The Royal Air Force

Author : Michael Napier
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 49,6 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.

Author : Tom Killebrew
Publisher : University of North Texas Press
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2015-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781574416152

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The Royal Air Force in American Skies by Tom Killebrew Pdf

By early 1941, the war raged in Europe and Great Britain stood alone against the aerial might of Nazi Germany. Although much of the Royal Air Force's pilot training program had been relocated to Canada and other Dominion countries, the need for pilots remained acute. The British looked to the United States for possible assistance. Passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941 allowed for the training of British pilots in the United States and the formation of British Flying Training Schools. These unique schools were owned by American operators, staffed with American civilian instructors, supervised by British Royal Air Force officers, utilized aircraft supplied by the U.S. Army Air Corps, and used the RAF training syllabus. Within these pages, Tom Killebrew provides the first comprehensive history of all seven British Flying Training Schools located in Terrell, Texas; Lancaster, California; Miami, Oklahoma; Mesa, Arizona; Clewiston, Florida; Ponca City, Oklahoma; and Sweetwater, Texas. The first British students arrived in a still-neutral United States in June 1941. Many had never been in an airplane (or even driven an automobile), but they mastered the elements of flight, attended ground school classes, were introduced to the mysteries of the Link trainer and instrument flight, and then ventured out on cross country exercises. Students began night flying with the natural apprehension associated with taking off into a black sky, aided by only a few instruments, a flickering flare path, and limited ground references. Some students failed the periodic check flights and had to be eliminated from training, while others were killed during mishaps and are buried in local cemeteries. Those who finished the course became Royal Air Force pilots. But the story of the British Flying Training Schools is more than the story of young men learning to fly. These young British students would also forge a strong and long-lasting bond of friendship with the Americans they came to know. This bond would last not only during training, but would continue throughout the war, and still exist long after the end of the war.

Author : David E. Omissi
Publisher : Manchester University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : History
ISBN : 0719029600

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Air Power and Colonial Control by David E. Omissi Pdf

Between the world wars the main task of the RAF was to crush tribal rebellions against British rule. This study, based almost entirely on unpublished documents, shows how the independent peacetime role of air policing ensured the survival of the RAF during the lean financial times after WWI. Its analysis of rebellion and imperial violence is of interest to a broad audience. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Alex M Spencer
Publisher : Purdue University Press
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2020-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781557539427

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British Imperial Air Power by Alex M Spencer Pdf

British Imperial Air Power examines the air defense of Australia and New Zealand during the interwar period. It also demonstrates the difficulty of applying new military aviation technology to the defense of the global Empire and provides insight into the nature of the political relationship between the Pacific Dominions and Britain. Following World War I, both Dominions sought greater independence in defense and foreign policy. Public aversion to military matters and the economic dislocation resulting from the war and later the Depression left little money that could be provided for their respective air forces. As a result, the Empire’s air services spent the entire interwar period attempting to create a strategy in the face of these handicaps. In order to survive, the British Empire’s military air forces offered themselves as a practical and economical third option in the defense of Britain’s global Empire, intending to replace the Royal Navy and British Army as the traditional pillars of imperial defense.

Author : Malcolm Hobart
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 187 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2012-12-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781783469031

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Badges and Uniforms of the Royal Air Force by Malcolm Hobart Pdf

Throughout the relatively short yet highly distinguished history of the Royal Air Force there has been a tendency for the men and women of the Service to be overshadowed by the glamour of the aircraft.Nonetheless it is surprising that there has never before been a complete record of the uniforms and badges of the RAF and its predecessor, the Royal Flying Corps. Malcolm Hobart and Pen and Sword Books have cooperated to rectify this serious omission with this superbly color illustrated and comprehensive collector's guide. Badges of rank and trade are all depicted not only for the flying arms but for ground staff. This valuable addition to our Collector series also covers the RAF Reserves and Auxiliary Service, Air Training Corps and the Royal Observer Corps.

Author : Tom Killebrew
Publisher : University of North Texas Press
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 9781574411690

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The Royal Air Force in Texas by Tom Killebrew Pdf

With the outbreak of World War II, British RAF officials sought to train aircrews outside of England, safe from enemy attack and poor weather. In the USA, six civilian flight schools dedicated themselves to instructing RAF pilots. Tom Killebrew explores the history of the Terrell Aviation School.

Author : T.C.G. James
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135273989

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The Battle of Britain by T.C.G. James Pdf

This is the second volume of the classified history of air defence in Great Britain. Written while World War II was still being fought, the account has an analysis of the defensive tactics of Fighter Command, and attempts a day-by-day analysis of the action as it took place.

