Manfred von Richthofen: The High Price of Glory

Biographies & Memoirs

Hillier-Graves, Tim

Leaders & Notable People

Air World

Manfred von Richthofen: His Life and Times in Pictures

Spitfire Pilot Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson: The Biography of the Pilot of Duxford’s Spitfire Mk.I N3200

Shields, John

Historical

The United States and Soviet Union began a race to develop the first and most capable fifth generation stealth fighters in the late 1970s. The Cold War's end, however, was followed by both a near total collapse of Russian efforts and major cuts and delays to American programs. This provided an opening for a rising and fast modernising Chinese defence industry to kick off its own ambitious program to produce a world leading fighter jet with next generation capabilities. Once unveiled, the program came to be seen as a herald of China's rising status as a leading player in high tech and major world power.Development of the Chengdu J-20 began in the 1990s and has since consistently far exceeded expectations in both its performance and its development timeline. The fighter made its first flight in 2011 and began deliveries to the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 2016 - a small fraction of the time its American and Russian rivals would take. Today it is the world's second most numerous stealth fighter, outnumbered only by America's much smaller Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, with the two rivals seeing their first of many likely encounters confirmed in March 2022\. As the J-20's capabilities have rapidly improved and the rate of production has significantly grown, it has very conspicuously played a growing role in patrolling major hotspots in East Asia from Korea and the East China Sea to the Taiwan Strait and disputed South China Sea.The J-20 program's success has been the most potent symbol of China's ascent from a minor player in combat aviation during the Cold War, to the United States' only peer level competitor today. It has also set China on a course of pursuing multiple other fighter development efforts - including a close competition with America to field the first and most capable sixth generation fighter in the 2030s. The J-20 thus marks a major landmark not only in Chinese aviation history, but also more broadly in the evolving balance of power between East and West as the country's technological and economic ascents allow it to successfully pursue highly ambitious weapons programs.This book takes the J-20's story far back to the formation of the People's Liberation Army Air Force and its trial by fire in the Korean War, tracing the rationale for developing a top end air superiority fighter. It also compares its performance with rival fifth generation fighter programs in other countries and looks ahead to what the future may hold in this new arms race.

China's Stealth Fighter: The J-20 'Mighty Dragon' and the Growing Challenge to Western Air Dominance

History

Abrams, Abraham

Military

Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace: The Life and Loss of One of The Few, Flight Lieutenant William Henry Nelson DFC

Usher, Peter J

One of Our Pilots is Safe: A Battle of France Airman’s Story of Survival and Road to Recovery

Simpson, William

Little has been written about Royal Marines rotary aviation, the small and select unit which operated light helicopters between 1965 and 1995. Officer and senior non-commissioned officer pilots had the unique privilege of being both Commandos and aviators, flying from warships and operating ashore in support of the Royal Marines. Initially called Unit Air Troops, which then coalesced into 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Royal Marines, they operated in hostile environments, including the Arctic, mountains, jungles and deserts.Robert Wilsey served in the Royal Marines from 1969 to 2000. Having qualified as a pilot he served through much of the existence of the Royal Marines Air Squadron, from a junior pilot right up to becoming its commanding officer.In this unique book, the author tells of the evolution and technological advances of Royal Marines aviation, flying the Westland Sioux, Scout, Gazelle, and, ultimately, Lynx helicopters. He describes the rigorous training undertaken, including flying from ships at sea, and of operating globally from Malta, Northern Ireland, the jungles of Brunei, the Pyrenees, Arctic Norway and, in 1991, Northern Iraq, protecting the Kurds during Operation Haven.Colonel Wilsey also describes the challenges of the British military's basic and advanced rotary flying training, from both a student's and flying instructor's perspectives. He explains the pressures of leading a flying display team and relates stories of accidents and incidents, many amusing, several chaotic and some tragic, previously unknown to the general public.This is a vivid first-hand account of military rotary wing flying which will appeal to aircrew both civil and military, aviation enthusiasts and military historians.

Flying Light Helicopters with the Royal Marines: Collective Tales From Marine Air 489

