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Chris Burwell charts one man's career in aviation from joining the RAF in 1969 aged 18, to having responsibility for training pilots for the world's major airlines nearly 50 years later. After training at RAF Cranwell and RAF Valley and a tour as a flying instructor on Jet Provosts, he joined the Harrier Force, flying on front-line squadrons in the UK and Germany during the Cold War and as an instructor on the Harrier Conversion Unit. Detachments...
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The Tiger Moth is one of the major aviation success stories in the history of British aviation. Developed by Geoffrey de Havilland and flown for the first time on October 26, 1931, the biplane became the most important elementary trainer used by Commonwealth forces. More than 1,000 Tiger Moths were delivered before WWII, and subsequently, around 4,000 were built in the UK with an extra 2,000 being manufactured in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
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The Hawker Hunter is one of Britain's classic postwar jet aircraft. Initially introduced in 1954 as a swept-wing, transonic, single-seat day interceptor, it rapidly succeeded the first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor (see Flight Craft 13) and the de Havilland Venom. Powered by the then newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet, the Hunter's performance transformed the RAF's day fighter squadrons from the mid-1950s...
5) The First Helicopter Boys: The Early Days of Helicopter Operations-The Malayan Emergency, 1947–1960
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What is this book all about and why should I want to read it? I will try to explain, but first, I will explain what it is not about. This is not a scholarly attempt to impress anyone or a deep study of some complex theology, but instead, it is written in a way that anyone can easily understand it: sometimes you may think, as you read, that this was written for a fifth-grade child to read, and it was. That does not mean that I'm looking down on the...
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Long before the start of the Second World War it had been believed that strategic bombing would be the deciding factor in any future conflict. Then Hitler launched the Blitzkrieg upon France and the Low Countries in 1940, and the much-vaunted French Army and the British Expeditionary Force were swept away in just six weeks.
This new form of warfare shook the Air Ministry, but the expected invasion never came and the Battle of Britain was fought in...
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This book tells the story of the first helicopter in the world designed from the outset to be deployed at sea, in Destroyers and Frigates. It is primarily based on the words of those who operated it. Designed from the outset to cope with the restricted space of a warship both for stowage and flight operations it proved an immediate success. Its original role was to act as a weapon carrier to launch torpedoes and depth charges on submarine contacts...
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The Gloster F.9/40 was Britain's first jet fighter and as the Meteor F.I became the first jet-powered aircraft of any description to enter service with the Allies in World War II. Several early Meteors were dispatched to Europe in the hope that 1945 might witness the first-ever jet-on-jet combats between it and the much-vaunted German jets a contest which, in the event, was never to occur.
Postwar, and the Meteor quickly became the backbone of the...
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This is the remarkable story of one man's service in the Royal Navy, RAF and the Royal Naval Reserve Air Branch of the Fleet Air Arm. It is a flying career which lasted for an impressive 51 years and in which Warrant Officer Class 1 John Sheldon amassed over 8,000 hours in the air.
Having joined the Royal Navy in 1968, as a fifteen-year-old boy entrant not long out of school, John was recruited into the Fleet Air Arm as a junior electrician. He went...
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2015
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Includes 25 illustrations
A short but detailed biography of the prophet of American military Airpower – Billy Mitchell.
On July 21, 1921, Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell circled high above the rough surface of the Chesapeake Bay, exultant witness to an event he had orchestrated and produced. Shortly after noon, the mortally wounded, former-German battleship Ostfriesland began to roll, turning completely over while air escaping from the...
A short but detailed biography of the prophet of American military Airpower – Billy Mitchell.
On July 21, 1921, Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell circled high above the rough surface of the Chesapeake Bay, exultant witness to an event he had orchestrated and produced. Shortly after noon, the mortally wounded, former-German battleship Ostfriesland began to roll, turning completely over while air escaping from the...
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Sliding out of the shadows of World War Two, the de Havilland Vampire – accompanied by the distinctive whine of its Goblin engine – quickly proved itself an effective alternative to piston-powered fighters. After entering operational service with the RAF (as the service's first single-engined jet) in 1946, the Vampire – sought by air forces the world over – held a number of notable records: the first fighter to exceed 500 mph, the first to...
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Fascinated by the Battle of Britain from an early age, as a young man Dilip Sarkar realized that recording and sharing the Few's memories was of paramount importance. At the time, back in the mid-1980s, membership of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association was well populated and the then Honorary Secretary, the now late Wing Commander Pat Hancock DFC, OBE, supported Dilip's research by forwarding letters to individual pilots of interest. Those members...
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Developed in the early 1950s to meet a Soviet Army requirement and first flown in June 1957, the Mi-6 was the largest-yet helicopter created in the Soviet Union. Its notable features included a power-plant consisting of two turbo-shaft engines (for the first time on a Soviet helicopter) and stub wings offloading the main rotor in forward flight; the cabin was big enough to accommodate artillery systems and tactical ballistic missiles. Built by two...
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In the 1930s Red Army Command maintained what was often an offensive doctrine. The plan was to fight a bloodless victory on foreign ground. An offensive by the Worker's and Peasant's Red Army was to unfold as per the classic Blitzkrieg - it was with good reason that some of the higher ranking commanders had studied at the German General Headquarters Academy. Furthermore all the technical achievements of the period were taken into account. The assault...
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Anthony J. Moor's exhaustively researched and highly illustrated book is the first to tell the full story of the part West Malling played in the defense of the United Kingdom, and how it served the RAF for twenty-eight action-packed years.
Opened as a private landing ground after the First World War, the airfield at West Malling became home to the Maidstone School of Flying in 1930. The airfield's RAF role came to the fore in June 1940; by then the...
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The flak started about four or five minutes before the target and immediately it was apparent that it was intense and extremely accurate. Oboe entailed the pilot flying dead straight and level for ten minutes on the attack run. Suddenly a tremendous flash lit up the sky about 50 yards ahead of our nose and exactly at our altitude. Within a tenth of a second we were through the cloud of dirty yellowish-brown smoke and into the blackness beyond. I shall...
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It was Tuesday, 15 July 1919 and for the residents of Clifden on Ireland's west coast this was not to be a normal day. Just before 08.40 hours, descending out of the gloom came a large, twin-engine airplane lining up for final approach. One or two onlookers recognized the danger straight away for this was an area of soft bog, but their attempts to alert the pilot were in vain. The aircraft began to sink and, with a squelch, came to a sudden stop,...
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This is the story of the founding of the British Interplanetary Society in Liverpool in 1933 before it moved to London in 1937. It is the personal meticulous recollection of Leslie J Johnson, who was the BIS's first Hon. Secretary, but later its treasurer, editor of the bulletin and the journal and a vice president. Published for the first time, this manuscript was written using a rich source material comprising thousands of handwritten letters. As...
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Love it or loathe it, Heathrow is the United Kingdom's largest and most important airport by a distance. It currently serves over 190 routes to more than 80 countries. Over £100 billion of imports and exports are handled every year, making it the UK's primary port by value. This fascinating book traces the often controversial development of the airport over the last 70 years from the most humble of beginnings. Thanks to the author's in-depth knowledge...
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A pictorial account of the airfield's 90-year history-from WWI to housing the largest collection of war and peacetime vintage aircraft in Europe.
Established in 1917 to train Royal Flying Corps aircrew, during WWI Duxford was also the base for two United States Aero Squadrons, 137 and 159, and by the end was a mobilization airfield for three DH9 day bomber squadrons. During the 1920s and 30s, expansion continued apace, with three fighter squadrons,...
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