Aviation War History

On August 7, 1942, two events of major military importance occurred on separate sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive, landing the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the new Eighth Air Force’s 97th Bombardment Group bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.

Uncover the quiet legacy of the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam—where courage soared above the jungle and history was written in the skies. From Operation Rolling Thunder to covert rescue missions behind enemy lines, Skyward Sentinels delivers a riveting, in-depth account of the United States Air Force (USAF) in the Vietnam War. This meticulously researched book sheds light on the overlooked aerial campaigns, pilots, and aircrews whose sacrifices were critical to the war’s outcome but often overshadowed in historical memory. Explore how American air power shaped the course of the war across ...

Great Britain, summer 1940. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Adolf Hitler’s powerful armies control Europe. England stands alone against this juggernaut, the whole world knowing it is only a matter of time before Nazi Germany unleashes its military might on the island nation. And in London, a new prime minister named Winston Churchill is determined to defeat the Nazi menace, no matter the costs. Luckily for Churchill, one quirky Englishman has seen the future.

Sabre Wrath follows a pilot and his F-86 Sabre in the first jet v jet dogfights in the dawn of the jet era over an area which became known as Mig Alley. The Korean War was not only a landmark conflict under the guidance of the United Nations, but it was also the first serious testing ground for jet-to-jet combat. The North Korean military capacity had barely progressed past ox carts and prop planes, forcing the Communist Chinese Air Force (CCAF) to augment much of their air defense. This led to Soviet equipment, training, and personal participating in the air war, and fast-evolving jet ...

CIA Wizards of Aerial Reconnaissance: The CIA's Trailblazing Tech Evolution (CIA Area 51 Chronicles – Book 7) By TD Barnes The CIA’s secret aviation pioneers. The evolution of intelligence technology. The hidden history of aerial reconnaissance. For decades, the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology pushed the boundaries of what was possible in intelligence gathering, transforming aerial reconnaissance and surveillance technology. From the covert flights of Air America to the groundbreaking U-2 and A-12 Archangel programs at Area 51, the CIA pioneered a new era of intelligence ...

A fireball over the Arctic. A missing hydrogen bomb. A Cold War program exposed in a single, shattering night. Before dawn on January 21, 1968, a U.S. Air Force B-52G code-named HOBO 28 streaked across the polar sky carrying four thermonuclear weapons. Its mission—Operation Chrome Dome—kept nuclear-armed bombers in the air 24/7, ready to strike Moscow in minutes. But when a cockpit fire roared through the bomber at 41,000 feet, the crew faced an unthinkable choice: burn alive or bail out into −60 °F darkness. Minutes later a mushroom-shaped blast lit North Star Bay, scattering ...

Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.

The 'Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club' was the tongue-in-cheek nickname of the US Seventh Fleet that was stationed off the coast of Vietnam and this book tells the full story of the US Naval air campaign in the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975.

Concealed deep within China's inland borders is one of the most secret airplanes ever flown, known as Devil Dragon. She's sleek, unbelievably fast, and mysterious - her test pilots have one mission in mind: make her test flights successful for operational use as soon as possible. Or sooner. But when strange transmissions of pilots are recorded without an aircraft appearing on radar and bizarre cell phone signals are detected at towers hundreds of miles apart, Ford Stevens is asked to take on the most dangerous assignment of his life.

In 1942, Norman Hanson learned to fly the Royal Navy's newest fighter: the US-built Chance Vought Corsair. Fast, rugged, and demanding to fly, it was an intimidating machine. But in the hands of its young Fleet Air Arm pilots, it also proved to be a lethal weapon. Posted to the South Pacific aboard HMS Illustrious, Hanson and his squadron took the fight to the Japanese. Facing a desperate and determined enemy, Kamikaze attacks, and the ever-present dangers of flying off a pitching carrier deck, death was never far away.

How far will an American sniper go to save the lives of his fellow soldiers? Is there a line he will not cross? CIA officer Rene Granier heads up a covert team of specialists out to hunt down and annihilate the very heart of the Viet Cong. Will their merciless tactics shorten the war? Will it be worth the price? In 1966, the Vietnam War rages with no end in sight. The Americans try everything in their power to stop the flow of arms to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in the south, but nothing works. The generals at the Pentagon underestimated their enemy and the army of dedicated ...

In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. SKIES OF THUNDER is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on “the Hump,” the fearsome mountain barrier that defined the air route.

From the author of bestselling Sisters in Captivity, seven remarkable stories of men who served from WWI to Korea–their wartime exploits and achievements through aviation.

As the American military continues its withdrawal from Vietnam, the CIA steps up its covert operations and training of Cambodian troops. New weapons are developed to stop the communists. With its powerful cannons, the Spectre gunship proves to be a deadly force capable of destroying any weapon or vehicle the communists can field and ensures that reinforced bunkers are no longer a safe haven. Realizing the survival of their country will soon be in their hands, ARVN troops attack the NVA and Viet Cong all over South Vietnam with surprisingly good results. It seems there is hope. When ...

U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence.

On the morning of October 24, 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea amidst the Philippine Islands, VT-18, a close-knit squadron of six young American torpedo bomber pilots, departed the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on a search and destroy mission. Their target: the super-battleship Musashi, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pilots were tasked with preventing the immense enemy warship and the huge naval armada of which she was a part from inflicting unspeakable damage.

Summer 1944: Yugoslavia is locked in a war within a war. In addition to fighting the German occupation, warring factions battle each other. Hundreds of Allied airmen have been shot down over this volatile region, among them American lieutenant Bill Bogdonavich. Though grateful to the locals who are risking their lives to shelter and protect him from German troops, Bogdonavich dreams of the impossible: escape.

In Ted W. Lawson’s classic Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, Lawson gives a vivid eyewitness account of the unorthodox assignment that 85 intrepid volunteer airmen - the “Tokyo Raiders” - under the command of celebrated flier James H. Doolittle executed in April 1942. The plan called for 16 B-25 twin-engine medium bombers of the Army Air Corps to take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet, bomb industrial targets in Japan, and land at airfields in China.

Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma.

Pan Am at War chronicles the airline's historic role in advancing aviation and serving America's national interest before and during World War II. From its inception, Pan American Airways operated as the "wings of democracy", spanning six continents and placing the country at the leading edge of international aviation. At the same time, it was clandestinely helping to fight America's wars.