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Author: John Shields Publisher: Air World ISBN: 1036105423 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 415
Book Description
Under cloudless blue skies, the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Montgomery, Alabama hosts the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the United States. Most of the graves contain young RAF trainee pilots killed during their flying training at nearby Maxwell and Gunter airfields during the Second World War. However, there is another grave, located at the edge of the plot, not from the early 1940s but, from 1954. The grave marks the final resting place of a 44-year-old senior RAF officer, Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson CBE. It begs the questions who was he and why is he buried there? This book sets out to answer both these questions. As a result, this is the remarkable story of not only Stephenson’s life but the people, planes and places that would leave an indelible mark on a seasoned fighter pilot. After growing up in Lincolnshire and Ireland, 18-year-old Stephenson joined the RAF in 1928 alongside Douglas Bader who would become a life-long friend. After leaving Cranwell, the pair both joined 23 Squadron. In the 1930s, Stephenson rose through the ranks to command 19 Squadron, a Duxford-based Spitfire unit, that would see his baptism of fire over Dunkirk in late May 1940. Following the downing of a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Stephenson was himself shot down and crash landed on the beach at Sangatte. After a brief period on the run in France and Belgium, Stephenson was taken into captivity, spending the next five years as a prisoner of war, ending up at the iconic Colditz Castle where, ironically, he was reunited with his old friend Bader. Upon his release in April 1945, Stephenson quickly resumed his RAF career commanding, instructing, and flying the latest jet fighters, both at home and overseas. He was aide-de-camp to two monarchs, including escorting a young Queen Elizabeth II during her 1953 Coronation Review. However, his already eventful career would take a tragic turn. In 1954, Stephenson flew to the United States to review their latest acquisitions, which included a flight in the supersonic F-100 Super Sabre. It would be his last flight. Nevertheless, Stephenson’s legacy lives on at his former base at Duxford in the guise of the Imperial War Museum’s immaculately restored Spitfire Mk.I N3200. This was the very aircraft in which he force-landed on 26 May 1940. Recovered from the French beach, N3200 was painstakingly rebuilt and returned to flying condition. Today, N3200 is often referred to as a ‘National Treasure’. This is the biography of a remarkable pilot, husband and father, revealing the planes he flew, the places he visited, and the incredible people he met along the way.
Author: John Shields Publisher: Air World ISBN: 1036105423 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 415
Book Description
Under cloudless blue skies, the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Montgomery, Alabama hosts the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the United States. Most of the graves contain young RAF trainee pilots killed during their flying training at nearby Maxwell and Gunter airfields during the Second World War. However, there is another grave, located at the edge of the plot, not from the early 1940s but, from 1954. The grave marks the final resting place of a 44-year-old senior RAF officer, Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson CBE. It begs the questions who was he and why is he buried there? This book sets out to answer both these questions. As a result, this is the remarkable story of not only Stephenson’s life but the people, planes and places that would leave an indelible mark on a seasoned fighter pilot. After growing up in Lincolnshire and Ireland, 18-year-old Stephenson joined the RAF in 1928 alongside Douglas Bader who would become a life-long friend. After leaving Cranwell, the pair both joined 23 Squadron. In the 1930s, Stephenson rose through the ranks to command 19 Squadron, a Duxford-based Spitfire unit, that would see his baptism of fire over Dunkirk in late May 1940. Following the downing of a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Stephenson was himself shot down and crash landed on the beach at Sangatte. After a brief period on the run in France and Belgium, Stephenson was taken into captivity, spending the next five years as a prisoner of war, ending up at the iconic Colditz Castle where, ironically, he was reunited with his old friend Bader. Upon his release in April 1945, Stephenson quickly resumed his RAF career commanding, instructing, and flying the latest jet fighters, both at home and overseas. He was aide-de-camp to two monarchs, including escorting a young Queen Elizabeth II during her 1953 Coronation Review. However, his already eventful career would take a tragic turn. In 1954, Stephenson flew to the United States to review their latest acquisitions, which included a flight in the supersonic F-100 Super Sabre. It would be his last flight. Nevertheless, Stephenson’s legacy lives on at his former base at Duxford in the guise of the Imperial War Museum’s immaculately restored Spitfire Mk.I N3200. This was the very aircraft in which he force-landed on 26 May 1940. Recovered from the French beach, N3200 was painstakingly rebuilt and returned to flying condition. Today, N3200 is often referred to as a ‘National Treasure’. This is the biography of a remarkable pilot, husband and father, revealing the planes he flew, the places he visited, and the incredible people he met along the way.
