From World War Two to the Jet Age, Ian Mackersey charts the thrilling and personal accounts of airmen who have jumped from their planes and survived.Since the test pilot Harold Harris became the first man to save his life with a parachute in 1922 there have been over 120,000 air force pilots and crew who owe their lives to their parachutes.Into the Silk is full of astounding tales of people who against the odds bailed out of their planes and were t...

The 1914-18 conflict narrated through the voices of the men whose combat was in the air.'This moving book uses letters and diaries to evoke the terrible cost of such warfare...Sleepless nights, separated lovers and grieving parents are recalled with painful immediacy in this meticulously researched tribute to those who died or were lucky enough to survive' DAILY MAILThe empty chairs belonged, all too briefly, to the doomed young First World War airmen who f...

The 1914-18 conflict narrated through the voices of the men whose combat was in the air.'This moving book uses letters and diaries to evoke the terrible cost of such warfare...Sleepless nights, separated lovers and grieving parents are recalled with painful immediacy in this meticulously researched tribute to those who died or were lucky enough to survive' DAILY MAILThe empty chairs belonged, all too briefly, to the doomed young First World War airmen who f...

Jean Batten was one of the great aviation megastars of the 1930s. Her spectacular flights ranked with those of Britains Amy Johnson and Americas Amelia Earhart. Yet, despite her brilliance as a pilot, she remained the least well-known of them all. For the dentists daughter from New Zealand built an impregnable wall around her private life which was dominated, though few knew it, by the formidable influence of her mother. This reprint of the original book, published by Macdonald Publishers in...

THE WORLD'S GREATEST TEST PILOT TELLS HIS STORY'When you read through his life story, it makes James Bond seem like a bit of a slacker'Kirsty Young, Desert Island Discs'The greatest test pilot who ever lived. A true inspiration'Tim Peake, astronaut and former regular British Army Air Corps officer'The stories beggar belief'Guardian'Fascinating...

From retired Air Force pilot Marshall Harrison comes a remarkable memoir of aerial warfare in Vietnam. In his third combat tour, Harrison found himself converted from the high performance world of jets to the awkward-looking OV-10 Bronco and assigned as a FAC forward air controller. A captivating tale of valor, brotherhood, and patriotism unravels in the pages of A Lonely Kind of War, Forward Air Controller, Vietnam, a posthumous release by this published author through Xlibris. Harrison i...

Our Lancaster raced over the perimeter track and then tore down the slope through the dispersal area... with its wheels thumping on the grass but still firmly on the ground. It now seemed that nothing could save us and that, in the next couple of moments, we would disappear in a great explosion. I could hear Bob saying "Get off the ground, you bastard, get off," while Harry just said nothing..."Into the Darkness" is the true story of a young Australian thown into the crucible of th...

This book is a collection of "there I was" stories highlighting the experiences of Canadian Forces pilots who have had the opportunity of a lifetime to fly in the combat aircraft operated by former adversaries. Technical descriptions of key Soviet-built fighter jets such as the MiG-15, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-29, Sukhoi Su-22 and Su-27 are included for general reference.The Canadian Fighter pilots mentioned in the story have generously provided their observations and comments o...

The renowned WWII RAF fighter pilot who went on to set an air speed record tells his story—now with an updated chapter and new photos.Joining the RAF at the beginning of the war, young Neville Duke became a fighter pilot with the crack 92 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill in 1941. That spring and summer, he survived the air battles over Northern France with the Biggin Hill Wing, often flying as wingman to the legendary Adolph "Sailor" Malan, Fighter Command's top-scoring...

In May 2000 the British nuclear hunter-killer submarine HMS Tireless limped into Gibraltar using emergency propulsion and with her nuclear reactor shut down. Days earlier, while traversing the Straits of Sicily the crew had discovered a crack in one of the nuclear reactor pipes, requiring the immediate shutting down of the reactor to prevent a potential reactor accident, an operation never before conducted on a British submarine at sea. Th e previous six days had been a difficult time for ...

The inspiring memoir of the remarkable Jackie Moggridge: ATA girl, Spitfire expert and pioneer.'We had returned to a different world. We had taken off in peace at nine-thirty and landed in war at noon.'Jackie Moggridge was just nineteen when World War Two broke out. Determined to do her bit, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. Ferrying aircraft from factory to frontline was dangerous work, but there was also fun, friendship and even love...

WWII 1944 The Pacific War Zone In the Pacific Fleet Replacement Pilot Pool at Pearl Harbor, Ensign Bruce Weber receives training in the new Grumman Hellcat fighter planes. He is then assigned to a fighter squadron aboard a carrier. Bruce demonstrates exceptional airmanship skills, shooting down several enemy aircraft. After he has accounted for more than a dozen enemy planes, squadron enlisted personnel repaint their heros plane with white engine speedring and tail to resemble a bald eagle...