Military Air

Jack and Charlie Davis, along with a new companion, Jimmy Ardana, are part of the Allied effort to stop the Japanese at Port Moresby in May 1942. But the Allies have received little in the way of reinforcements, and the only fighter available to face the Japanese Zero is the difficult to handle Bell P-39. Charlie flies dangerous reconnaissance missions to determine the location of the Japanese Navy. Jack, supposedly on his way home to the States, is diverted to be a flight commander in the 8th Fighter Group at Port Moresby.

Caroline Johnson was an unlikely aviator candidate. A tall blonde debutante from Colorado, she could have just as easily gone into fashion or filmmaking, and yet she went on to become an F/A-18 Super Hornet Weapons System Operator. She was one of the first women to fly a combat mission over Iraq since 2011, and she was the first woman to drop bombs on ISIS. Jet Girl tells the remarkable story of the women fighting at the forefront in a military system that allows them to reach the highest peaks and yet is in many respects still a fraternity.

The First Counterspy is the story of spy, counterspy, and an American family unwittingly caught in its web. Until this case, the FBI had never recruited civilian counterspies to catch a Soviet agent. The first two were Larry Haas, a leading aviation engineer at Bell Aviation, and Leona Franey, head librarian at Bell's technical library. The FBI pitted them against Andrei Ivanovich Schevchenko, operating legally as one of the highest Soviet officials in the United States during WWII, and illegally as head of a wide-ranging spy network hidden within the American aviation industry.

Though Americans have seen plenty of news updates on the Iraq War since 2003, few know what it’s like to actually live through the harsh conditions on a daily basis. In his memoir, B.I.A.P.: Baghdad International Airport, two-tour Iraq War veteran Sergeant Brian L. Gordon shows readers the constant challenges soldiers face on the ground in the Middle East. Serving first in 2003, Gordon drives a truck delivering bulk fuel and must regularly dodge rocket-propelled grenades and IEDs. His unit also takes on heavy firefights and rocket launcher attacks while manning the water point at the Euphrates River.

The Tuskegee Airmen heroically fought for the right to be officers of the US military so that they might participate in World War II by flying overseas to help defeat fascism. However, after winning that battle, they faced their next great challenge at Freeman Field, Iowa, where racist white officers barred them from entering the prestigious Officers' Club that their rank promised them. The Freeman Field Mutiny, as it became known, would eventually lead to the desegregation of the US armed forces, forever changing the course of American history and race relations.

Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II - and they were legion - Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of war, Stewart was already in uniform - as a private on guard duty south of San Francisco at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and his Oscar-winning turn in The Philadelphia Story in 1940, had enlisted several months earlier.

The first British major success of World War II was when the Royal Navy forced the preying pocket battleship, Graf Spee, to scuttle at sea. Hitler had ordered a blockade of the British Isles and for some months German U-boats and warships caused havoc among allied merchant shipping carrying vital supplies.

Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Channel Dash, North Africa, Sicily, Dieppe, D-Day, and the fight against the V1 menace—Group Captain Bobby Oxspring saw action in many of the most famous battles of the Second World War. His memoir, Spitfire Command, is a remarkable account of life as one of The Few, charting his journey through the war, flying all marks of the Spitfire—from the Mk I to the Mk XIV—right through to when he ended operational duty just a week before the war ended.

Award-winning investigative journalist Chris Woods explores the secretive history of the United States' use of armed drones and their key role not only on today's battlefields but also in a covert targeted killing project that has led to the deaths of thousands.

It can be said that the subject of Rating Pilots and the Fleet Air Arm may only be of interest to avid aviation and naval historians. In this short but concise treatise, Alan Clifford provides an in-depth and detailed history, from the inter-service social and governmental politics to the practical reasons for the Rating Pilot schemes coming into being.

July 1967: At the Moscow Air Show, the Soviets unveiled six new state-of-the-art aircraft. From among this lineup of new fighters and interceptors stood the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 - purportedly capable of outrunning and outmaneuvering any aircraft in NATO’s inventory. Yet even before its public appearance in Moscow, the MiG-25 had been a grave concern for Western analysts.

Letters from Bud is the remarkable firsthand account of the harrowing air war in Europe as told by WW2 flight navigator and bombardier John “Bud” Brandenburg, in his letters home during the conflict, from 1944-45. With guts, wit, and grace, Brandenburg records his experiences with the daring “Koltun crew”, which flew 30 missions over Europe. Through numerous strokes of fate, the crew survived a run of missions with the “bloody” 492nd Bomb Group, a unit that endured an 80 percent casualty rate as the men faced down the seemingly unstoppable German Luftwaffe.

The Soviet-built MiG-15 swept-wing fighter startled the world when it was introduced into combat during the Korean War in the early 1950s. The West had no idea that Russia could produce such a capable fighter. Some 35 years later, former Marine aviator Paul Entrekin burst onto the North American Air Show circuit with the first civilian-owned MiG-15. His story tells of the myriad of challenges in obtaining, test-flying, licensing this first-of-its-kind air show aircraft. It's a walk down memory lane that includes some of the most well-known names in aviation.

In the summer of 1940, the Nazi Blitzkrieg had blown through much of western Europe, seizing control of territory right up to the French coast and preparing to invade Britain. Standing in their way was Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and the Royal Navy, all determined to prevent invasion, fighting off enemy forces in the air and in the water to protect the British shores.

Follow four tentmates lives as they join the military from their hometowns, train to fly a variety of planes, and travel to India, where they are stationed for three years of their lives. This book isn't about combat, but rather about humans and their struggles and accomplishments. Compiled from preserved documents and photographs, this book and the two before it recount the daily situation of being a C-47 pilot in World War II.

From combat to commercial flight, Wings of Valor contains 17 rollercoaster rides through air and space. Strap in and fly along with courageous men and women in today's combat aircraft. You'll experience amazing tales of dangerous airfield maneuvers, remotely piloted aircraft and drones, bringing a dead aircraft back to life, and communicating from air to ground in enemy territory.

In 1945, Ditha Bruncel was living with her parents in the small town of Lossen, in Upper Silesia. Close Jewish friends had vanished, swastikas hung from every building, and neighbors were disappearing in the middle of the night. At the same time, more than fifteen hundred British and Commonwealth airmen were being marched out of Stalag Luft VII. Twenty-three of these prisoners managed to escape from the marching column—and by chance hobbled into Lossen. One among them, Warrant Officer Gordon Slowey, was the man Ditha was destined to meet and fall in love with.

From July to September 1940 the British people watched the From July to September 1940, the British people watched the Battle of Britain play out in the skies above them, aware that the eventual outcome would decide their fate. From September through to the following May, Hitler attempted to "blitz" London and other major cities into submission. For a year, the citizens of Britain were effectively front-line soldiers in a battle that united the country against a hated enemy.

As Hitler proceeded with his invasion plans, code-named Operation Sealion, he knew that the RAF must not be allowed to threaten the invading forces as they crossed the Channel. It was clear that they would have to be brought to battle and defeated. Still hopeful of a settlement, Hitler believed that a sustained aerial attack, coupled with a U-Boat blockade, might bring Britain to the negotiating table.

At the beginning of 1941, it was unclear whether the Allies would be able to remain in the war for much longer. The potential of a German invasion of Britain loomed. The Battle of Britain, fought throughout the summer and early autumn of 1940, was unquestionably epic in scope. The largest air campaign in history at the time, the vaunted Nazi Luftwaffe sought to smash the Royal Air Force, but thankfully, the RAF stood toe to toe with the Luftwaffe and ensured Hitler’s planned invasion was permanently put on hold.