Showing titles in Air Forces

The Nazi Ghost Train is an epic tale of action and adventure, uncovering a story of airmen on the run and resistance heroes carrying out espionage and sabotage. But, betrayed, they all face the same fate: a concentration camp. This thrilling new book is an incredible piece of history brought to...

Brought to you by Penguin. A frightened boy pursued by racist bullies who grew up to become a trailblazing soldier in the British Army and then the SAS, Melvyn Downes was one of the first British-born Black men to join the elite regiment. During his 24 years of service, he was involved in secret...

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Vulcan 607 by Rowland White, read by Roy McMillan. It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943... When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the...

Brought to you by Penguin. The thrilling account of the Typhoon FGR4s in the war against ISIS, from the RAF Wing Commander who led them into combat. The Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 is the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft in the world. Capable of flying at nearly twice the speed of sound and...

In the summer of 2007 the British Army's 662 Squadron deployed its most potent weapons system in combat for the very first time - the iconic Apache attack helicopter. This is the definitive story of the aircraft and of the crew who fly her, and of their baptism of fire in the battle for Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Under the call-sign Ugly, four of the Army Air Corps' finest pilots flew a relentless series of missions during their 100-day deployment, stretching the aircraft, and themselves, to the limit. Apache Dawn recounts these operations.

In early 1943 Britain was engaged in an epic struggle for survival. As the deadly wolf packs of German U-boats roamed the Atlantic, supply lines and shipping losses fell victim to the carnage. In desperation, Churchill turned to the RAF's maritime wing - an overlooked, underfunded force known as "The Cinderella Service". But the ascendancy of the U-boat forced a change in attitude. Provided with the long-range planes, depth charges, rocket projectiles and radar equipment with which to challenge the enemy. The Cinderella boys provided vital air defence.

The third collection of memoirs from the author who inspired the TV series All Creatures Great and Small. Training as an RAF pilot in the smoke and bustle of wartime London is a far cry from James Herriot’s day job as a country vet in the Yorkshire Dales. And whilst he is keen to serve King...

'Eject! Eject!' When the call is made to abandon an aircraft, it's only the beginning of the story... From the Sunday Times bestselling writer John Nichol, author of Spitfire, Lancaster and Tornado, comes a brilliant new book that reveals the astonishing story of an invention that has saved many...

World War II is usually seen as a titanic land battle, decided by mass armies, most importantly those on the Eastern Front. Phillips Payson O'Brien shows us the war in a completely different light. In this compelling new history of the Allied path to victory, he argues that in terms of production, technology, and economic power, the war was far more a contest of air and sea than of land supremacy.

This audio edition is read by Nicholas Ralph, known for his role as James Herriot in the All Creatures Great and Small TV series. ** Now a major TV series on Channel 5 ** Training as an RAF pilot in the smoke and bustle of wartime London is a far cry from James Herriot’s day job as a country...

Brought to you by Penguin. From the New York Times-bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger space shuttle disaster based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research – riveting history that reads like a...

On 12th April 1981 a revolutionary new spacecraft blasted off from Florida on her maiden flight. NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia was the most advanced flying machine ever built – the high watermark of post-war aviation development. A direct descendant of the record-breaking X-planes the likes...

Brought to you by Penguin. The daring life story and astonishing adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's greatest-ever pilot. Small in stature but immense in reputation and talent, there was more to Eric 'Winkle' Brown than met the eye. The pilot who set the standard for Britain's...

Sent to France with the Royal Flying Corps at just 17, and later a member of the famous 56 Squadron, Cecil Lewis was an illustrious and passionate fighter pilot of the First World War, described by Bernard Shaw in 1935 as 'a thinker, a master of words, and a bit of a poet'. In this vivid and spirited account the author evocatively sets his love of the skies and flying against his bitter experience of the horrors of war. We then follow his progress from France and the battlefields of the Somme to his pioneering defence of London against deadly nighttime raids.

Bloomsbury presents Eagle Days by Victoria Taylor, read by John Sackville. By the summer of 1940, Great Britain watched as France succumbed to the might of Adolf Hitler’s forces. Her forces driven off the continent, many rescued from capture at Dunkirk, only the Royal Air Force, supported by...

There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly and so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway. At dawn of June 4, 1942, a rampaging Japanese navy ruled the Pacific. By sunset, their vaunted carrier force (the Kido Butai) had been sunk and their grip on the Pacific had been loosened forever. In this absolutely riveting account of a key moment in the history of World War II, one of America's leading naval historians, Craig L. Symonds, paints an unforgettable portrait of ingenuity, courage, and sacrifice.

**AS FEATURED IN THE TELEGRAPH** The ultimate fighting machine... The unflinching memoir of the elite combat pilot who flew it in action... And his nail-biting story of training Prince Harry. 'Rounds slammed the ground all around the Taliban. He hit the earth face first, vanishing into the foggy...

Few are aware of the risks that the pioneering airmen of the First World War took. On a Wing and a Prayer is a narrative history that conveys the perils of those early days, the thrills of learning to fly, and the horrors of war in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive armament and no parachutes.

October 24th, 2023 will mark 20 years since Concorde disappeared from our skies. Yet still Mike Bannister, the last Concorde Chief Pilot, faces the same questions. Concorde is an enthralling personal account of what it takes to fly planes faster than the speed of sound, and of the events that lay behind 114 needless deaths—the 113 victims of the crash and, ultimately, Concorde herself.

Of the many myths that emerged following the end of the Korean War, the prevailing one in the West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the 10:1 victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots flying the North American F-86 Sabre against their communist adversaries, amongst other such fabrications, went unchallenged until the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were finally opened. From that point onwards, a very different story began to emerge.