Every week the TV news highlights the routine use of drones and guided missiles against terrorist enemies and the recreational use of drones has become commonplace. The Nazi WWII development of guided missiles and bombs is often given credit for America's Cold War success in this realm. However, it was during that war that America, and the Air Force, in particular, also began the development of systems and weapons that laid the foundation for today's technology.'Off Target' relates...

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is the ultimate look at the B-17’s iconic stablemate from its origins on the drawing board to its emergence as America’s preeminent blue-collar bomber. It chronicles the life of aviation legend Reuben Fleet, founder of Consolidated Aircraft, alongside the design evolution of one of his greatest creations. Some 19,000 Liberators were built between 1940 and 1945, primarily at Ford and Consolidated in the United States, and the aircraft remains the most mass-pr...

Details the development and deployment of Japan’s Ohka and Germany’s Reichenberg manned flying bombs during World War II.On 1 April 1945, US troops launched the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War on the heavily-defended island of Okinawa. Supporting the invasion, the USS West Virginia participated in the bombardment of entrenched Japanese defenders. That evening, a Japanese aircraft launched a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, a rocket-powered kamikaze plane. West Vi...

From the First World War's Zeppelins to the Second World War's large bombers, military aircraft were vulnerable to fast, manoeuvrable interceptors. To address this, fighter escorts were used, but their limited range often left bombers exposed. A solution was the use of Composite aircraft, where larger bombers carried smaller, short-range fighters, which could be launched and retrieved as needed.Zeppelins, particularly vulnerable to interceptors, were ideal for this concept. During ...

"… for the story of the early development of US military air transport and the Libertors that were its backbone, nobody has provided anything to match this book." -The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation With iconic images depicting it in the skies over Occupied Europe or the Far East, the B-24 Liberator is remembered for its part in the Allies' bombing campaigns during the Second World War. But there was another part to this famous four-engine aircraft – one that is less well k...

"For anyone interested in the B–24 and some of its more unusual applications, details that most books gloss over, and in some interesting tales of little-known aspects of the air war, this is certainly a book to read—and read closely." -The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation Despite being America's most produced bomber, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator has forever flown in the shadow of its more famous and glamorous B-17 rival. The workmanlike B-24 performed multiple unheralded ...

In 1935 the USAAC wanted to build a potential intercontinental bomber, a 'Guardian of the Hemisphere,' and granted Donald Douglas a contract to build the world's largest bomber.The groundwork for the intercontinental bomber had been laid in the previous two decades by the courageous military and civilian pilots who risked their lives to set new distance and endurance records. After World War I the future Axis and Allied nations built larger aircraft and finally dur...

In 1935 the USAAC wanted to build a potential intercontinental bomber, a 'Guardian of the Hemisphere,' and granted Donald Douglas a contract to build the world's largest bomber. The groundwork for the intercontinental bomber had been laid in the previous two decades by the courageous military and civilian pilots who risked their lives to set new distance and endurance records. After World War I the future Axis and Allied nations built larger aircraft and finally during World War II Germany...

The XB-40 and XB-41 were secret, little-known experimental modifications of the B-17F and B-24D, respectively, into heavily-armed bomber gunships sometimes referred to as “bomber escorters”.They were developed during early World War II in response to the lack of a USAAF long-range fighter aircraft able to escort and protect regular B-17 formations making the round trip from Britain deep into Germany. Unfortunately, these “protecters” were found wanting in several w...

It's 1975. Don Vittorio Tucci, head of the Detroit mob, lies on his deathbed as his family and associates secretly jockey for power. Meanwhile, his grandson Bobby Tucci--just an ordinary college student and rock musi-cian, who until now has steered clear of the family business--is drawn into the middle of a power play among the don's hotheaded first lieutenant, his consigliere, and Bobby's own mother, who has designs on being the first woman to lead a major crime family.It seems sim...

This biography of Marcus Garvey documents the forging of his remarkable vision of pan-Africanism and highlights his organizational skills in framing a response to the radical global popular upsurge following the First World War (1914–1918). Central to Garvey’s response was the development of organizations under the umbrella of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, which garnered the transnational support of several million members and sympathizers and ...

What does it take to be a great dad?The world is full of examples of men who weren’t there for their kids. But there are good and even great dads out there, who inspire their children and the men around them to reach for more. How do you become a dad like that—even if your own dad wasn’t such a good example?In The Dad Difference, Bryan Loritts explores the four gifts every kid needs from their dad: relationship, integrity, teaching, and experiences...