Author : Martin Francis
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2011-05-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780191616969

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The Flyer by Martin Francis Pdf

Between 1939 and 1945, the British public was spellbound by the martial endeavours and dashing style of the young men of the RAF, especially those with silvery fabric wings sewn above the breast pocket of their glamorous slate-blue uniform. Martin Francis provides the first scholarly study of the place of 'the flyer' in British culture during the Second World War. Examining the lives of RAF personnel, and their popular representation in literary and cinematic texts, he illuminates broader issues of gender, social class, national and racial identities, emotional life, and the creation of a national myth in twentieth-century Britain. In particular, Francis argues that the flyer's relationship to fear, aggression, loss of his comrades, bodily dismemberment, and psychological breakdown reveals broader ambiguities surrounding the dominant understandings of masculinity in the middle decades of the century. Despite his star appeal, cultural representations of the flyer encompassed both the gentle, chivalrous warrior and the uncompromising agent of destruction. Paying particular attention to the romantic universe of wartime aircrew, Francis reveals the extraordinary contrasts of their daily lives: dicing with death in the sky one moment, before sitting down to lunch with wives and children in the next. Male and female experiences during the war were not polarized and antithetical, but were complementary and interrelated, a conclusion which has implications for the history of gender in modern Britain that reach well beyond either the specialized military culture of the wartime RAF or the chronological parameters of the Second World War.

Author : Ian Philpott
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 489 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2013-12-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781781593332

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The Birth of the Royal Air Force by Ian Philpott Pdf

Ian Philpott presents us here with a compendium of facts, operational histories and photo illustrations, combined to create a comprehensive account of the early years of the Royal Air Force. Illustrated throughout, it features details of all military operations from 1914 to 1918 which impacted upon the organisation. Also included are operational details of the Independent Bomber Force throughout 1918, a supplementary historical strand that is sure to appeal to Aviation enthusiasts with a taste for features of niche focus. Details of the airfields, landing grounds, seaplane bases and various other landmarks of this era are given, and readers are encouraged to use the work as a reference book, being as it is a weighty tome of encyclopedic scope. ??Sure to make a welcome addition to any aviation enthusiasts library, this well-researched piece of work has been a long time in the making. Philpott brings his typical flare to the project, leaving no stone unturned when it comes to this dynamic, defining period of Royal Air Force history.??As featured in the East Kent Mercury and Essence Magazine.

Author : John Buckley,Paul Beaver
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2018-06-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192518958

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The Royal Air Force by John Buckley,Paul Beaver Pdf

In 1918, the Royal Air Force became the first major independent air force in the world. Formed to serve a strategic need in the most intensive war that Britain had then fought, the RAF continued in the inter-war era to play a key role in the political and diplomatic world, and in defending the Empire. During the Second World War, the RAF was pivotal in defending Britain from invasion in the Battle of Britain, and then in leading the assault on the Axis powers, most notably through the contentious bomber offensive against Germany. In the post-war world, the RAF adapted and developed into a force to meet the needs of the United Kingdom during the Cold War, the retreat from Empire, and most recently in the move to coalition warfare against low intensity threats, all against a backdrop of diminishing resources and shifting priorities. This is the story of the RAF over the first century of its existence: how it has confronted the many challenges and threats it has faced — from the Luftwaffe in 1940, through the spectre of nuclear holocaust in the Cold War, to the fight against terrorism in the 21st century — and how it has contributed to the defence of the United Kingdom throughout that period.

Author : Henry Probert
Publisher : Potomac Books
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015034308786

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The Forgotten Air Force by Henry Probert Pdf

2. Verdenskrig. Beretning om RAF's deltagelse i krigen i Sydøstasien og i Stillehavet.

Author : Christina J.M. Goulter
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2014-01-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135204549

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A Forgotten Offensive by Christina J.M. Goulter Pdf

The "forgotten offensive" of the title is RAF Coastal Command's offensive against German sea-trade between 1940 and 1945. The fortunes of the campaign are followed throughout the war, and its success is then evaluated in terms of the shipping sunk, and the impact on the German economy.

Author : Samuel Cuthbert Rexford-Welch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 816 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 1954
Category : Great Britain. Royal Air Force
ISBN : UCAL:B4958079

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The Royal Air Force Medical Services by Samuel Cuthbert Rexford-Welch Pdf

Author : Ian Watson
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 474 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2010-06-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781783031399

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The Royal Air Force at Home by Ian Watson Pdf

"Military public relations endeavors ultimately seek to build a sense of common interests and aims, and so generally foster good relations with the people they defend, and there in ensure a stable society. The armed forces when engaging on any public relations exercise, have traditionally sought to provide an entertaining spectacle. For years this has been typified by parades, bands, mock battles, drill displays and other relevant feats of military prowess which have captured the imagination of the public and inspired potential recruits. The 20th Century brought a new dimension to the field of warfare and subsequently added a new strand to the fabric of public ceremony and displays by the armed forces. That new dimension was the arrival of powered flight.Display flying began within five years of the Wright Brothers making their milestone first flight. The first events staged in Britain which centered on demonstrations by flying machines, were organized by the town councils of Blackpool and Doncaster and were held within days of each other in October 1909. 1920 was the year that the first of the famed and legendary Hendon Air Pageants was staged, and this is where military air shows traditionally began. The Hendon Displays were organized and staged by the still fledging Royal Air Force and it was probably due in no small part to the prestige and spectacle of this fresh new dimension of military pageantry, together with other like events held at RAF airfields through the next two decades, that the very existence of the RAF was saved from the threat of abolition. The history of the RAF's commitment (one that compares almost uniquely with other air forces) toward display flying through the years after World War II has now come of age. This account of their record in this often overlooked but then again traditional field of military customs, describes and illustrates the major public RAF events since 1920."

Author : M. J. Armitage
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Aeronautics, Military
ISBN : OCLC:1151146134

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The Royal Air Force by M. J. Armitage Pdf