A Bomber Command book with a difference. Rear Gunner Pathfinders is the story of the air war over Germany as seen from the small Perspex bubble of a 'Tail-End Charlie' rear gunner in a Lancaster. Flying firstly with 626 squadron, and later 156 Pathfinder squadron, Ron Smith flew 65 operations and recorded them with the intensity brought on by the isolation of being cocooned in his lonely gun turret.

“What is a stroke?” This is the question that plagues Ron Smith as he emerges from the carpet bombing of his brain. The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke is a first-person account of a massive ischemic stroke to the brain stem. Smith takes the reader inside the experience and shows how recuperation happens ― the challenges of communication, the barriers to treatment, the frustrations of being misunderstood and written off, the role of memory in recovering identity, the power of continui...

Many people are surprised to learn that the city of Amarillo was actually founded twice. Originally settled by J. T. Berry in April 1887 and known as Oneida, the site of the town was located on such low ground that many residents feared it was susceptible to flooding. In 1888, one concerned resident named Henry B. Sanborn began buying land a mile east of the site as a potential place to relocate the town. In 1889, the town's fears came to fruition when heavy rains flooded the original town...

The Cessna 172 is unquestionably the world's most successful light aircraft. More than 43,000 have been built since 1956, and the type is in service all over the world. For many, it defines the experience of cross-country flying with family and friends. This small volume traces the origins of the Cessna 172 and highlights the features that have made it so successful. Comprehensively illustrated, with many previously unpublished photographs, the book includes a close-up look at an individua...

This book describes the heritage and development of the entire Piper Cherokee family; its safety and ownership characteristics; internal and external details; and a range of special variants from STOL modifications and new engines to seaplanes and tailwheel conversions. The hugely successful Piper PA-28 was produced and sold as a direct competitor to the Cessna 172. Initially produced with a rectangular wing planform and fixed undercarriage, it was available with installed powers ranging f...

The title of Ron Smith’s new collection comes from Yeats’s observation that creators “must go from desire to weariness and so to desire again, and live but for the moment when vision comes to our weariness like terrible lightning, in the humility of the brutes.” The poems in The Humility of the Brutes move beyond Yeats’s journey, using precise language and memorable phrasing to push through skepticism and guide us toward the mystical as we struggle to understand our past and our p...

From the Mediterranean to the American West, the poems in Ron Smith's new collection move across time and place to find reliable truths through personal observation. Beyond his own experiences Smith draws from the lives of notable and diverse figures -- Edward Teller, Edgar Allan Poe, Mickey Mantle, Ezra Pound, Robert Penn Warren, Jesse Owens, Leni Riefenstahl, and many others.Its Ghostly Workshop probes the fallibility of philosophy while strengthening the quest for certainty. Wond...

Chase and Leah, a young and ambitious couple, form a union and take a journey down the path of marital bliss with hopes of making it last forever. Conflicts arise when secrets from the past invade the couples intimate relationship. The drama unfolds and marriage suddenly seems anything but blissful. With the support of family and friends, Chase and Leah struggle with many challenges to maintain balance in a deteriorating relationship. As time evolves, the couple hits a wall. They realize t...

Chosen by WWII History magazine as one of the Best Books of the Year.In the dark days after Pearl Harbor, the small, illequipped arm of the Navy known as Submarine Force would stand between the shattered U.S. Pacific Fleet and the might of the Japanese Navy. Unfortunately, the spirit and courage of the Submarine Force is being forgotten as the veterans of that force pass into history.To preserve their heroic tales of war beneath the sea, critically...

After the Civil War, state and national Prohibition galvanized in Atlanta the issues of classism, racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. While many consider flappers and gangsters the iconic images of the era, in reality, it was marked with temperance zealotry, blind tigers and white lightning. Georgia's protracted and intense battle changed the industrial and social landscapes of its capital city and unleashed a flood of illegal liquor that continually flowed in the wettest city in the Sout...

An autobiography of my love of the ocean and how my first contact in moving to a beach town was at 13 years old. From the beginning I was in love with the sand feeling, the smell of the ocean water and smell of the sand, the waves and boats. I always had boats through my lifetime (15 boats). I explored close islands and rivers first and then expanded to fishing 100 miles offshore and rivers/islands just as far away. Sleeping on my boat to explore the new land and people.Eventually ...