A Few of the Many: Air War 1939-45: A Kaleidoscope of Memories

FEW OF THE MANY: MEMORIES OF THE 1939-45 AIR WAR

History

Sarkar, Dilip

Europe

Ramrod Publications

Missing in Action: Resting in Peace?

Ramrod Pub., 1998

Battle Of Britain: The Photographic Kaleidoscope: Volume II

The Battle of Britain: The Photographic Kaleidoscope (v. 2)

Johnnie Johnson: Spitfire Top Gun: Part One

Johnnie Johnson (Pt. 1)

Battle of Britain (v. 4)

<p>Spitfire fighter pilots tell their extraordinary stories of combat during the Second World War. SPITFIRE VOICES represents an important oral history of the Spitfire from the pilots' perspective. Drawing upon veterans' personal letters, diaries, contemporary documents and the memories of their families and comrades, this is the deeply moving story of Spitfire pilots who, day after day, were thrown into a maelstrom of life or death aerial combat. Spitfire pilots like Cedric Stone who recalls his first encounter with the Luftwaffe: 'I prepared my sights and set my gun button to fireA". The two specks were aircraft. Me 109s. I prepared for action - I was ready for a fight.'. Maurice Macey of 127 Squadron is more philosophical: 'There is nothing glamorous in being a fighter pilot. There is nothing glamorous in killing and being killed. Exciting, very exciting, sometimes too exciting, but definitely not glamorous, not even in a Spitfire.' The whole range of wartime roles, in all theatres, performed by Spitfire pilots 1939-45 are featured, including air combat, ground attack, deck-landings, crashes and bail-outs, victories and defeats. Illustrated with photographs from the albums of the pilots concerned, Spitfire Voices represents exactly what is was like flying to war in a Spitfire - in the words of those who lived to tell their tales.</p>

Spitfire Voices: Life as a Spitfire Pilot in the Words of the Veterans

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Amberley Publishing

The Battle of Britain started on 10 July 1940, ending 16 weeks later on 31 October 1940. The Luftwaffe’s intention was to destroy Fighter Command, domination of the skies being crucial to Hitler’s invasion plan. During that fateful summer, young RAF fighter pilots, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes, were scrambled time and time again to face insuperable odds – and the Luftwaffe was, until that point, unbeaten. The enemy fighter pilots, in their brightly painted Messerschmitt 109s, were the most experienced in the world. But somehow the RAF pilots, fighting desperately in a spider’s web of intricate vapour trails, and with sudden and violent death an ever present companion, prevailed. Afterwards, Churchill paid homage to them all: ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few’. A legend had been born.Dilip Sarkar has been fascinated by the Battle of Britain since childhood and began seriously researching the subject in the 1970s. He wrote thousands of letters and travelled extensively over the UK interviewing the fabled ‘Few’. Over the last 30 years he has interviewed more Battle of Britain survivors than any other author and his archive is a unique collection of veterans’ ‘voices’. In this new book Dilip Sarkar chronicles the Battle of Britain from start to finish drawing extensively from his interviews with pilots.

The Few: The Story of the Battle of Britain in the Words of the Pilots

Spitfire and Hurricane fighter pilots recount their experiences of combat during the Battle of Britain. 2,927 aircrew of RAF Fighter Command fought and won the Battle of Britain in 1940, 544 lost their lives in action. They flew to battle in Spitfires and Hurricanes, Defiants and Blenheims, although it is the two former fighter types - single-seaters both - that still inspire and capture our imagination. The legendary legless fighter 'ace' Douglas Bader once said that the Battle of Britain was 'not won by a few aces, but by the average squadron pilot who collectively did their bit.' One of those men, Peter Fox, described himself and his fellows as mere 'also rans' - but clearly, without them, Fighter Command could not have prevailed. Dilip Sarkar the stories of 18 pilots, researched through personal interviews, correspondence and contemporary archive material. Many of the pilots featured became 'aces' in the Battle of Britain, others achieved such status afterwards whilst others went into action only to be instantly blasted out of the sky without even having seen the enemy. Their collective experience, however, is typical of those who flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in 1940.

Last of the Few: 18 Battle of Britain Fighter Pilots Tell Their Extraordinary Stories

Historical

Spitfire Ace of Aces: The Wartime Story of Johnnie Johnson

The biography of the RAF's top fighter pilot, Johnnie Johnson who shot down more enemy aircraft than any other RAF pilot during the Second World War. Johnnie Johnson is a character literally straight out of the pages of 'Boys Own'. By the end of the Second World War the RAF Spitfire pilot was a household name in Britain, feted by Churchill and Eisenhower. Although he missed the Battle of Britain when slow flying bombers were abundant and easy targets for fighters by 1945 he had notched up 38 enemy 'kills' - all fighters which took far more skill to shoot down - and officially the RAF's top-scoring fighter ace. One of his most impressive achievements was that despite over 1000 combat missions, he was never shot down. His Spitfire was damaged once and on his return to base he apologised to his fitter saying 'I was surrounded by six of them'. Aviation historian Dilip Sarkar spent many hours with Johnson in the final years of the great man's life, recording the last interviews Johnson would ever gave. The book is infused with breath-taking first hand accounts from Johnnie himself and many of his fellow Spitfire pilots also interviewed by the author and profusely illustrated with photographs from Johnson's personal albums.

<p>The elliptical shape and mighty roar of the Supermarine Spitfire continues to inspire people all over the world. During the Second World War, the Spitfire became the icon of Britain's defiance of Nazi Germany in those dark days of 1940 when Britain stood alone. Today it remains a symbol of great national pride - and the fascination in R. J. Mitchell's little fighter shows no sign of diminishing. Dilip Sarkar has spent a lifetime researching and publishing on the Spitfire, becoming a leading and internationally recognised authority on all aspects of the aircraft's history. This remarkable collection of wartime photographs is largely drawn from the personal albums of veterans and charts the history of the Spitfire from first design to its wartime career, in all theatres. As such it represents a unique collection and window through which, all these years later, we can glimpse the Spitfire in her element.</p>

Spitfire: A Photographic Biography

Military

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sarkar, Dilip. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sarkar, Dilip