Author: John Shields Publisher: Air World ISBN: 103610544X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 354
Book Description
Under cloudless blue skies, the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Montgomery, Alabama hosts the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the United States. Most of the graves contain young RAF trainee pilots killed during their flying training at nearby Maxwell and Gunter airfields during the Second World War. However, there is another grave, located at the edge of the plot, not from the early 1940s but, from 1954. The grave marks the final resting place of a 44-year-old senior RAF officer, Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson CBE. It begs the questions who was he and why is he buried there? This book sets out to answer both these questions. As a result, this is the remarkable story of not only Stephenson’s life but the people, planes and places that would leave an indelible mark on a seasoned fighter pilot. After growing up in Lincolnshire and Ireland, 18-year-old Stephenson joined the RAF in 1928 alongside Douglas Bader who would become a life-long friend. After leaving Cranwell, the pair both joined 23 Squadron. In the 1930s, Stephenson rose through the ranks to command 19 Squadron, a Duxford-based Spitfire unit, that would see his baptism of fire over Dunkirk in late May 1940. Following the downing of a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Stephenson was himself shot down and crash landed on the beach at Sangatte. After a brief period on the run in France and Belgium, Stephenson was taken into captivity, spending the next five years as a prisoner of war, ending up at the iconic Colditz Castle where, ironically, he was reunited with his old friend Bader. Upon his release in April 1945, Stephenson quickly resumed his RAF career commanding, instructing, and flying the latest jet fighters, both at home and overseas. He was aide-de-camp to two monarchs, including escorting a young Queen Elizabeth II during her 1953 Coronation Review. However, his already eventful career would take a tragic turn. In 1954, Stephenson flew to the United States to review their latest acquisitions, which included a flight in the supersonic F-100 Super Sabre. It would be his last flight. Nevertheless, Stephenson’s legacy lives on at his former base at Duxford in the guise of the Imperial War Museum’s immaculately restored Spitfire Mk.I N3200. This was the very aircraft in which he force-landed on 26 May 1940. Recovered from the French beach, N3200 was painstakingly rebuilt and returned to flying condition. Today, N3200 is often referred to as a ‘National Treasure’. This is the biography of a remarkable pilot, husband and father, revealing the planes he flew, the places he visited, and the incredible people he met along the way.
Author: John Shields Publisher: Air World ISBN: 9781036105402 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Under cloudless blue skies, the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Montgomery, Alabama hosts the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the United States. Most of the graves contain young RAF trainee pilots killed during their flying training at nearby Maxwell and Gunter airfields during the Second World War. However, there is another grave, located at the edge of the plot, not from the early 1940s but, from 1954. The grave marks the final resting place of a 44-year-old senior RAF officer, Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson CBE. It begs the questions who was he and why is he buried there? This book sets out to answer both these questions. As a result, this is the remarkable story of not only Stephenson's life but the people, planes and places that would leave an indelible mark on a seasoned fighter pilot. After growing up in Lincolnshire and Ireland, 18-year-old Stephenson joined the RAF in 1928 alongside Douglas Bader who would become a life-long friend. After leaving Cranwell, the pair both joined 23 Squadron. In the 1930s, Stephenson rose through the ranks to command 19 Squadron, a Duxford-based Spitfire unit, that would see his baptism of fire over Dunkirk in late May 1940. Following the downing of a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Stephenson was himself shot down and crash landed on the beach at Sangatte. After a brief period on the run in France and Belgium, Stephenson was taken into captivity, spending the next five years as a prisoner of war, ending up at the iconic Colditz Castle where, ironically, he was reunited with his old friend Bader. Upon his release in April 1945, Stephenson quickly resumed his RAF career commanding, instructing, and flying the latest jet fighters, both at home and overseas. He was aide-de-camp to two monarchs, including escorting a young Queen Elizabeth II during her 1953 Coronation Review. However, his already eventful career would take a tragic turn. In 1954, Stephenson flew to the United States to review their latest acquisitions, which included a flight in the supersonic F-100 Super Sabre. It would be his last flight. Nevertheless, Stephenson's legacy lives on at his former base at Duxford in the guise of the Imperial War Museum's immaculately restored Spitfire Mk.I N3200. This was the very aircraft in which he force-landed on 26 May 1940. Recovered from the French beach, N3200 was painstakingly rebuilt and returned to flying condition. Today, N3200 is often referred to as a 'National Treasure'. This is the biography of a remarkable pilot, husband and father, revealing the planes he flew, the places he visited, and the incredible people he met along the way.
