Luftvåben og luftkrigsførelse

Check over the dramatic events of 1940 as the Polish Air Force took to the skies in France, fighting valiantly during World War II. This book focuses on the role played by the Caudron-Renault CR.714 Cyclone. Explore a treasure trove of black and white period photos that bring this significant era to life. Additionally, marvel at the collection of color profiles that showcase the distinct liveries of the Caudron-Renault CR.714 Cyclone in Polish Air Force service.

This book delves into the comprehensive history of the Miles M.25 Martinet, a pioneering British aircraft specifically designed for target towing, and its role in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during World War II. Enriched with an array of photographs, detailed scale plans, intricate drawings, and vivid colour profiles, the narrative captures the essence of the Martinet's development and its operational service, offering a thorough exploration of this significant aircraft.

This document is the Space Doctrine Publication 1-0 for the United States Space Force (USSF). It provides guidance for the development and employment of USSF personnel, covering topics such as organization, force development, resilience, and global perspective. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of various USSF commands and personnel organizations and emphasizes the importance of personnel readiness and resilience in supporting the USSF's mission. The document also discusses the USSF's approach to force development, including recruitment, training, education, and experience-based development, and the use of developmental teams. It also mentions the consideration of personal circumstances and aspirations in promotion and assignment decisions.This annotated edition illustrates the capabilities of the AI Lab for Book-Lovers to add context and ease-of-use to manuscripts. It includes three types of abstracts, including TLDR (one word), synopsis, and visual abstracts; plus Notable Passages and Nutshell Summaries for each page.

Less than five years after naval aviation led the forces that defeated Imperial Japan that very organization was in serious trouble. The force had been drastically reduced and, despite the Korean War, growing sentiment supported by no less than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs argued that the new Air Force could do anything naval aviation might be required to do. Meanwhile, the naval aviation mishap rate soared. The very survival of naval aviation was at stake. It took fifty years to turn this around. Today, in spite of hot wars, cold wars, contingencies, and peacetime operations in support of friends and allies, the Navy and Marine Corps accident rate is at least as good as that of the Air Force, and it approaches that of commercial aviation. Gear Up, Mishaps Down explains that this accomplishment was achieved through dedicated and professional leadership, a focus on lessons learned from mishaps and near-mishaps, a willingness to learn from other enterprises, and by better leadership, training, maintenance, supply and more.

A #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER!The magical, lyrical, hysterical flying adventure from the author of Memories of an Emerald World and The Jungle Express! When a sleep-deprived U.S. Air Force pilot in Panama has a vision of tropical treasure, his misfit companions set out to bring the dream to reality. So begins a dramatic and hilarious shakedown of every country south of the Texas border, from the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula to the salt flats of Bolivia, as the well-intentioned but often overeager flyers seek to collect the dream's baubles and solve the mystery behind them all. But can they do it without crashing, and without losing their wings? "A FUN READ COVER-TO-COVER... Bleriot is an excellent storyteller!"- Jeffrey Miller, author of The Panama Affair "The best flying stories since Ernie Gann's epics... Mike Bleriot "gets it." He has captured everything from the emotions to the scenery to the personalities to the cultures. There is virtually no parallel to the kind of flying these guys did..."- Dave Schlener, ATP Based on Bleriot's own experience as a counter-drug pilot in South America, Flying Naked's colorful characters, sharp dialogue, and fast pacing bring the quest to life - as do his hair-raising descriptions of flight during the Colombia war on drugs. Part memoir, part aviation history, and all action & adventure, Flying Naked is a tribute to the military crews and mechanics who operated in the Amazon in the 1990s. If you like the flying realism of Dale Brown and Vince Flynn, you'll love Flying Naked! Admirers of Ernest Gann, Richard Bach, and Antoine de Saint Exupery will also soar in this studied appreciation of the flying world!Order today with one click for Kindle or print!

