Halton Boys

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Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1911667548
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (116 download)

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Book Synopsis Halton Boys by : Sean Feast

Download or read book Halton Boys written by Sean Feast and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the twentieth-century Royal Air Force training programme as told by the men who lived it. The RAF Halton Apprenticeship Scheme has a deserved reputation for excellence. The brainchild of MRAF Hugh Trenchard, the founder of the Royal Air Force, it took the “traditional” idea of an apprenticeship and interpreted it in a novel way. It allowed teenage boys from any social background or geography to learn a technical trade that would equip them for their future lives, within and beyond the RAF. It also gave the best an opportunity to become pilots and break into the once public-school-dominated officer class. Of the 50,000 boys trained as apprentices, seventeen won the Sword of Honour at Cranwell, and more than 1,200 were commissioned with 110 achieving Air Rank. Eighteen have been knighted, with well over 1,000 others being honoured at various levels of state. More than a hundred Halton Boys served as pilots in the Battle of Britain (and many more as airframe/engine fitters and armourers), including former Olympic hurdler Don Finlay. Others like Gerry Blacklock and Pat Connolly flew bombers on perilous missions over Western Europe or took part in the famous “Dams” Raid. Then there were the three men murdered for their part in the Great Escape, and those who battled and survived years as prisoners of the Japanese in the Far East. In the jet era, ex-apprentice Graham Hulse became an “ace” in Korea, serving with an American fighter squadron, and Mike Hines went on to become OC 617 Squadron after having first flown operations during the Suez crisis. Others like Charles Owen became a pioneer commercial jet pilot, and Peter Goodwin had the misfortune of being captured in the first Gulf War and used as a human shield. Some forged successful careers beyond the RAF, like Lawrie Haynes, who was on the main board at Rolls-Royce and is now chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, and Eugene Borysuik—one of the many Polish apprentices trained at Halton, who enjoyed a successful career at GEC. And there were many others beyond air and ground crew including policemen, government officials and even bishops whose careers started with the Halton family. This is the story of Halton told through and by the boys who were there and who are still proud to be called “Trenchard Brats.”

Two Roads to War

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Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 161251085X
Total Pages : 450 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (125 download)

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Book Synopsis Two Roads to War by : Robin Higham

Download or read book Two Roads to War written by Robin Higham and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-06-15 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noted aviation historian Robin Higham has written this comparative study of the evolution of the French and British air arms from 1918 to 1940 to determine why the Armée de l’Air was defeated in June 1940 but the Royal Air Force was able to win the battle over Britain in September. After analyzing the structure, men, and matériel of the air arms, and the government and economic infrastructure of both countries, he concludes that the French force was dominated by the Armée de Terre, had no suitably powerful aero engines, and suffered from the chaos of French politics. In contrast, the independent RAF evolved into a sophisticated, scientifically based force, supported by consistent government practices. Higham’s thorough examination, however, finds the British not without error.

For the Love of the Air Force

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Publisher : Summersdale
ISBN 13 : 1786854147
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (868 download)

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Book Synopsis For the Love of the Air Force by : Norman Ferguson

Download or read book For the Love of the Air Force written by Norman Ferguson and published by Summersdale. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This miscellany brings together the history of the RAF, the people, the aviation lingo and time-honoured traditions of the force we know today. Whether you have RAF experience or you’re an enthusiastic supporter from the ground, this remarkable volume will be your guide to the oldest independent air force in the world. Chocks away!

Flyer

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Publisher : Fighting High Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1838068767
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Flyer by : Andrew White

