A firsthand account of flying in twenty-eight different aircraft types over a forty-four-year RAF career.Group Captain Tom Eeles served in the RAF for forty-four years and totaled over 8000 hours of flying in twenty-eight different aircraft types. Tom entered RAF College Cranwell in 1961 and gained his RAF wings in 1963. His first posting was to No 16 squadron flying the Canberra. Its role as a light bomber squadron was primarily nuclear strike, with a secondary ro...

A history of the Folland Gnat, including many fascinating and untold stories told by the well-known and distinguished aviators who flew the aircraft.The Folland Gnat was used by the RAF mainly in the advanced training role, in the 1960s and 70s, where it proved to be an ideal lead-in trainer for high-performance aircraft such as the iconic Lightning, the first RAF supersonic fighter. It was also the aircraft used by the famous Yellowjacks formation aerobatic team, ...

The Folland Gnat was used by the RAF mainly in the advanced training role, in the 1960s and 70s, where it proved to be an ideal lead-in trainer for high-performance aircraft such as the iconic Lightning, the first RAF supersonic fighter. It was also the aircraft used by the famous Yellowjacks formation aerobatic team, formed in 1964, the forerunner of the world-famous Red Arrows team which was equipped with the Gnat for over a decade before being replaced by the Hawk in 1980. Lesser known,...

Harry and Tom Eeles both served in the Royal Air Force as pilots over the time span of 1929 to 2010, eighty years of the Royal Air Force’s one hundred year’s existence. Joining the adolescent Royal Air Force from an unlikely background, Harry Eeles had a varied and interesting career as a fighter pilot, aide-de-camp, weapons instructor, Battle of Britain fighter squadron commander, numerous high profile staff and command appointments including two years working for Chief of Air Staff and f...

A COMBAT ACE’S ACCOUNT OF PILOTING THE GREATEST SINGLE-SEAT FIGHTER IN WORLD WAR IIWorld War II marked the end of an era; fighter pilots still flew by the seat of their pants, and George Loving recaptures the exhilarating world of aerial combat in all its stark terror and fiery glory. His first fighter was the famed Spitfire, hero of the Battle of Britain. By 1943, however, it was obsolescent and did not match up well against the first-line German Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs. Ye...

The epic true story of the Battle of Dunkirk—now a major motion picture by Christopher Nolan, starring Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, and Mark Rylance.New York Times Bestseller"This book, magnificently edited by Joshua Levine, is a great tribute to the extraordinary spirit of an army shattered in battle but determined not to surrender." —Peter Snow, author of When Britain Burned the Whit...

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom was the outstanding aircraft in many of the Western World's air forces during the 1960s and 70s. It played a key role in the 'Cold War' and saw action in Vietnam. It first flew in 1958 and went into operation with the US Navy in 1960. During its long front-line life it flew in the roles of an interceptor, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.Apart from giving a comprehensive overview of the Phantom's history, this book looks particularly at the exper...

A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey tells the remarkable story of America's first efforts to succeed in space, a time of exploding rockets, national space mania, Florida boomtowns, and interservice rivalries so fierce that President Dwight Eisenhower had to referee them.When the Soviet Union launched the first orbital satellite, Sputnik I, Americans panicked. The Soviets had nuclear weapons, the Cold War was underway, and now the USSR had taken the lead in the space race....

A detailed, illustrated combat history of an aircraft described as a legend in its own time. The A-1 was designed for use in World War 2, yet proved so versatile and capable that it saw service in the Vietnam War some 20 years later.Nicknamed the 'flying dump truck', the A-1 was a key component in naval air wings from the end of World War II into the 1960s, allowing the aircraft to play its part in the escalating conflict in Vietnam. Both A-1 attack and EA-1F airbo...

This volume tells the story of the daylight air battles over Germany through the eyes of the Bf 109 aces involved. It traces the development of the aerial defence of the Reich from its small beginnings to arguably the most savage and costliest campaign in the history of aerial warfare.The Luftwaffe pilots explain their tactics and relate their experiences – in the early days, waiting for short-ranged Allied fighters to turn back before attacking the bombers, the se...

A detailed story of the first air battles over Africa.

“Deeply researched and well written....By far the most detailed account of USS Enterprise’s dive-bombers and their decisive role at the Battle of Midway.”*Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific....But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squad...