This book is a groundbreaking and comprehensive exploration of advanced thinking about space warfare. The book covers a wide range of topics, including strategies, theories, technologies, organizations, and laws, all with the ultimate goal of achieving victory in space. It presents innovative ideas and cutting-edge concepts that are shaping the future of space warfare. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the fascinating world of space conquest and the individuals and ideas driving it forward.A complement and companion volume to Szymanski's THE BATTLE BEYOND: FIGHTING AND WINNING THE COMING WAR IN SPACE (Amplify Books, 2024), which is aimed at a more general audience.

"Finally, the level of detail is EXACTLY what most modelers are looking for-- clear, close-up photos for scratch-building hydraulics, cockpits and little bits and bobs that many other books overlook." -- AeroscaleA close-up view of the iconic Swedish fighter jet that was active in the air forces of Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Finland. Nothing is overlooked in this very detailed book, including the cockpits of the different versions: single & two-seat aircraft.

How Forward Air Controllers and Close Air Support fundamentally changed the American war machine in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Never before has such a comprehensive, detailed and at the same time exceptionally gripping written work about aerial warfare over Europe been available. The author himself is now publishing a thoroughly revised, new edition of his book.Manuel Wolf describes the aerial war which was fought over all of Europe's major theatres of war. With his flowing, lively narrative style the author explains each sequence of events in a wholly innovative way, basing his chapters on themes and life histories as well as chronological events. The wealth of extraordinarily detailed information helps the reader to comprehend the overall military context, both on the ground and in the air. All the important types of aircraft are compared in a unique, never before published summary of the technical data. Identification markings on the aircraft involved in the incidents are illustrated and the losses on individual battle days listed in a table. The book describes pioneering, technical developments comprehensibly and depicts aerial combat in a precise and exciting way. Impressive, colourful images reveal to the reader the drama of the dogfights.For twelve years Manuel Wolf conducted research worldwide and made an extensive study of the relevant literature. He interviewed surviving pilots and contemporary witnesses, gained access to the personal archives of the deceased and exchanged views with aerial combat experts from all over Europe.No reader with an interest in military history can afford to miss this masterpiece with more than 700 photos, aircraft profiles in colour, maps and accurately detailed scenarios.

This is the fascinating story of one wartime bomber crew and the part they played in supporting Special Operations Executive's work in Occupied Europe.

On 1 May 1960, a traditional military parade was held in Moscow. What stood it out from the previous ones, however, was the number of missiles, and in particular the ground-to-air anti-aircraft variants, that were present.There was perhaps nothing surprising in this dominance of missiles, for Nikita Khrushchev had already declared that the so-called Rocket Troops were to be the 'main branch of the armed forces'. Not for nothing had the Politburo allocated huge sums of money and the best scientific minds to the on-going development of these weapons and units. In fact, there was no fly-past over the Red Square in 1960 as Khrushchev considered aircraft to be a 'dying species'. From then on, it was being stated, military aviation would be assigned little more than an auxiliary role in the defense of the Soviet Bloc.Khrushchev's assessment of the future of aircraft was seemingly confirmed by an incident that occurred more than 1,000km to the east of Moscow. For what the spectators and participants of the grand 'rocket' parade did not know was, that in one of the key events of the Cold War, an American high altitude reconnaissance Lockheed U-2 jet had, barely hours before, been shot down over the Urals by one of the types of missiles that were passing before them.Based on documents held in the CIA's archives, declassified documents released by the Russian Ministry of defense, and the memoirs of participants in the events in question, this book explores the true story of the preparation, implementation, and consequences of the U-2 reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Cuba between 1956 and 1962. For the first time, the author reveals the military plans that were activated in the Eastern Bloc to combat the U-2 missions, and how the Soviets tried unsuccessfully to create a fighter-interceptor to operate in the stratosphere. This book also reveals which secret locations and objects were photographed by the U-2, including those which remained unidentified, and investigates where the secret center of the Russian atomic project was actually located and whether the U-2 was able to find it. What was the true reliability and value of the information received from America's U-2 operations?The reader will discover which objects were confiscated from Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the U-2 brought down, following his capture, and why was he had been issued with women's jewelry and watches before his fateful flight? The Soviet view of the incursions by Powers and his fellow U-2 pilots is laid bare - revealing just why the Powers' name is as widely known in Russia as that of the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

