted to the most modern of military machines, the aircraft. The authors look at the shared history of the armorer and the RAF through the eyes of those who served. These veterans’ stories span decades, and their first-hand accounts and insights into conflict and peace-time operations demonstrate the qualities and characteristics that make armorers unique. The book starts with a brief history of the armorer, then before capturing the adventures and exploits of RAF armorers from the Second World War and on into the Cold War. The dangerous duties of the armorers on deployment in such places as the Falklands, Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan are all explored. There is also the question of having to learn of bomb dumps, the use of small arms and the unique world of the armorer with its own peculiar language and the camaraderie of the crew room. With each chapter brought to life through personal anecdotes and shared experiences, this book provides an insight into an utterly essential role which has remained largely hidden – until now.
