Ronnie Selley, a South African from rural Natal, joined the RAF on a short-service commission in 1937, considered the Golden Age of aviation. During these glory years of Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart few guessed at the brewing storm and dark days to come. After completing his training on antiquated First World War aircraft, Selley was posted to 220 Squadron Coastal Command, the RAF’s under-staffed and under-equipped poor relation to the more prestigious Fighter and Bomber Commands. Task...

Aces Against Japan IIThe American Aces SpeakEric HammelCombat historian Eric Hammel comes through with an engrossing new collection of first-person accounts by American World War II fighter aces.Coupled with a clear overview of America's air war against Japan, Hammel's detailed interviews bring forth the most thrilling in-the-cockpit experiences that World War II's fabled Army, Navy, Marine, and Flying Tiger aces have chosen to tell.Ride with 2d Lieutenant Jack Donalson as he downs three Zero...

The posthumous memoirs of a World War II Pathfinder pilot and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient who flew target-marking missions in enemy territory.Denys A. Braithwaite was born of a well-to-do Yorkshire family and joined the Auxiliary Air Force on his eighteenth birthday in 1939. On the occasion of Chamberlain's speech to the British nation on September 3, the situation changed dramatically and from being a "super weekend club," his squadron was assigned coasta...

The history and combat experience of the most secretive plane ever built, illustrated with stunning colour photographs of the plane as it stalked the skies above Iraq.During the final years of the 20th century, the most significant break-through in military weaponry was the concept of Stealth technology, and the first mass-produced weapon to utilize this to perfection was the F-117 Nighthawk. Originally delivered in 1982, its existence was officially denied until t...

The events in Jet Age Man took place during the early Cold War, an era that will go down as a period when civilization teetered on the edge of the abyss. To some, nuclear deterrence appeared as utter madness, and was in fact commonly referred to as M.A.D. The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction provoked protests and marches, and the architect of M.A.D, General Curtis LeMay, became a symbol of madness himself.Raised during those turbulent times, most contemporary historians conc...

This story began as a study of lofting or tossing nuclear weapons, known as"LABs," for Low Altitude Bombing system. I became fascinated with the notion of using the prop-driven Skyraider for this purpose, and the story evolved into an account of what it would have been like to drive this 1940s aircraft to Sevastopol on the first day of the Third World War. "Crazy days," as one pilot called the notion. The article was published in Foundation magazine of the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacol...

On 2 July 1900 the people of Friedrichshafen, Germany, witnessed a momentous occasion - the first flight of LZ 1, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's first airship.Although deemed a failure, a succession of better craft (LZ2 to 10) enabled the Zeppelin to expand into the consumer market of airship travel, whilst also providing military craft for the German Army and Navy. The years of the Great War saw the Zeppelins undertake strategic bombing missions against Great Brit...

‘I saw a mass of ME 109s and went up to attack. I looked behind and found three on each side diving to attack me.’ Bob Doe, Combat Report 16 August 1940 In June 1940, at the age of twenty, Bob Doe believed himself to be the worst pilot in his squadron. Just three months later he was a highly decorated hero of the Battle of Britain. This is the story of the pilot who, in his own estimation, was not promising material for a fighter pilot. He left school at fourteen and had none of the qualif...

Written by an expert on the SR-71 Blackbird, this book offers readers a short, fascinating history of this incredible military aircraft .Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird is one of the most iconic and famous jets ever built. Assembled in secret at Lockheed's Skunkworks, the Blackbird's vital statistics remain phenomenal decades later. It holds the airspeed record for a manned jet aircraft, operated at an altitude other aircraft could barely touch and was a marvel of techn...

Bombs Away! covers strategic bombing in Europe during World War II, that is, all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature which took place between 1939 and 1945. In addition to American (U.S. Army Air Forces) and British (RAF Bomber Command) strategic aerial campaigns against Germany, this book covers German use of strategic bombing during the Nazi's conquest of Europe: the Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa, and the V 1 and V 2, where the Luftwaffe targeted Warsaw and Rotterdam (know...

The first highly-illustrated work to explain the full story of Jack the Ripper, including the history, the conspiracy theory, and his enduring popularity as a character in the mass media.Over a century ago terror stalked the streets of Whitechapel. Jack the Ripper's brutal campaign of murder panicked Victorian London at the time, but his legacy reaches out to the present day. If anything the story of Jack is now more confusing, obscure and mysterious than ever....

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed "Jug" was an American fighter comes with an extremely powerful engine, 2,000 hp or more, and it was fast, especially at high altitude. It was also heavily armed with eight 12.7 mm machine guns, and its strength allowed him to return to base even if badly damaged..The North American P-51 Mustang is considered among the best fighters of World War II. Produced starting from 1941, he was one of the most versatile American fighters of the Second ...