Wilsey, Robert

Product Description Flight Lieutenant David Moore Crook DFC’s original Spitfire Pilot ranks among the finest first-hand accounts published during the Second World War, particularly for a Battle of Britain airman. It rightly remains a sought-after classic.A Spitfire pilot during the epic aerial battles of the summer of 1940, ‘DMC’ became a decorated ace. However, he did not survive the war: his Spitfire inexplicably crashed into the sea off the Scottish coast on 18 December 1944. A married man and father, he remains missing.First published under wartime conditions in 1942, Spitfire Pilot was not heavily censored – unlike Squadron Leader Brian Lane DFC’s similar first-hand account Spitfire! The Experiences of a Fighter Pilot, published the same year. DMC’s book was based on his entries in two Stationary Office lined notebooks, hastily scribbled between sorties, and using his pilot’s flying log book for reference.In 1990, the renowned Battle of Britain historian Dilip Sarkar traced DMC’s widow, Dorothy, who enthusiastically supported the idea of re-publishing Spitfire Pilot. She duly uncovered bound copies of DMC’s original manuscript, which she passed to Dilip.The Real Spitfire Pilot is, therefore, DMC’s original, completely uncensored and unedited words, shared here for the first time. It provides a totally authentic window on the past, providing a unique glimpse at the lives – and deaths – of real Spitfire pilots in our Finest Hour. With an introduction and conclusion by Dilip Sarkar, and illustrated with previously unseen photographs, this is destined to become another classic. About the Author Driven by his passion to research and share the stories of casualties and record the human experience of war, DILIP SARKAR is a best-selling author whose work is highly regarded globally. A noted expert on the Battle of Britain period, who enjoyed a long and very personal relationship with the Few, Dilip was made an MBE in 2003 for ‘services to aviation history’, and, in 2006, elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society. He is a sought-after, dynamic speaker whose enthusiasm is infectious, presenting at many prestigious venues, including the Imperial War Museum Duxford, RAF Museums Hendon and Cosford, National Memorial Arboretum, Oxford University, Bentley Priory Museum and Airborne Museum, Oosterbeek. Dilip’s work has been exhibited internationally and he continues to work on TV documentaries, on and off camera. For more information, please see: www.ourfinesthour.net

The ‘Real’ Spitfire Pilot: Flight Lieutenant D.M. Crook DFC’s Original Unpublished Manuscript

Crook DFC, Flight Lieutenant D M

It was supposed to be just a training flight. The two Soviet-manufactured MiG 21s, each with two practice bombs and four air-to-ground rockets, were lined up on the runway in Bangladesh at the height of the Cold War, when air traffic control suddenly reported an incursion by Indian Air Force Jaguars. Though ill-equipped for combat, the two MiGs were scrambled.One of the MiGs' pilots was an RAF officer - Squadron Leader Russell Peart. On a seven-month loan to the Bangladeshi Air Force, Peart suddenly found himself at the centre of the simmering hostility between two neighbouring nations. By the time they reached the area that had been threatened by the Indian pilots, the Jaguars had gone. Later, when Squadron Leader Russell Peart spoke of the incident to the British High Commissioner, he was told not to shoot down any Jaguars as the Indians had still not paid for them!Russell Peart flew many other aircraft in his varied career, including the MiG 19, and while a test pilot at Boscombe Down trialled such designs as the Tornado GR1. But it was whilst he was seconded to the Sultan of Oman's Air Force, particularly during the so-called 'Secret War' in Dhofar, that he saw the most action. In that theatre the author flew some 200 operational sorties, 180 of which involved live fire, during which he was hit many times. He was also hit and wounded by a 75mm shell.Russ Peart has written in detail of his exciting RAF career, from flying Lightnings in the Far East to winning the top prize in the International Tactical Bombing Competition against a handpicked team of United States Air Force fighter pilots and being awarded the Sultan Of Oman's Distinguished Service Medal. Supplemented by a selection of previously unseen photographs, this uniquely original memoir throws new light on the operational flying undertaken by some RAF pilots during the tense years of the Cold War.

From Lightnings to MiGs: A Cold War Pilot's Operations, Test Flying & an Airspeed Record

Peart, Squadron Leader Russ

Europe

From the television footage shown in all its stark reality and the daily coverage and subsequent memoirs, the impression delivered from the air battles in the Falklands Conflict was that of heroic Argentine pilots who relentlessly pressed home their attacks against the British. While, by contrast, there is a counter-narrative that portrayed the Sea Harrier force as being utterly dominant over its Argentine enemies. But what was the reality of the air war over the Falkland Islands?\nWhile books on the air operations have published since that time, they have, in the main, been personal accounts, re-told by those who were there, fighting at a tactical level, or back in their nation’s capital running the strategic implications of the outcome. But a detailed analysis of the operational level of the air war has not been undertaken – until now. At the same time, some analysts have inferred that this Cold War sideshow offers little insight into lessons for the operating environment of future conflicts. As the author demonstrates in this book, there are lessons from 1982 that do have important and continued relevance today.\nUsing recently released primary source material, the author, a serving RAF officer who spent two-and-a-half years in the Falklands as an air defence navigator, has taken an impartial look at the air campaign at the operational level. This has enabled him to develop a considered view of what should have occurred, comparing it with what actually happened. In so doing, John Shields has produced a comprehensive account of the air campaign that has demolished many of the enduring myths.\nThis is the story of not why, but how the air war was fought over the skies of the South Atlantic.

Air Power in the Falklands Conflict: An Operational Level Insight into Air Warfare in the South Atlantic

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