Download or read book Flyer written by Andrew White and published by Fighting High Publishing. This book was released on 2024-07-31 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Osborne Finlay, a sporting name familiar to households in the 1930s, was Britain’s greatest athlete of the time; a hurdler whose triumphant exploits graced the sports pages and newsreels week after week. From a humble family background, he became a double Olympic medalist, European Champion, and Empire (Commonwealth) Champion; he also won the AAA 120 yards hurdles an unprecedented seven times in succession. Reporters ran out of superlatives to describe him. At the three Olympic Games in which he ran, he captained the British team twice, including the Berlin Games of 1936 in front of Adolf Hitler. An all-round sportsman, both track and field events came naturally to him as did football. He played for the country’s top amateur sides and turned out for Tottenham Hotspur in wartime matches. All the more remarkable is that Finlay competed at the very highest levels of international athletics at the same time as pursuing his demanding career as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. Joining up as a boy apprentice in the mid-1920s, he qualified as a pilot before the start of the Second World War and found himself in the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire, commanding a squadron, during the Battle of Britain. Shot down and wounded in the Battle, he was soon back in the air and rose through the ranks to command a fighter wing in Burma, ending the war with several ‘kills’ to his name, as well as a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Force Cross to add to the medals won under less lethal circumstances on the running track. As a commander, his insistence on strict discipline often led to conflict with his subordinates, but there is no doubt that his methods got results. After the war, still serving in the RAF, Don returned to competitive athletics and was as fast and successful, if not more so, than ever. By then he was in his 40s, but age was no barrier and several of his greatest hurdling victories came when others would have been long retired from the track, against athletes often twenty years his junior. Don Finlay’s life was to end prematurely, and under tragic circumstances, but his legacy lives on as one of the finest athletes ever to wear the vest of Great Britain, as well as one of ‘The Few’.

To Scale the Skies

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Author :
Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0752466925
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (524 download)

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Book Synopsis To Scale the Skies by : Peter Cornwell

Download or read book To Scale the Skies written by Peter Cornwell and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With humble beginnings as an RAF apprentice, Johnny Wells progressed to pilot and rose to the higher echelons of command at the Air Ministry. From idyllic pre-war training, he would fly bombers against rebels over Iraq, combat Fw190s over England in the newly introduced and equally dangerous Typhoon; he would undertake hazardous low-level anti-shipping strikes in the English Channel, as well as train-busting sorties over occupied territory at night and close-support ground-attack operations across northern Europe following D-Day. Indeed, Wells ended the Second World War as one of the most successful and highly decorated Typhoon Wing Leaders in the Tactical Air Force. This well-researched account of one man's rise through the ranks of the Air Ministry is finely illustrated with contemporary images and is an excellent testimony of what was required of air pilots during the Second World War. Wells' story is both an inspiration and a gripping account of one man's journey through a service career spanning more than three turbulent decades.

Brassey's Naval Annual

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Brassey's Naval Annual by : Earl Thomas Allnutt Brassey

Download or read book Brassey's Naval Annual written by Earl Thomas Allnutt Brassey and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929

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Author :
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1783409681
Total Pages : 1071 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929 by : Ian M. Philpott

Download or read book The Royal Air Force: The Trenchard Years, 1918–1929 written by Ian M. Philpott and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2005-07-19 with total page 1071 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inter-war years between 1918 and 1939 saw the newly created Royal Air Force fighting for its very existence politically, being dispatched to the remotest corners of the British Empire and its Protectorates in various policing roles and then finally engaged in a headlong rush to modernize in the face of the new German Fascist regime that was threatening British and European freedom. Yet this important period in RAF history and its effect on political and military rationale during the period has never been completely documented. This exhaustive and comprehensive reference is the most detailed work to be published on the subject. The author gives full information on the changing structure of the Force during the period, squadron operations, political machinations and their effects, the airplanes and their equipment, the personnel, technical advances in navigation and breakthroughs achieved in engine performance. The book is cross-referenced throughout, extremely well illustrated and contains an abundance of location maps and other diagrams. This book will become a Bible for anyone interested in the history of the RAF.This work has been reviewed by personnel at the RAF Historical Branch who praise it.

The RAF in 100 Objects

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Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0750986239
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis The RAF in 100 Objects by : Peter Jacobs

Download or read book The RAF in 100 Objects written by Peter Jacobs and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2017-10-09 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was in the closing year of the First World War, on 1 April 1918, that the Royal Air Force was born from the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. Since then, the RAF has helped lead the world in the development of aviation and air warfare. From the fighters and bombers of the Second World War, through the early jet age and into modern remotely piloted air systems, the last hundred years' development has been astronomical, and the human story no less impressive. Here Peter Jacobs gathers the most poignant objects of the RAF's proud history and displays them together, in full splendid colour, for the first time. Aircraft, memorials, uniforms, equipment, and some items you would never expect – it's all here, ready to be explored.

