Flak

Author : Alan L. Griggs
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786437073
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flying Flak Alley written by Alan L. Griggs and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2008-03-20 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air warfare was a decisive component of World War II, especially in western Europe and over Japan, where Allied bombers damaged 66 of the country's largest cities. The guts and glory of the bomber crews came, however, with a high casualty rate which had only improved marginally by the war's end. Descriptions of the bombers' harrowing missions told from the firsthand perspective of their pilots, navigators, bombardiers and gunners create the immediacy of a single person's experience during one of America's most daring military expeditions. A short biography of each veteran accompanies these tales of typical and not-so-typical missions.

Author : Edward B. Westermann
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flak written by Edward B. Westermann and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air raid sirens wail, searchlight beams flash across the sky, and the night is aflame with tracer fire and aerial explosions, as Allied bombers and German anti-aircraft units duel in the thundering darkness. Such "cinematic" scenes, played out with increasing frequency as World War II ground to a close, were more than mere stock material for movie melodramas. As Edward Westermann reveals, they point to a key but largely unappreciated aspect of the German war effort that has yet to get its full due.Long the neglected stepchild in studies of World War II air campaigns, German flak or anti-aircraft units have been frequently dismissed by American, British, and German historians (and by veterans of the European air war) as ineffective weapons that wasted valuable materiel and personnel resources desperately needed elsewhere by the Third Reich. Westermann emphatically disagrees with that view and makes a convincing case for the significant contributions made by the entire range of German anti-aircraft defenses.During the Allied air campaigns against the Third Reich, well over a million tons of bombs were dropped upon the German homeland, killing nearly 300,000 civilians, wounding another 780,000, and destroying more than 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures. Not surprisingly, that aerial Armageddon has inspired countless studies of both the victorious Allied bombing offensive and the ultimately doomed Luftwaffe defense of its own skies. By contrast, flak units have virtually been ignored, despite the fact that they employed more than a million men and women, were responsible for more than half of all Allied aircraft losses, forced Allied bombers to fly far abovehigh-accuracy altitudes, and thus allowed Germany to hold out far longer than it might have otherwise.Westermann's definitive study sheds new light on every facet of the development and organization of this vital defense arm, includi

Author : John P. Lopez
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1467044660
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Taking Flak written by John P. Lopez and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-10-07 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He was an NFL superstar and Drag Racing icon. He had Hollywood starlets on his arm and a legion of fans in the palms of his hands. Dan Pastorini lived on the edge and palye don the brink. No oneleast of all Pastoriniknew what the next turn would bring. His life was indulgent, brilliant, cursed and humbling. He was known a s the toughest man in football, a cover-boy heart-throb and a soft-hearted friend. He changed the way NFL quarterbacks played the game, donning the first Flak Jacket to protect three shattered ribs. He threw perhaps the most fateful pass in playoff history, a controversial championship moment that led to use of NFL replay. He was involved in a tragic speed boating accident. He beat Big Daddy Don Garlits and all of drag racings best. He was the hero in the most triumphant return an NFL team ever received. He never backed down from anything or anyone, falling into notorious scraped and life-altering lows. He married a Playboy model and posed for Playgirl. He dated Farrah Fawcett and was the most iconic figure in a Wild West era when Texas oil boomed and gluttony prevailed. Dan Pastorini never has told the whole story. Until now. This is the story of a gifted, hard-driving kid from California who never stopped going fast or chasing dreams. No matter how much flak he took.

Author : J. Michael Willard
Publisher : The Willard Group
ISBN 13 : 9667889017
Total Pages : 409 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Flak written by J. Michael Willard and published by The Willard Group. This book was released on 2004-01-15 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Flak is Mike Willards personal journey into the world of public relations. Willard assumes an autobiographical approach in his book and draws upon his vast life experiences as he writes about the importance of creativity, straight talk, and unfettered counsel in the public relations industry. Willard weaves his personal story of successes, defeats, and comebacks into a book loaded with PR know-how gathered by more than a quarter century in the business.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 081176592X
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flak in World War II written by Donald Nijboer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-09-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than half of the U.S.’s aircraft losses in Europe in World War II were due to German antiaircraft artillery, and many of the American aircraft shot down by Luftwaffe fighters had first been driven out of formation by flak and made easy prey for the fighters. A world away in the Pacific, American flak guns aboard naval ships formed the last line of defense against Japanese kamikazes. Historian Donald Nijboer relies on firsthand accounts, newly discovered files, photos, diagrams, and maps to reveal the forgotten contribution of flak in World War II, from doctrine and tactics to combat stories on the ground and in the air about what it was like to fly into the teeth of antiaircraft fire.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472836707
Total Pages : 81 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book German Flak Defences vs Allied Heavy Bombers written by Donald Nijboer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of World War II, the strategic bombing of Germany has inspired numerous studies, countless books and several documentary films, and it is not surprising. With more than one million tons of bombs dropped, close to 300,000 civilians killed, 700,000 wounded and in excess of 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures destroyed, the Allied bomber offensive was industrial war on a grand scale. The air battle that raged over Germany has often been described as a battle between Allied and German fighters but what has been frequently missed by historians on all sides is the impact of German anti-aircraft defences (flak). Though often dismissed as ineffective and a waste of valuable material and personnel, the German flak arm made a major contribution to the defence of the Third Reich – at least half of the American aircraft shot down over Germany fell to flak, and according to the RAF Official History, it was estimated that flak accounted for 1229 of 3302 aircraft lost by Bomber Command between 1942 and April 1945. Additionally, the strategic role of flak extended beyond simply shooting down aircraft – its other, more important task was to force bombers to drop their ordnance sooner or from a higher altitude, thus reducing bombing accuracy. Both these roles are explored in depth in this detailed study of the German flak defences and of their adversaries, the Allied heavy bombers. Containing full-colour illustrations including cockpit scenes and armament views, this is the definitive guide to the much-overlooked conflict between Allied planes and German anti-aircraft defences.