So often it is daring, even dashing, exploits of the fighter pilots which attract the most interest. Theirs is, indisputably, the glory - but not theirs alone. For it is the groundcrew who kept the aircraft in the sky who deservedly share in that glory.The bond between pilots and their groundcrew was often an immensely powerful one. Each day they took to the sky the pilots put their lives in the hands of the fitters to keep their engines at maximum efficiency, the riggers who maintained the airframe and refueled the aircraft, or the armorers who serviced the guns and loaded the bombs. The ground crew, the 'Erks', were only too aware of the responsibility they bore. Nothing could be overlooked. Everything had to be done correctly, often under enormous time pressures and far from ideal conditions.Those conditions included coming under attack from the enemy, as the title of this absorbing and unusual book indicates. It was at his first wartime posting of St Eval near Padstow in Cornwall that Joe Roddis first came under fire in July 1940. This, though, was a minor affair compared with what was to come.As the Battle of Britain grew in ferocious intensity, Joe's squadron, No.234, moved to Middle Wallop - the groundcrew being flown in just as the airfield came under Luftwaffe attack. Joe was now firmly on the front-line, and his descriptions of the attacks inflicted upon Middle Wallop are detailed and exciting. Even more fascinating are his explanations of how each aircraft was prepared by the groundcrew, as they turned round the Spitfires as rapidly as possible to get them back into the air to beat off the enemy attackers. Under immense pressure, each function had to be carried out with great care and checked off before the aircraft could be released. The tension was immense.In September, the Battle of Britain having passed its peak, 234 Squadron returned to St Eval, where Joe remained until being posted to 485 (New Zealand) Squadron at RAF Driffield in March 1941. The squadron moved a number of times, to Leconfield, Redhill, Kenley and Kings Cliffe, while undertaking offensive operations across the Channel. It was eventually posted to Westhampnett where, among other tasks, it undertook night patrols.Joe's squadron was heavily involved before and during the D-Day landings and he, and his fellow groundcrew, were shipped over to France to support the pilots as the fighting moved ever closer to Germany. It is in those months after the Normandy invasion that Joe writes more expansively, his story culminating in the Luftwaffe's last futile throw of the dice - Operation Bodenplatte.There was, of course, a personal side to Joe's life and a surprising post-war reunion adds a touch of heart-warming tenderness to a story well told. It is a story in which Joe personally faced death and destruction on at least nine occasions.

A detailed and revealing autobiography one of 'The Few', who, badly burned when shot down in the Battle of Britain, went on to be a founder member of the Guinea Pig Club.

In this unprecedented series exploring the big story of the Battle of Britain, renowned historian Dilip Sarkar investigates the wider context and intimate details of the epic aerial conflict in the summer of 1940 from all sides. In so doing, he gives due acknowledgment to the roles of Bomber and Coastal Commands in addition to the fabled Few of Fighter Command.This unique narrative draws upon a lifetime of research, the author having enjoyed a long relationship with survivors and the relatives of casualties; his innumerable interviews and first-hand accounts collated, in addition to privileged access to personal papers, providing essential human interest to this inspirational story.In this the third volume, Attack of the Eagles, Dilip continues to examine the fighting on a day-by-day, combat-by-combat basis between 13 and 18 August 1940. This period began on 'Eagle Day' and the start of the Luftwaffe's 'Eagle Attack' on Fighter Command.This period of intense fighting saw the defeat of the much-vaunted Stuka dive-bomber and the great attack on north-east England on 15 August 1940. It was during the aerial combats the following day that Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson's Victoria Cross winning action took place over Southampton. All of these actions, and many others, are critically analyzed.Through diligent research, combined with crucial official primary sources and personal papers, Dilip unravels many myths, often challenging the accepted narrative. This is not simply another dull record of combat losses and claims - far from it. Drawing upon unique first-hand accounts from a wide-range of combatants and eyewitnesses, along with Daily Home Intelligence Reports and numerous other primary sources, this book forms part of what is likely to be the first and last such comprehensively woven account of this epic air battle.

