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Gilbert Mapplebeck
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Book Synopsis Gilbert Mapplebeck by : Peter Mapplebeck
Download or read book Gilbert Mapplebeck written by Peter Mapplebeck and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I have always been fascinated by the life of Gilbert Mapplebeck, who was one of the first Royal Flying Corps pilots to fly to the continent at the very start of the 1st World War and was the first British aviator to fly a reconnaissance over enemy territory. His life reads like something out of an adventure book: his determination to become a pilot; his posting to France in 1914; his reconnaissance flight over enemy lines; carrying out one of the first bombing raids on an enemy transport train; being badly wounded in an early "dog fight"; being shot down over enemy territory and his amazing escape back to England; and his tragic death in a flying accident just one year later. But his story has always been incomplete until two significant diaries written by Gilbert (Gib) came to light. In the first he tells us of his time in the RFC between July 1914 and February 1915. The second diary, written after the event, Gib tells the story of the ill-fated "sortie" over Lille.
Book Synopsis Fighter Pilot's Handbook - Magic, Death and Glory in the Golden Age of Flight by : Gordon Thorburn
Download or read book Fighter Pilot's Handbook - Magic, Death and Glory in the Golden Age of Flight written by Gordon Thorburn and published by Metro Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-05 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early days of flight, no one imagined the aeroplane as a weapon of war. Inevitably, the First World War proved the catalyst that was to change the face of battle for ever. But at the war’s outbreak, military aircraft, most of which were slow and stable two-seat biplanes, were held to have only one useful function: reconnaissance.It was not long, however, before pilots had the idea of dropping explosives from their cockpits. Once machine guns began to be fitted to aircraft, two factors immediately became clear: reconnaissance aircraft needed to be defended, and enemy machines had to be attacked and destroyed. So was born the ‘scout’ (as fighter aircraft were known then), to be followed, before long, by the ‘aces’ who flew them.In this wide-ranging and extremely readable study of the fighter pilot’s skills, training and experiences from the early days of flight, and the development of the machines they flew, the author, who has written widely on aerial warfare, takes the reader on a journey from the first flying machines in the late nineteenth century, to the development of the specialised fighter aircraft armed with one or more machine guns, and capable, by the war’s end, of speeds of 140mph and more. Along the way he takes in the development of the devices that allowed a machine gun to fire through the propeller arc, the coming of aerial photography and airborne wireless, parachutes, engine design, test flying and problems of flight, including the dreaded ‘spin’ that killed so may pilots, and the invention of aerial tactics such as the Immelmann Turn.Here, too, are the aces, the pilots who became famous and fêted at home for their exploits, at a time when newspapers were filled with ever-lengthening casualty lists from the Western Front. Some, like Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen - the ‘Red Baron’ - Britain’s James McCudden and Eddie Rickenbacker of the USA, are still well-known today, while others like Raymond Collishaw of the Royal Naval Air Service, France’s René Fonck, and Aleksandr Kazakov of the Imperial Russian Air Service are less prominent.In 1914 it was all new, this business of flying at the enemy. It is a story of creativity, of machines, experiments, turning points, ebb and flow, heroes. Starting from almost nothing, the fighting men tried out their ideas and established the principles that ultimately made aircraft the most important weapon of all.
Book Synopsis Airfields and Airmen: Cambrai by : Mike O'Connor
Download or read book Airfields and Airmen: Cambrai written by Mike O'Connor and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2003-09-26 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airfields and Airmen:Cambrai covers the earliest days of the RFC with the retreat from Mons. We visit the graves of Fokker Eindecker aces and the airfields where the first Jastas were formed. Also covered are airfields from which Allied aces such as Beauchamp and Proctor VC flew, and there is a visit to the American cemetery at Bony that contains a number of aviators.
Book Synopsis Airfields & Airmen by : Mike O'Connor
Download or read book Airfields & Airmen written by Mike O'Connor and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2004-07-15 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The latest volume in the Airfields and Airmen series covers the Arras area. It includes a visit to the grave of Albert Ball VC and the graves of Waterfall and Bayly, the first British fliers killed in action. There is a visit to the aerodrome from which Alan McLeod took off from to earn his VC and to the grave of Viscount Glentworth, killed while flying with 32 Squadron. The German side is well covered with visits to their cemeteries and aerodromes. This well researched book relives the deadly thrills of war in the air over the battlefields of the Western Front.