Forever Vigilant

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Publisher : Grub Street Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1910690783
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Forever Vigilant by : Graham Pitchfork

Download or read book Forever Vigilant written by Graham Pitchfork and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 208 Squadron based at RAF Valley in Anglesey will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in October 2016, making it one of the few RAF squadrons to achieve this unique distinction whilst still part of the RAF’s current order of battle. To celebrate this achievement, Air Commodore Pitchfork has compiled a chronological history of the squadron’s main activities and personnel with the aim of illustrating the spirit, comradeship, and professionalism of the squadron. Taking its title from the squadron’s motto, ‘Vigilant’, the book starts with the formation of Naval 8 as a scout squadron on the Western Front during the First World War. It then continues through the various conflicts that Naval 8/208 Squadron has played a key role in, including the Second World War and Gulf War. The squadron’s move to Egypt in the inter-war years as an army cooperation squadron, which inspired the Gizah Sphinx motif for 208 Squadron, is also covered. Its modern-day role as an advanced flying training squadron concludes the squadron’s story. This history has been written with the use of important sources from the squadron’s archives, along with interviews from veterans and current members of the squadron. It also has the support of the squadron’s Old Comrade’s Association, which was pioneered and fostered by its first CO, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Geoffrey Bromet. The association is very active and one of the longest serving and strongest associations within the RAF.

A Pathfinder's War

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Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1909166715
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis A Pathfinder's War by : Ted Stocker

Download or read book A Pathfinder's War written by Ted Stocker and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only RAF flight engineer to be awarded a Distinguished Service Order recounts his prolific WWII combat career in this engaging military memoir. Flight Lieutenant Ted Stocker lived a charmed life. Joining the Royal Air Force as a teenager, he trained as one of the famous Halton Aircraft Apprentices known as Trenchard’s Brats. Stationed at RAF Boscombe Down, he flew prototype Stirling and Halifax bombers just as the Second World War broke out. Qualifying as one of the RAF’s first flight engineers, he went on to join Bomber Command’s elite Pathfinder Force. Stocker was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1943 and eventually completed more than 100 bombing operations, often as a master bomber. Although his aircraft was frequently hit, and he survived a crash landing, Stocker was never wounded. His achievements were recognized with the only known Distinguished Service Order issued to a flight engineer. In this candid and fascinating memoir, co-written by acclaimed aviation historian Sean Feast, Stocker relates his incredible tale of singular courage and miraculous survival.

The Blockade Breakers

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Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0752468030
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (524 download)

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Book Synopsis The Blockade Breakers by : Helena P Schrader

Download or read book The Blockade Breakers written by Helena P Schrader and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 24 June 1948 the Sovient Union abrubtly closed all land and water access to the Western Sectors of Berlin. Over 2 million civilians, dependent on the surrounding territory and the West for food, fuel, and other basic goods, were suddenly cut off from all necessities of life. The Western Allies had the option of withdrawing their garrisons and allowing the Soviet Union to take control of the entire city, or of trying to supply the city by air. Never in history had 2 million people been supplied exclusively by air before. None of the senior military commanders believed it could be done. But the political leadership in London and Washington insisted that it must be done. A withdrawal from Berlin would discredit the West at a critical moment in history, when the Soviet Union was expanding aggressively across Europe. Worse, it would endanger the political stability and economic recovery of all of Europe. So the largest and most ambitious Airlift in history was set in motion. It began without the West really knowing what the Berliners needed in order to survive - much less how much those supplies weighed. It was launched despite a lack of airlift expertise in theatre or a unified command structure, an almost complete absence of aircraft and aircrew resources in Germany and serious inadequacies in airfields and air traffic control. But once it took wing, it flew and turned into something that not even its originators and advocates had ever imagined or expected.

A Guide to the Sources of British Military History

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317390202
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis A Guide to the Sources of British Military History by : Robin HIgham

Download or read book A Guide to the Sources of British Military History written by Robin HIgham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to fill an overlooked gap, this book, originally published in 1972, provides a single unified introduction to bibliographical sources of British military history. Moreover it includes guidance in a number of fields in which no similar source is available at all, giving information on how to obtain acess to special collections and private archives, and links military history, especially during peacetime, with the development of science and technology.