Author: Dilip Sarkar Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1526732823 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 486
Book Description
“A really excellent, detailed, comprehensive and moving history of 19 Squadron, RAF during the Second World War” from the author of Arnhem 1944 (Clash of Steel). As a child, Dilip Sarkar was fascinated by the haunting image of an anonymous RAF Spitfire pilot. Taken minutes after landing from a Battle of Britain combat, this was Squadron Leader Brian Lane DFC, the commander of 19 Squadron, based at Fowlmere. Deeply moving was the discovery that, in 1942, Brian was reported missing after a futile nuisance raid over the Dutch coast. During the mid-1980s, Dilip began researching the life and times of both Brian Lane and 19 Squadron, forging close friendships with many of the unit’s surviving Battle of Britain pilots and support staff. Nearly thirty years later, sadly all of the survivors are now deceased, but Dilip’s close relationship has provided a huge archive of correspondence and interviews in addition to a unique photographic collection. Furthermore, the author, a retired police detective, has thoroughly investigated the life—and death—of Squadron Leader Lane. This completely new Spitfire! covers everything we would ever need to know about such a unit during the critical pre and early war period: the social, political, aviation and military history all in one volume—emphasizing the human experience involved and the stories of casualties. With an immense photographic collection—many published here for the first time—this book is destined to become a classic. “The most thorough book about any squadron in RAF service during the Battle of Britain . . . an impeccable source of information and a gripping story—Most Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench
Author: Dilip Sarkar Publisher: Air World ISBN: 1526775905 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 483
Book Description
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 of the Few included a wide-range of personalities, from famous airmen like Group Captain Peter Townsend and Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, to the ‘also rans’, as Battle of Britain Hurricane pilot Peter Fox famously described himself and peers. Indeed, it was Peter’s ‘also rans’ that were of the greatest interest to Dilip, who recognized that whilst many famous and distinguished pilots had either published personal memoirs or had biographies written about them, lesser-lights had no platform to record and share their experiences. This Dilip became dedicated to resolving. For many years, Dilip enjoyed prolific correspondence with the Few. These letters – hundreds of them – now represent a unique primary source, confirming the incredibly close relationship the author enjoyed with his heroes and high esteem in which they likewise held him. Over the years, Dilip’s published work has enormously benefited from his unique knowledge of the people involved through this very personal association, the memories collated providing his books a real ‘human’ touch. As the Few sadly fade away, it is only now that the significance of Dilip’s correspondence, industry and archive arising are becoming truly apparent. In Letters From The Few, Dilip shares with us, for the first time, a small selection of his correspondence with Battle of Britain fighter pilots, providing us an inspirational insight into the immeasurable value of this research and personalities involved.
Author: Norman L. R. Franks Publisher: Crecy Publishing ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
This third volume of Fighter command losses deals with the final 16 months of the war. Plans for the Allied invasion of Europe were well under way in November 1943 when the 'Fighter command' nomenclature was put aside temporarily due to the RAF's fighter force being divided into two.