Book Synopsis Airfields & Airmen: Arras by : Mike O'Connor
Download or read book Airfields & Airmen: Arras written by Mike O'Connor and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2004-07-15 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historical/traveler’s guide to the World War I aerial events around Arras, France, featuring ace pilots, airfields, and other local points of interest. The latest volume in the Airfields and Airmen series covers the Arras area. It includes a visit to the grave of Albert Ball VC and the graves of Waterfall and Bayly, the first British fliers killed in action. There is a visit to the aerodrome from which Alan McLeod took off from to earn his VC and to the grave of Viscount Glentworth, killed while flying with 32 Squadron. The German side is well covered with visits to their cemeteries and aerodromes. This well researched book relives the deadly thrills of war in the air over the battlefields of the Western Front.
Book Synopsis 1914: Fight the Good Fight by : Allan Mallinson
Download or read book 1914: Fight the Good Fight written by Allan Mallinson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 771 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘No part of the Great War compares in interest with its opening’, wrote Churchill. ‘The measured, silent drawing together of gigantic forces, the uncertainty of their movements and positions, the number of unknown and unknowable facts made the first collision a drama never surpassed...in fact the War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of fate.’ On of Britain's foremost military historians and defence experts tackles the origins - and the opening first few weeks of fighting - of what would become known as 'the war to end all wars'. Intensely researched and convincingly argued, Allan Mallinson explores and explains the grand strategic shift that occurred in the century before the war, the British Army’s regeneration after its drubbings in its fight against the Boer in South Africa, its almost calamitous experience of the first twenty days’ fighting in Flanders to the point at which the British Expeditionary Force - the 'Old Contemptibles' - took up the spade in the middle of September 1914: for it was then that the war changed from one of rapid and brutal movement into the more familiar vision of trench warfare on Western Front. In this vivid, compelling new history, Malliinson brings his experience as a professional soldier to bear on the circumstances, events, actions and individuals and speculates – tantalizingly – on what might have been...
Download or read book Wings written by Patrick Bishop and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Air Force is synonymous with its heroic achievements in the summer of 1940, when Winston Churchill's "famous few"—the Hurricane and Spitfire pilots of RAF Fighter Command—held G&öering's Luftwaffe at bay in the Battle of Britain, thereby changing the course of the war. For much of the 20th century, warplanes were fixed in the world's imagination, a symbol of the perils and excitements of the modern era. But within the space of 100 years, military aviation has morphed from the exotic to the mundane. An activity which was charged with danger—the domain of the daring—is now carried out by computers and pilotless drones. Aviators have always seemed different to soldiers and sailors—more adventurous, questing and imaginative. Their stories gripped the public and in both wars and air aces dominated each side's propaganda, capturing hearts and dreams. Writing with the verve, passion and the sheer narrative aplomb familiar to many thousands of readers from his bestselling World War II aerial histories, Fighter Boys and Bomber Boys, Patrick Bishop's Wings is a rich and compelling account of military flying from its heroic early days to the present.
Book Synopsis Cavalry of the Clouds by : John Sweetman
Download or read book Cavalry of the Clouds written by John Sweetman and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1917, David Lloyd George declared that airmen were 'the cavalry of the clouds - the knighthood of this war.' This romantic image was fostered post-war by writers of adventure stories and the stunts of Hollywood filmmakers, and yet it was far from the harsh reality of the life of an airman. From their baptism of fire in 1914 carrying out reconnaissance and experiencing the first dogfights, to the breakthrough in 1918 which claimed heavy casualties, the aerial defenders of Britain were continually tested. In Cavalry of the Clouds John Sweetman describes the development of British air power during the First World War on the Western Front, which culminated in the creation of the first independent air force, the RAF. By making use of the correspondence of airmen and ground staff of all nationalities, he illustrates the impact this new type of conflict had on those involved and their families at home. Extensively researched and handsomely illustrated with contemporary photographs, Cavalry of the Clouds is an essential reference work for any student of military history.
Book Synopsis From Biplane to Spitfire by : Anne Baker
Download or read book From Biplane to Spitfire written by Anne Baker and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2004-02-19 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond and his brother Jack joined the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War and both were to have a major influence on the development of the Royal Air Force in the 1920s and 1930s. After a most distinguished war service, Geoffrey, the older of the two, became one of the original pioneers of long range flight and rose steadily through the ranks. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of 'high speed flight' and the development of the Supermarine S6 (the forerunner of the Spitfire). As such he was closely involved with the Schneider Trophy races of the early 1930s. His successful career also encompassed flights of long range endurance.Extraordinarily, both Jack and Geoffrey rose to become Chiefs of the Air Staff in the mid-1930s. Geoffrey succeeded his brother at the top of his profession only to die in post before he could see the fruits of his labors come to fruition in the Battle of Britain; without his vision the RAF might very well not have had the Spitfire and the result would surely have been very different.