The first book devoted exclusively to exploring the development and use of aircraft designed specifically for high-altitude operations in World War II.In the summer of 1940, a new German aircraft began appearing in the skies over the British Isles. Unlike the rest of the Luftwaffe's fleet in the Battle of Britain, these aircraft were flying at a height of 40,000 feet and higher - way beyond the reach of the RAF's defending fighters.These virtually untouchable intruders were examples of the Junkers Ju 86P. The world's first operational combat aeroplane equipped with a pressurized cabin, they were able to reach a maximum altitude of 42,000 feet. The Ju 86P's introduction ushered in a new era of aerial warfare, where combat would take place at previously unimaginable heights.The Ju 86P was just one of many high-altitude aircraft projects developed by both the Axis and Allied powers during the Second World War. Others included the Vickers Wellington Mk.VI, Vickers Windsor, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Junkers Ju 388, Heinkel He 274 and Henschel Hs 130. With pressurized cabins, such aircraft offered obvious tactical advantages: bombers and reconnaissance aircraft could operate safely above the maximum ceiling of the opposing side's fighters, prompting intense development - especially by the British and Germans - of pressurized interceptors to meet the threat they posed.Combat in the Stratosphere is the first book devoted exclusively to exploring the fascinating story of the development and operational history of aircraft designed specifically for high-altitude operations during the Second World War.But this is not a book solely about the machines themselves. It also focuses on the men who flew these revolutionary aircraft, both in the testing phase and in combat, and the physical challenges these courageous airmen faced, as they pushed themselves to the very edge of physical endurance in this desperate race to reach ever higher altitudes.Drawing on a wide range of sources, including air combat reports, British Cabinet files and Air Ministry documents, as well as first-hand accounts of aeronautical engineers and the pilots who flew these aircraft, Combat in the Stratosphere reveals the full story of this largely overlooked aspect of Second World War air warfare, high above the skies of Europe, North Africa, the Soviet Union and Japan.

'The tempo of life here is just indescribable, ' reported one of the fighter pilots sent to the beleaguered and besieged island of Malta. 'The morale of all is magnificent - pilots, ground crews and Army, but it is certainly tough. The bombing is continuous on and off every day. One lives here only to destroy the Hun and hold him at bay; everything else, living conditions, sleep, food and all the ordinary standards of life have gone by the board. It all makes the Battle of Britain and fighter-sweeps seem child's play in comparison.'The aerial combat over and near Malta was some of the most ferocious of the Second World War. This is graphically detailed by the RAF pilots and their comrades from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, in their own inimitable style. Spitfire Heaven - Hurricane Hell includes more than 120 first-hand accounts of the air war from the airfields built on this small, rocky island, and from the 'Club Runs' where the fighters were flown off the carriers of the Royal Navy and the US Navy straight into battle.These accounts include the previously unpublished story of Flying Officer Norman William Lee, as well as excerpts from the unpublished diary of an American airman, Pilot Officer Donald McLeod DFC. Serving in 121 Squadron, McLeod was among the reinforcements famously shipped to Malta on the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle.Also included in this gripping insight of the air war over this part of the Mediterranean are the experiences of Leading Aircraftman Ray Roberts, a 20-year-old engine fitter attached to 69 Squadron, who spent two years on Malta under siege conditions. There are also the reminiscences of 'Woody' Woodhall, a senior ground controller and a veteran of the Battle of Britain.These recollections spell out the severity of the daily pressures of incessant combat, hunger, disease and claustrophobic confinement on a remote island no bigger than the Isle of Wight. Their personal and inspirational accounts are testimony to the people who stood firm at a time of terrible adversity - to the heroism and skill of the pilots who day by day fought to the limit of their endurance, to the tenacity and courage of the groundcrews who toiled to keep their Spitfires and Hurricanes flying, and to the fortitude of the Maltese people whose indomitable spirit earned them all the George Cross.

