Baders Last Fight

Author : Andy Saunders
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1473895421
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bader's Last Fight written by Andy Saunders and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 9 August 1941, one of the greatest icons of the Second World War, Douglas Bader, was shot down, captured and later incarcerated. But by whom, and how? Was it by one of his deadly German opponents, as Douglas Bader himself maintained, or was it by one of his own side? There has been much debate and controversy among historians and in 2003 the author of this book revealed for the first time that Bader may have been victim to friendly fire. That revelation was followed by interest in the national press and later by a TV documentary screened on Channel 4 in August 2006. In the book aviation historian Andy Saunders develops his hypothesis, backed up by strong evidence and a wealth of statistics, and separates fact from fiction. He expertly dissects all the material relating to the day itself, and subsequent events. In this new, updated edition, Andy Saunders tells of his quest to find the legendary fighter pilots aircraft, which led to the remarkable discovery of a lost Spitfire which is being restored to flying condition.This book will fascinate all who read it and will be seen by most observers to be the final word on one of the great mysteries of the entire war.

Author : Robin Quinn
Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0752483315
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Hitler's Last Army written by Robin Quinn and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2015-01-05 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Second World War, 400,000 German servicemen were imprisoned on British soil, some remaining until 1948. These defeated men in their tattered uniforms were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Britain used the prisoners as an essential labour force, especially in agriculture, and in the devastating winter of 1947 the Germans helped avert a national disaster by clearing snow and stemming floods, working shoulder to shoulder with Allied troops. Slowly, friendships were forged between former enemies. Some POWs fell in love with British women, though such relationships were often frowned upon: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW ...!’ Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners, from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended.

Author : Greg Baughen
Publisher : Air World
ISBN 13 : 1526795353
Total Pages : 758 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book RAF at the Crossroads written by Greg Baughen and published by Air World. This book was released on 2021-05-26 with total page 758 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The events of 1942 marked a pivotal year in the history of British air power. For more than two decades the theory that long-range bombing could win wars had dominated British defense policy. The vast majority of warplanes ordered for the RAF were designed either to bomb enemy cities or stop the enemy from bombing British cites. Conventional armies and the air forces that supported them were seen as an outmoded way of waging war. During 1941 evidence began to mount that British policy was wrong. It had become clear the RAF’s bomber offensive against Germany had, until that point, achieved very little. Meanwhile, the wars raging in Europe, Africa and Asia were being decided not by heavy bombers, but by armies and their supporting tactical air forces. Britain had never had the resources to build a large army as well as a strategic bomber fleet; it had always had to make a choice. Now it seemed the country might have made the wrong choice. For the first time since 1918 Britain began thinking seriously about a different way of fighting wars. Was it too late to change? Was a strategic bombing campaign the only option open to Britain? Could the United Kingdom help its Soviet ally more by invading France as Stalin so vehemently demanded? Could this be done in 1942? Looking further ahead, was it time to begin the development of an entirely new generation of warplanes to support the Army? Should the RAF have specialist ground attack aircraft and air superiority fighters? The answers to these questions, which are all explored here by aviation historian Greg Baughen, would help shape the development of British air power for decades to come.

Author : Andy Saunders
Publisher : Grub Street Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1908117788
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Finding the Few written by Andy Saunders and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2009-10-19 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “extraordinarily researched” account of a quest to find MIA fighter pilots decades after World War II (Barrett Tillman). 1940: The air over Britain is filled with danger. Courageous and heroic men fly and fight, often sacrificing their lives to keep the nation free. Some of them will disappear into the summer sky without leaving a trace . . . This remarkable book records the lives of RAF pilots who were shot down and remained missing for decades—until diligent research efforts by author Andy Saunders and others brought identification to them and closure to their families. Each case represents a fascinating human story of drama, love, and tragedy; these stories are filled with startling detective work, remarkable coincidences, and shocking controversy. Finding the Few ends with a mystery still unsolved, and features photographs throughout, standing as a fitting testament to those men lost but not forgotten.

Author : Andy Saunders
Publisher : Grub Street Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1909166316
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Spitfire written by Andy Saunders and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the recovery of a World War II plane shot down in France—and the effort to restore this historic aircraft. Spitfire is the fascinating story of the recovery of a Battle of France Spitfire Mk 1 from the sands of Calais during the early 1980s—and its subsequent return to the United Kingdom for rebuild and restoration to flying condition. The full history of the airframe from the factory to loss, the airplane’s operational history with 92 Squadron, and the story of the pilots who flew it during its career are also told, as is the unfolding saga of its restoration and return to air—detailing its progress through the workshops right up to the first flight in 2011.

Author : S. P. MacKenzie
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700624694
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flying against Fate written by S. P. MacKenzie and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, Allied casualty rates in the air were high. Of the roughly 125,000 who served as aircrew with Bomber Command, 59,423 were killed or missing and presumed killed—a fatality rate of 45.5%. With odds like that, it would be no surprise if there were as few atheists in cockpits as there were in foxholes; and indeed, many airmen faced their dangerous missions with beliefs and rituals ranging from the traditional to the outlandish. Military historian S. P. MacKenzie considers this phenomenon in Flying against Fate, a pioneering study of the important role that superstition played in combat flier morale among the Allies in World War II. Mining a wealth of documents as well as a trove of published and unpublished memoirs and diaries, MacKenzie examines the myriad forms combat fliers' superstitions assumed, from jinxes to premonitions. Most commonly, airmen carried amulets or talismans—lucky boots or a stuffed toy; a coin whose year numbers added up to thirteen; counterintuitively, a boomerang. Some performed rituals or avoided other acts, e.g., having a photo taken before a flight. Whatever seemed to work was worth sticking with, and a heightened risk often meant an upsurge in superstitious thought and behavior. MacKenzie delves into behavior analysis studies to help explain the psychology behind much of the behavior he documents—not slighting the large cohort of crew members and commanders who demurred. He also looks into the ways in which superstitious behavior was tolerated or even encouraged by those in command who saw it as a means of buttressing morale. The first in-depth exploration of just how varied and deeply felt superstitious beliefs were to tens of thousands of combat fliers, Flying against Fate expands our understanding of a major aspect of the psychology of war in the air and of World War II.

Author : Dilip Sarkar
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1399017063
Total Pages : 421 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bader's Spitfire Wing written by Dilip Sarkar and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Douglas Bader
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473814065
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fight for the Sky written by Douglas Bader and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-05-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only book written by the legendary “legless” ace, the double amputee World War II fighter pilot immortalized by the film Reach for the Sky. In Fight for the Sky, Douglas Bader tells the inspiring story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoint of “The Few.” Using superb illustrations he traces the development of the Spitfire and Hurricane and describes the nail-biting actions of those who flew them against far superior numbers of enemy aircraft. As an added bonus, other well-known fighter aces including Johnnie Johnson, “Laddie” Lucas and Max Aikten contribute to Douglas’s book, no doubt out of affection and respect. This a really important contribution to RAF history by one of the greatest—and certainly the most famous—pilot of the Second World War.

Author : John Frayn Turner
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1848842430
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Battle of Britain written by John Frayn Turner and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2010-05-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: Shrewsbury, England: Airlife, 1998.

Author : Col. James Saxon Childers
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1787200876
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book War Eagles written by Col. James Saxon Childers and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by Colonel James Saxon Childers, who served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, this book, which was first published in 1943, provides an informal account of the American Eagle Squadron attached to Great Britain’s Royal Air Force. Contains over 100 illustrations, including maps.