Air Force War

In a return to sweeping social history of wartime, Patrick Bishop explores the lives and wartime experiences of thousands of men and women who served in all units of the air force. On 1st April 2018, the Royal Air Force will be 100 years old - a short life by military standards but an extraordinarily important and eventful one. From the start it was special, standing sometimes awkwardly but always proudly a little apart from the existing services.

The story of the United States Air Force (USAF) stretches back to aerial operations prior to the First World War and looks forward to a new era of airpower in space. Fighting from Above presents a concise account of this history, offering a new perspective on how the air forces of the United States created an independent way of warfare over time.

Airplanes are created to fly, not to hang down from a ceiling in museums or rust in hangars. This statement is especially true, when it comes to the U-2 spy plane, a.k.a. “Dragon Lady”. This relict of the Cold War is still in operation after more than fifty years since its first flight in 1955. Designed for high flight the U-2 is at home at an altitude of more than 70,000 feet. At an altitude so high, land under the plane does not appear to be flat anymore. A pilot can see the curvature of the surface of the Earth. It is like being on a spaceship with one exception. Gravity is still ...

“Carefully plotted…an abundance of cunning political themes…invigorating until the last page.” –The BookLife Prize Cold War espionage is raging. A Russian bomber crashes on a frozen Alaska lake. The lone survivor, Anton, has flown the mission to free his wife from a political gulag, even though he knows in his heart that she is already dead. Ellen, the widow of a falsely discredited US Intelligence officer rescues him. Their common story of betrayal sparks a passion that each felt was forever lost. THE OPPOSITE OF TRUST is the perfect title for a cold war thriller that pits east ...

When Jess bumps into Milan unexpectedly, sparks are reignited, and she wonders if she made a mistake finishing with him in Amberton. But matters are complicated when a film company arrives at Bentley Priory to make a morale-boosting film about the RAF. The lead actor is none other than Leonard Steele, a man from Jess’ past who could ruin everything she has worked so hard to build.

A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....

First published in 1944, Enemy Coast Ahead quickly became regarded as the classic Bomber Command story, following Gibson's RAF career from flying the Hampden and Manchester at the beginning of World War II to the triumphant return home of the Lancasters from the famous 1943 Dambuster raid, which Gibson led and for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

'Excellent read and a great insight into pilot training.' If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to train as a military pilot, this is the book for you. But don’t expect a tale of seamless progress and glamour. Ron Powell had a difficult journey. Following on from Preparation For Flight, this second volume of Shropshire Blue follows Ron through a short course on the Chipmunk and then basic flying training on the Jet Provost, where his first solo was followed by the thrills of spinning and aerobatics, the advanced skills of navigation and formation flying, and his personal demon, ...

A single pilot can fly the U.S. Air Force's powerful fighter plane, DreamStar - and he's a KGB mole. Captain Kenneth Francis James - a.k.a. Andrei Maraklov - has been ordered to steal DreamStar, an XF-34 fighter that has the frightening ability to respond to its pilot's thoughts and issue its own commands. It's up to Lieutenant Colonel Patrick McLanahan - the hero of Dale Brown's earlier thriller, Flight of the Old Dog - to remove the DreamStar threat.

On Thursday, October 14, 1943, 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses set out for a strategic bombing raid on the factories in Schweinfurt. Sixty of those planes never returned and 650 men were lost during the course of that mission. It was the greatest failure that the United States Air Force had ever suffered and became known as "Black Thursday". Martin Caidin's Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid is a brilliant account of that day that should never be forgotten. This audiobook uncovers in thrilling detail the build-up to that fateful raid.

On America's newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

Stories of service in the Australian Air Force, 1942-52. This book is the story of a father and son from Newcastle, New South Wales. Edward Norman ‘Ted’ Murray and his son, George Arthur Murray, both elected to serve in Australia’s Air Force. Ted served in the Air Force during World War II from 1942-45. The context of his service was the switch in priority from the Empire Air Training Scheme to working with the United States to win the war in the Pacific. He joined in search of adventure. He trained diligently to become a Flight Engineer and served in the Northern Territory, New South...

