U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann had no idea what was in store for him when he arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. Two months later, Japanese forces struck the Philippines, destroying the base and forcing U.S. personnel to retreat to Bataan. There, Hofmann joined a makeshift unit of Army Aircorps ground personnel, U.S. Marines, U.S. sailors, U.S. Naval ground battalions and Filipinos to fight a Japanese force that landed nearby.In March 1942, with the fall of Ba...

We were aware of a dreamlike quality to our trip. There was something far-fetched about it, something out of this world.Austerity might be getting everyone else down, but Steve is waving his worries goodbye on another of his light-hearted trips around the picturesque English waterways.This time it’s a bit different, though. This time he’s not just cruising with his cat, Kit, but with his long-suffering wife, Em, who’s given up work and wants her share of easy living too. The...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...

An exploration of near-future urban planning as airports become the center of cities, changing the way we live and conduct business.Not so long ago, airports were built near cities, and roads connected the one to the other. This pattern—the city in the center, the airport on the periphery—shaped life in the twentieth century, from the central city to exurban sprawl. Today, the ubiquity of jet travel, round-the-clock workdays, overnight shipping, and global business...

When Peter took charge of the flight deck of the 777 and took off from Beijing airport, there was nothing to suggest that this trip would be anything other than a routine flight of the sort he had made so many times before. It was not until moments before landing that anything went wrong. Coming in to Heathrow Airport, the plane suffered inexplicable loss of power to both engines, and it was suddenly likely that the plane would plough into a built-up area outside the airport, with the loss...

The Titanic is one of the most famous maritime disasters of all time, but did the Titanic really sink on the morning of 15 April 1912? Titanic's older sister, the nearly identical Olympic, was involved in a serious accident in September 1911 – an accident that may have made her a liability to her owners the White Star Line. Since 1912 rumours of a conspiracy to switch the two sisters in an elaborate insurance scam has always loomed behind the tragic story of the Titanic. C...

When she set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York on 10 April 1912, RMS Titanic, the pride of the White Star fleet, was the largest ocean liner in the world. Deemed 'practically unsinkable' because of her double-bottomed hull and watertight compartments, she carried over 2,000 passengers and crew, although only sufficient lifeboats for just over half that number. Four days out of Southampton, on the night of 14 April, she struck an iceberg in the North At...

Get the latest boatbuilding tips from this updated classicSince its first publication in 1970, Boatbuilding Manual has become the standard reference in boatbuilding and boat design schools, in the offices of professional builders, and in the basement workshops of home builders. No other boatbuilding text has simultaneously served the disparate needs of professional and amateur audiences so successfully. Carl Cramer, the publisher of WoodenBoat and...

This fascinating volume takes a look at some of the strange and unexplained hauntings reported across Britain's canal and waterways network: echoes in dark tunnels; stone steps stained red with blood spilled long ago; ghostly footsteps accompanying barges beneath a bridge… Mixing long-established ghostly tales with first-hand accounts, Allan Scott-Davies presents a grisly collection of supernatural stories. From the screaming ghost near Market Drayton to the Roman soldier ...

Included are details on the ground-breaking navigation and attack system, its Cold War context, its requirements and the development of ATF (advanced terrain following), and in-depth analysis of automatic flight control systems, analogue and digital simulations at Weybridge and the reconnaissance pack for mapping enemy territory. It finishes with a look at the final throes of TSR2's cancellation by the Labour government in 1965. 'This fascinating personal account of the be...

"A masterpiece of the most diligent research and extraordinary detail and surely represents the definitive study of the Comet . . . a terrific book."—Royal Aeronautical SocietyThis volume from the respected and well-regarded aviation historian and author Graham Simons is "a solid book of such scope that you'll probably consult it for a lot more than just Comet material" ( SpeedReaders.info).Extensively illustrated throughout, Comet! featur...

***'It would make the stones cry to hear those on board shrieking'***- Daniel Buckley, third-class passengerFor the first time, in this moving new book, Titanic's passengers and crewmen are permitted to tell the story of that lamentable disaster entirely in their own words.Included are letters, postcards, diary entries and memoirs that were written before, during and immediately after the maiden voyage itself. Many of the pre-sailing documents were...