Wing Commander Eric Benjamin was no stranger to danger or excitement. In an action-packed career as part of the RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice for his bravery under fire. He flew Fairey Battles with No. 150 Squadron during the Battle of France, Main Force Avro Lancasters with No. 61 Squadron during the Battle of Berlin, and De Havilland Mosquitoes as an elite Pathfinder Master Bomber in the latter stages of the war. He survived being shot down on his first operation, when his air gunner was severely wounded, and was among the last RAF aircrew to be evacuated from France in the summer of 1940. He was pulled clear of the mangled wreckage of a Vickers Wellington that crashed in flames during a spell as an instructor, narrowly escaping with his life for a second time, and 'starred' as a Flight Commander interviewed for Pathé News after a successful raid on Berlin in 1943. Towards the end of 1944, he achieved his ambition of flying Mosquitoes, and was selected and trained as a Master Bomber, operating as part of No. 54 Base in No. 5 Group and helping to mop up what was left of German industry and military might. It was from one of these sorties that his aircraft failed to return.Authored by Sean Feast and Eric's daughter Jeannie, the book includes numerous previously unpublished photographs of Eric, his colleagues, and the aircraft he flew. An inveterate letter writer, Eric once said of flying that there was 'no greater sport'. He died as he had lived, doing what he loved best.

The history of 332nd Fighter Group, the only segregated Fighter Group that served in combat during the Second World War.During the Second World War, the Tuskegee Airmen had not one but two enemies to overcome: the German Luftwaffe and Jim Crow. In this book, the inspiring history of these men is recounted detailing the struggles the men faced at home and abroad.The Tuskegee Airmen were black American pilots who served in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War. However, before earning their wings, these men and women needed to prove themselves to their white countrymen. After all, the racism prevalent at the time meant that black Americans were deemed unsuitable for the demands of modern war.After completing their training and conducting their first combat missions, the real enemy was waiting for them: the Luftwaffe. As a result of their role escorting the bombers, as well as their bright red tails, the Tuskegee Airmen of 332nd Fighter Group earned the nickname the 'Red Tails'. The units served with distinction in several fierce engagements, such as the 99th Fighter Squadron, who fought in the skies over Anzio on 27 and 28 January 1944, and the 332nd Fighter Group, who earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for its mission to Berlin on 24 March 1945.

Hypersonics is the study of flight at speeds where aerodynamic heating dominates the physics of the problem. Typically this is Mach 5 and higher. Hypersonics is an engineering science with close links to supersonics and engine design.Within this field, many of the most important results have been experimental. The principal facilities have been wind tunnels and related devices, which have produced flows with speeds up to orbital velocity.

This report provides findings on U.S. locations where unidentified aerial phenomena are being reported to increase awareness about the types of activities that might be mistaken for unexplained phenomena or that point to potential threats.

A highly readable history of the great maritime patrol aircraft of the world, accompanied by original artwork throughout

An up-to-date pictorial guide to the most deadly production fighter aircraft in the world

An exhaustive illustrated history of a bomb squadron in the Chinese-American Composite Wing during WWII

A concise illustrated guide to the famous "Gooney Bird," one of the most beloved American aircraft of the Second World War

An illustrated guide to the F-104 Starfighter, a high-speed interceptor sometimes referred to as the "widowmaker"