Author : Jonathan Bernstein
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472846273
Total Pages : 81 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book P-47 Thunderbolt vs German Flak Defenses written by Jonathan Bernstein and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of World War 2, the tactical air war over Europe has been largely overlooked by historians and authors alike in favour of analysis of the higher profile strategic bombing campaign. Involving just as many aircraft as the daylight heavy bombing campaign, the fighter-bombers (principally of the Ninth Air Force) wreaked considerably more havoc on German ground forces. Indeed, Thunderbolt units undertaking such missions effectively complemented the strategic campaign, ensuring the defeat of Nazi Germany. P-47 pilots paid a high price to achieve this victory, however, as the German flak arm was well equipped (nearly a quarter of all war-related production was devoted to anti-aircraft weaponry) with weapons of various calibres to counter tactical air power's low to medium altitude threat. The USAAF four numbered air forces that saw action over the European continent suffered significant fighter-bomber losses to flak. The principle fighter-bomber from the summer of 1944 through to VE Day was the P-47D, with both dedicated ground attack units and squadrons that had completed their bomber escort tasking seeking out targets of opportunity across occupied Western Europe. While heavy-calibre anti-aircraft fire was intended to both shoot down enemy aircraft and force bombers to drop their ordnance sooner or from higher altitudes, thus reducing bombing accuracy, low-altitude flak batteries put up a virtual 'wall of steel' for enemy fighter-bombers to fly through. Damaging a low-flying fighter-bomber made it easier for other flak gunners to track, engage and destroy it. Innovations like lead-computing gunsights gave gunners a higher probability of intercepting low-altitude fighters. Conversely, the appearance of air-to-ground rockets beneath the wings of P-47s gave pilots better standoff range and a harder-hitting punch when dealing with low and medium altitude flak units. This volume analyses the tactics and techniques used by both P-47 fighter-bomber pilots and German flak gunners, featuring full-colour illustrations to examine the Allied tactical air power in Europe from 1943 and how German defences were overpowered by the air threat.

Author : Uwe Feist
Publisher : Ryton Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781930571303
Total Pages : 149 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzerspahwagen written by Uwe Feist and published by Ryton Publishing. This book was released on 2008-10 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thorough look at the Wehrmacht's Sd.Kfz. 221, 222, 223, 260, and 261 light armored scout cars. Equipped with four wheels rather than tracks, these cars were used primarily for reconnaissance by panzer divisions. In addition to nearly 300 color and black-and-white photos and illustrations, the book also includes color vehicle profiles by Uwe Feist.

Author : Edward B. Westermann
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700614206
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flak written by Edward B. Westermann and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2001-11-12 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air raid sirens wail, searchlight beams flash across the sky, and the night is aflame with tracer fire and aerial explosions, as Allied bombers and German anti-aircraft units duel in the thundering darkness. Such "cinematic" scenes, played out with increasing frequency as World War II ground to a close, were more than mere stock material for movie melodramas. As Edward Westermann reveals, they point to a key but largely unappreciated aspect of the German war effort that has yet to get its full due. Long the neglected stepchild in studies of World War II air campaigns, German flak or anti-aircraft units have been frequently dismissed by American, British, and German historians (and by veterans of the European air war) as ineffective weapons that wasted valuable material and personnel resources desperately needed elsewhere by the Third Reich. Westermann emphatically disagrees with that view and makes a convincing case for the significant contributions made by the entire range of German anti-aircraft defenses. During the Allied air campaigns against the Third Reich, well over a million tons of bombs were dropped upon the German homeland, killing nearly 300,000 civilians, wounding another 780,000, and destroying more than 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures. Not surprisingly, that aerial Armageddon has inspired countless studies of both the victorious Allied bombing offensive and the ultimately doomed Luftwaffe defense of its own skies. By contrast, flak units have virtually been ignored, despite the fact that they employed more than a million men and women, were responsible for more than half of all Allied aircraft losses, forced Allied bombers to fly far above high-accuracy altitudes, and thus allowed Germany to hold out far longer than it might have otherwise. Westermann's definitive study sheds new light on every facet of the development and organization of this vital defense arm, including its artillery, radar, searchlight, barrage balloon, decoy sites, and command components. Highlighting the convergence of technology, strategy, doctrine, politics, and economics, Flak also provides revealing insights into German strategic thought, Hitler's obsession with micromanaging the war, and the lives of the members of the flak units themselves, including the large number of women, factory workers, and even POWs who participated.

Author : Lindsey Lupo
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 073913812X
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flak-Catchers written by Lindsey Lupo and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2010-12-02 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flak-Catchers explores the ways in which riot commissions-the institutional bodies appointed by an executive in the aftermath of a race riot to determine a riot timeline, investigate causes, and offer prescriptions for change-have dealt with racial violence in the United States over the last century. In studying five American riots and their commissions this book shows that riot commissions only serve to give the appearance of strong and responsive government action during uncertain times. They primarily benefit the instituting body by focusing on a restoration of law and order while undermining any larger civil rights message.