After a punishing war with an artificial intelligence threat (AIT), the world mobilizes to search for other potential menaces. Carl Anderson, a former Los Angeles Police officer, now works for a joint task force with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). After investigating a lead in Phoenix Arizona, Carl and his are tasked with hunting down an illusive AI he believes is housed in an Armada of ships in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This second short story in a series reveals that a simple algorithm can take on a life of its own. Both Lucky and Kathy make an appearance in this sequel...

Keep your eyes on the radar… Austin ‘Sparky’ Calder wasn’t dumb – he was a realist. If fairytales and fables were true? He was the ogre or troll in the story. Luck was not on his side and there was no magical potion, no charm, no magic wand that would change that fact. He was reckless to the point it was dangerous… and part of the reason he ended up in Ghazni in the first place! … Just believe. Giselle Beck was a daydreamer, an optimist, and was determined to always look for a silver lining or magical rainbow. It was just harder to see sometimes when your location was a desert...

In his 80s, Peter William Tremayne recounts 60 years of high-risk adventures from all corners of the world: as far south as Antarctica, as deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, as high as the peaks of the Himalaya, to name just a few. Often reckless, always challenging, Peter realizes it’s time to share his escapades before his luck, or time runs out. The incredible flying and climbing adventures of one of New Zealand’s most unique mountaineers and pilots, yet unsung and forgotten in his country of birth.

In 1949 the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of Mao Zedung drove the Kuomintang and their leader, Chiang Kai-shek, off the mainland and onto the island of Taiwan. The CPC established a government on the mainland which has persisted to this day. Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, has flourished as a democracy for the past 70+ years. Although it is not formally a member of the United Nations and has no formal diplomatic relations with the United States, it has maintained a friendly relationship with the U.S. and the West for seventy years. For that period, the...

In 1972, America was completing its withdrawal from the long and divisive war in Vietnam. Air power covered the departure of ground forces, and search and rescue teams from all services and Air America covered the airmen and soldiers still in the fight. Day and night these military and civilian aircrews stood alert to respond to "Mayday" calls. The rescue forces were the answer to every man's prayer, and those forces brought home airmen, sailors, marines, and soldiers downed or trapped across the breadth and depth of the entire Southeast Asia theater.

Even when you’re flying a desk, Afghanistan is a dangerous place. Medic Paul Adams thought he’d seen the last of Afghanistan after his last tour almost killed him and his colleague, Lizzie Jarman. They’d been there, done that, and got the medal. But he can’t turn down a temporary promotion. Just as he arrives in Kandahar air base, rockets start raining down, dealing death and destruction in equal measure. Unknown to Adams, Lizzie isn’t where he thought she was. Now much more than just a colleague, he thought she was safe and sound back at home. Sent out to replace a fallen medic, ...

With the Botam Army advancing on them and the battle lost, the situation is desperate, Pilot Sergeant Two Zuri Onai is ordered to retreat for evacuation off the planet. But when her drone spots a wounded Techno soldier behind the Botam forces, abandoned by his command, is there anything she can do, even if she wanted to? Follow orders, save herself, and get the heck out of Dodge, or . . . do what? She’s an Air Force drone pilot, not Army infantry. When the barbarians are at the gate, every person in uniform will have to make a decision that could very well be the difference between life ...

Speaking of War: Quotes on Conflict serves as a heavy jumbo reference book documenting pithy, humorous, droll, or even ironic commentary surrounding and describing the machinations of warfare over the millenia. Culled from military historians, scholars, politicians, reporters, authors, generals and soldiers, the work is separated by categories for ease of use. Covered here are all forms of war in all mediums—land, sea and air, conventional and unconventional—and occurring all over the world. There is a great deal of history here, so readers must be careful: they might learn something. ...