Download or read book The Aeroplane written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 730 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Flight written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 916 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The Battle of Neuve Chapelle by : Geoff Bridger
Download or read book The Battle of Neuve Chapelle written by Geoff Bridger and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 1998-08-12 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the World War I engagement between British and German forces in northern France, and a visitor’s guide to the battlefield site. Neuve Chapelle, a lost battlefield, is now opened up for the explorer to learn more about the actions that took place there. In early 1915, the British decided to take the offensive for the first time in the war against German positions in Northern France. The initial objective was a bulge, about one mile across, in their lines at Neuve. Events which took place here early in 1915 are described in detail and show why this almost forgotten battle set the course of the war.
Download or read book 1914 written by Matthew Richardson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The opening battles of WWI’s Western Front and the world-changing advances in warfare are reexamined through eyewitness accounts from the trenches. The 1914 campaign of World War I, sparked by the German Army’s invasion of Luxembourg, Belgium, and France, marked a watershed in military history. Advances in weaponry forced both sides to take to the earth in what became a grueling standoff of trench warefare. In a bizarre mix of ancient and modern, some of the last cavalry charges took place in the same theatre in which armoured cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes were beginning to make their presence felt. These dramatic developments were recorded in graphic detail by soldiers who were there in the trenches themselves. Now, with the benefit of these firsthand accounts, historian Matthew Richardson offers a thoroughgoing reassessment of the 1914 campaign. His vivid narrative emphasises the perspective of the private soldiers and junior officers of the British Army and includes full colour plates containing over one hundred illustrations. 1914: Voices from the Battlefields was a Britain At War Magazine Book of the Month in February 2014.
Book Synopsis Public Schools and The Great War by : Anthony Seldon
Download or read book Public Schools and The Great War written by Anthony Seldon and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this pioneering and original book, Anthony Seldon and David Walsh study the impact that the public schools had on the conduct of the Great War, and vice versa. Drawing on fresh evidence from 200 leading public schools and other archives, they challenge the conventional wisdom that it was the public school ethos that caused needless suffering on the Western Front and elsewhere. They distinguish between the younger front-line officers with recent school experience and the older 'top brass' whose mental outlook was shaped more by military background than by memories of school.??The Authors argue that, in general, the young officers' public school education imbued them with idealism, stoicism and a sense of service. While this helped them care selflessly for the men under their command in conditions of extreme danger, it resulted in their death rate being nearly twice the national average.??This poignant and thought-provoking work covers not just those who made the final sacrifice, but also those who returned, and?whose lives were shattered as a result of their physical and psychological wounds. It contains a wealth of unpublished detail about public school life before and during the War, and how these establishments and the country at large coped with the devastating loss of so many of the brightest and best. Seldon and Walsh conclude that, 100 years on, public school values and character training, far from being concepts to be mocked, remain relevant and that the present generation would benefit from studying them and the example of their predecessors.??Those who read Public Schools and the Great War will have their prevailing assumptions about the role and image of public schools, as popularised in Blackadder, challenged and perhaps changed.
Book Synopsis Air and Sea Power in World War I by : Maryam Philpott
Download or read book Air and Sea Power in World War I written by Maryam Philpott and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great War tore the fabric of Europe apart, killing over 35 million men and challenging the notion of heroism in war, Air and Sea Power in World War I focuses on the experience of World War I from the perspective of British pilots and sailors themselves, to demonstrate that the army-centric view of war studies has been too limited. The Royal Flying Corps, created in 1912, adapted quickly to the needs of modern warfare, driven by the enthusiasm of its men. In contrast, the lack of modernisation in the Royal Navy, despite the unveiling of HMS Dreadnought in 1906, undermined Britain's dominance of the seas. By considering five key aspects of the war experience, this book analyses how motivation was created and sustained. What training did men receive and how effectively did this prepare them for roles that were predominantly non-combative? How was motivation affected by their individual relationship with weaponry development, and how different was defensive service on the Home Front, when in close proximity to ordinary civilian life? Finally, Air and Sea Power in World War I looks at the changing reputation of the services during and after the conflict, and the extent to which these notions were created by the memoirs of pilots and sailors. Featuring new primary source material, including the journals of service men themselves, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of World War I and of Naval, Aviation and Military History.
Book Synopsis Royal Flying Corps Handbook 1914-18 by : Peter G. Cooksley
Download or read book Royal Flying Corps Handbook 1914-18 written by Peter G. Cooksley and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2007-05-24 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the contributions made by the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. This work also covers aircraft, an array of other subjects including organization, pay, rank, uniforms, motor vehicles, the womens branches, attitudes, and even songs popular in the mess.
Download or read book Aeroplane written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