Author: John Shields Publisher: Air World ISBN: 139900753X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 463
Book Description
A Royal Air Force veteran of the Falklands Conflict presents a comprehensive, myth-busting study of the air campaign. In the spring of 1982, Argentina and the UK engaged in tense combat over control of the Falkland Islands. The ten weeks of fighting are often portrayed with a decidedly one-sided narrative: either heroic Argentine pilots relentlessly pressing home their attacks, or the Sea Harrier force utterly dominating its Argentine enemies. In Air Power in the Falklands Conflict, RAF veteran John Shields presents a detailed and even-handed analysis of the Falkland Islands air war. As an RAF officer, John Shields spent two and a half years in the Falklands as an air defense navigator. Using recently released primary source material, Shields looks at the air campaign at the operational level. He develops a considered view of what should have occurred, and contrasts it with what actually happened. In so doing, John Shields has produced a comprehensive account of the air campaign that has demolished many of the enduring myths of this Cold War conflict.
Author: Paul Tremelling Publisher: Penguin UK ISBN: 9781405951937 Category : Transportation Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Discover the exhilarating first-hand account of one man's white-knuckle life as a fighter pilot with the Royal Navy Sea Harriers 'A searingly honest, keenly observed, well written and extremely funny military memoir . . . A must read' RAF NEWS 'An outstanding first-hand account from inside the cockpit, told with flair and humour' JOHNNY MERCER MP, author of We Were Warriors 'Puts you in the cockpit for carrier landings, missile firings and some of the most intense close air support stories imaginable' MIKE SUTTON, author of Typhoon _________ Paul Tremelling spent nearly twenty years with the Royal Navy's Sea Harriers, charged with standing in the way of Her Majesty's enemies. In the cockpit or crew room, the pressure was relentless, the humour merciless. It's no place for the faint-hearted. Whether landing on a pitching aircraft carrier deck in the middle of the night or screaming in to save the lives of heroes under fire in Afghanistan, there was no room for self-doubt; only honesty, confidence and do-or-die hard truth. Combining visceral action with sharp intelligence, laced with acerbic humour, Harrier pulls no punches in bringing to life the hi-octane, unforgiving world of the fighter pilot, in the air and on the ground. Strap-in . . . _________ 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know . . . Tremelling lights the burners in an extraordinary memoir that leaves most military memoirs sitting behind in the hangar' JAMES BRABAZON, author of My Friend the Mercenary 'This isn't a book for the faint-hearted. It is a book for anyone who appreciates insight into how a fighter pilot trains, trains more, thinks (fast), handles the aircraft and onboard tech . . . then fights' FLYER 'Tremmers puts you in the cockpit for carrier landings, missile firings and some of the most intense close air support sorties imaginable. Insightful, laced with humour, and highly recommended' MIKE SUTTON, author of Typhoon 'An inspiring, enlightening and thrilling insight into how modern aviators earn their pay. The stories from Afghanistan alone are justification enough to read this brilliant book. A masterpiece' PAUL BEAVER, author of Spitfire People 'A memoir that reads like a fast-paced thriller. Harrier launches straight onto the classics shelf of aviation literature' JOHN TEMPLETON SMITH, author of White Lie
Author: Jon Latimer Publisher: Abrams ISBN: 1590209362 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 395
Book Description
From the Trojan Horse to Gulf War subterfuge, this far-reaching military history examines the importance and ingenuity of wartime deception campaigns. The art of military deception is as old as the art of war. This fascinating account of the practice draws on conflicts from around the world and across millennia. The examples stretch from the very beginnings of recorded military history—Pharaoh Ramses II's campaign against the Hittites in 1294 B.C.—to modern times, when technology has placed a stunning array of devices into the arsenals of military commanders. Military historians often underestimate the importance of deception in warfare. This book is the first to fully describe its value. Jon Latimer demonstrates how simple tricks have been devastatingly effective. He also explores how technology has increased the range and subtlety of what is possible—including bogus radio traffic, virtual images, even false smells. Deception in War includes examples from land, sea, and air to show how great commanders have always had, as Winston Churchill put it, that indispensable “element of legerdemain, an original and sinister touch, which leaves the enemy puzzled as well as beaten.”
Author: John Shields
Author: John Shields
Author: John Shields
Author: John Shields
Author: Dilip Sarkar
Author: Dilip Sarkar
Author: Norman L. R. Franks
Author: 
Author: John Shields
Author: Paul Tremelling
Author: Jon Latimer