Fuel Fire And Fear

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Author :
Publisher : Fonthill Media
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Fuel Fire And Fear by : Colin Pateman

Download or read book Fuel Fire And Fear written by Colin Pateman and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War the need for an on-board technical expert to join the Bomber Crews evolved. The various systems on the latest 4-engined 'Heavy Bombers', namely the Handley Page Halifax, Shorts Stirling and Avro Lancaster witnessed the development of Flight Engineers. This book provides the reader with an explanation of the origin of Flight Engineers, the training of these men and the complexity of keeping large bombers in the air is an enthralling story. Many gallantry medals were won by Flight Engineers, including the Victoria Cross. Accounts of dangerous operational flying is revealed by Flight Engineers in numerous aircraft including those of Coastal Command. Direct entries into the RAF by civilians were undertaken to satisfy the demand for Flight Engineers. Entrants underwent courses of varying lengths but flying training time was very sparse and remarkably it was not unknown for these men to qualify for their flying badges without ever having flown in an aircraft. This book examines true accounts that took place; many based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrew themselves.

CME

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 822 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis CME by :

Download or read book CME written by and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Air Force Lives

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Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1783378379
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (833 download)

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Book Synopsis Air Force Lives by : Phil Tomaselli

Download or read book Air Force Lives written by Phil Tomaselli and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-04-19 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover what life was like for members of the British Royal Air Force from WWI to the 1970s, plus how to find out about an ancestor’s service career. What was it like to serve as an airman in the Second World War, as a pilot, a bomb aimer, or aerial gunner, or as a trainee pilot in 1913, a Zeppelin chaser during the First World War, or serve as a Wren fitter in the Fleet Air Arm or as a member of the ground crew who are so often overlooked in the history of Britain’s air arm? And how can you find out about an individual, an ancestor whose service career is a gap in your family’s history? Phil Tomaselli, in this readable and instructive book, shows you how this can be done. He describes in fascinating detail the careers of a group air force personnel from all branches and levels of the service. Using evidence gleaned from a range of sources – archives, memoirs, official records, books, libraries, oral history and the internet – he reconstructs the records of a revealing and representative group of ordinary men and women: among them an RFC fitter who won the Military Medal on the Somme, an RAF pilot who flew in Russia in 1919, an air gunner from the Second Word War, a Pathfinder crew who flew seventy-seven missions, a Battle of Britain pilot and a typical WAAF. In each case he shows how the research was conducted and explains how the lives of such individuals can be explored. Praise for Air Force Lives “The majority of the book consists of a series of nine extensive case studies. Collectively they provide a good range of different lives, and reveal a similar variety of sources used to learn about them. Read it for a rich and detailed picture of the different lives of air force ancestors.” —Your Family Tree

The Royal Air Force: Re-Armament 1930 to 1939

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473817420
Total Pages : 1206 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis The Royal Air Force: Re-Armament 1930 to 1939 by : Ian M. Philpott

Download or read book The Royal Air Force: Re-Armament 1930 to 1939 written by Ian M. Philpott and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-07-20 with total page 1206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume II of this mammoth reference work covers the years in which the League of Nations failed because of the emerging dictatorships in Germany and Italy and the expansionist policies adopted by Japan. Britain was still reeling from the consequences of World War I and the RAF was sadly far behind the other major world powers in aircraft design, still relying on bi-planes that were direct descendants of World War I thinking. It gradually became apparent that, despite UK government dithering, the RAF needed to develop new aircraft, engines and increase production to confront the bully-boy tactics of the Axis powers. As the turn of the decade approached extraordinary measures were taken to enable RAF to defend Britain's skies and this her freedom. As with Volume 1, this book covers every conceivable part of the RAF's history through these pre-War days. It looks at the development and invention of new equipment such as radar, monoplane fighters, metal construction and the heavy bomber. This was an era when science in aviation was rushing ahead and fortunately for Britain's freedom, it laid the foundations of victory in 1.943

Flight

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 622 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (334 download)

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Book Synopsis Flight by :

Download or read book Flight written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: