Beaufighter
Author: Simon W. Parry
Publisher: Red Kite / Air Research
Published: 2001-02
Total Pages: 104
ISBN-13: 095380612X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is a photographic album of the units that went to war in the Bristol Beaufighter.
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Beaufighter Aces of World War 2
Author: Andrew Thomas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-02-20
Total Pages: 150
ISBN-13: 1472801717
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEntering service at the end of the Battle of Britain, the pugnacious Bristol Beaufighter was deployed in numbers by Fighter Command just in time for the start of the Luftwaffe's night 'Blitz' on Britain. Flown by specialised nightfighter squadrons – several of them elite pre-war Auxiliary Air Force units – it was the first nightfighter to be equipped with an airborne radar as standard. Thus equipped, it combined the ability to 'see' the enemy at night with the devastating hitting power of four cannon and six machine guns. This book covers the exploits of the men who made ace in the Beaufighter and includes stunning original artwork together with first hand accounts of the action.
Beaufighter Boys
Author: Graham Pitchfork
Publisher: Grub Street
Published: 2019-08-29
Total Pages: 266
ISBN-13: 1911621823
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe author of Shot Down in the Drink shares photos and anecdotes detailing the history of the World War II fighter plane and its crews across the globe. Researched many years ago by Graham Patrick for a project that did not come to fruition, Beaufighter air and ground crew gave freely of their stories, which ranged from complete memoirs to brief anecdotes. And there were a plethora of original photographs for him to choose from. He has built on these tales to trace the roles of Beaufighter squadrons spread across all the theatres of World War II operations. From home bases, through northwest Europe, North Africa, Malta and the Mediterranean, to the Far East and southwest Pacific, the Beaufighter served far and wide, as did the crews of the RAF, RAAF, SAAF, and New Zealand and Canadian squadrons. All are covered in this quite unique book to be savored by all those interested in the war in the air from 1939–1945.
Bristol Beaufighter
Author: Jerry Scutts
Publisher: Crowood Press UK
Published: 2005-03-04
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781861266668
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDeveloped from the unloved Bristol Beaufort, the Beaufighter was the RAF's first purpose-built nightfighter. Powered by two Bristol Hercules radials, it had a reputation for being one of the most effective, and probably the most difficult to fly, aircraft in the RAF's armoury in the first years of the Second World War. Used extensively in Europe, the Beaufighter later flew with disctinction in the South East Asian theatre. This book presents the technical and combat history of this popular warhorse.
Beaufighter Over the Balkans
Author: Steve Stevens
Publisher:
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781844154876
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the wartime autobiography of one of South Africa's most famous pilots. Steve joined the SAAF at the outset of World War II with the desire to become a fighter pilot and to fly in Europe to destroy the Nazi's ambitions of power. However, he was too good a pilot and having gained his wings was posted to become a flying instructor in his native country. After two years he finally arrived in Europe and joined the RAF's Balkan Air Force flying rocket-firing Beaufighters in support of the partisans who were endeavouring to evict the Germans from their homelands. He joined No 19 Squadron under the command of the legendary Don Tilley and flew many missions against enemy shipping, gun emplacements and tactical targets in low-level, surprise rocket attacks. After the war he returned to Africa, flying light aircraft in a variety of roles, but when Berlin was blockaded by the USSR he returned to fly DC-3 Dakotas throughout the Berlin Airlift. This is a story told with a compassion that belies the author's bravery and piloting skills. Throughout the story, his strong Christian belief, as with Leonard Cheshire VC, occasionally surfaces from the heat of battle and narrow escapes from death.
Beaufighters in the Night
Author: Braxton Eisel
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe 417th Night Fighter Squadron USAAF was only the fourth such unit to be formed. In the early days of WWII, the US sent observers to England to study how the latest form of air warfare would take shape and it very soon became apparent to them that a night fighting capability was of increasing importance. When they joined the battle against the Reich they found themselves without a suitable American aircraft and were forced to utilize RAF Beaufighters. Having 're-learned to fly' this British design the 417th were sent to North Africa. Most of the ex-RAF aircraft they had inherited were battle weary and no supplies of spares were available through the US supply chain. The squadron found an elderly B-25 bomber, nicknamed the "Strawberry Roan," and they ranged throughout the Mediterranean in search of Beaufighter parts. 417 soon built a healthy score of downed German and Italian aircraft and as the war progressed they were moved to Corsica to support the Italian invasion, After D-Day they were moved to Le Vallon from where they attacked the night-time movements of the German Army. Perhaps their most famous operation was to attack the low flying German Condor that ran the route from the Reich to Spain carrying Nazi gold and treasures.
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945. Volume 2
Author: Christopher Shores
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
Published: 2014-07-19
Total Pages: 736
ISBN-13: 191069097X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, historian Christopher Shores begins by exploring the 8th Army’s movements after Operation Crusader when they were forced back to the Gazala area in northeastern Libya, as well as their defeat in June, 1942, the loss of Tobruk, and the efforts of Allied air forces to protect their retreating troops. Shores continues with the heavy fighting that followed in the El Alamein region. This features the Western Desert Air Force and the arrival of the first Spitfires. The buildup of both army and air forces and the addition of new commanders on the ground aided the defeat of Rommel’s Deutsche Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa, after which came the Second Battle of El Alamein. With the arrival of the United States Army Air Force, the Allied air forces gained dominance over the Axis. Shores recounts the lengthy pursuit of the Italo-German forces right across Libya, including the capture of Tripoli and the breakthrough into Southern Tunisia. This allowed a linkup with other Allied forces in Tunisia (whose story appears in Volume 3). Included with the action are stories of some of the great fighter aces of the Desert campaign such as Jochen Marseille and Otto Schulz of the Luftwaffe, Franco Bordoni-Bisleri of the Regia Aeronautica and Neville Duke, Billy Drake, and “Eddie” Edwards of the Commonwealth air forces. Finally, Shores touches on the Allied and Axis night bombing offensives and the activities of the squadrons cooperating with the naval forces in the Mediterranean.
Warplanes of World War II Up Close
Author: Robert Jackson
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
Published: 2015-12-15
Total Pages: 225
ISBN-13: 1508170797
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAlthough airplanes were used to some degree in conflicts prior to 1939, World War II was when military aviation truly became a vital component of war plans. Many sophisticated warplanes were developed, increasing the power and accuracy of aerial bombing and tactical air support. This resource provides an in-depth look from every angle at aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang and Boeing B-29 Superfortress, demonstrating how these planes contributed to how each nation waged war during World War II.
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945
Author: Christopher Shores
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2018-11-05
Total Pages: 697
ISBN-13: 1911621785
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis fourth volume in the comprehensive series “fills a gap in the existing narrative” of WWII’s Mediterranean air war (Journal of Military History). The fourth volume in this momentous series commences with the attacks on the Italian island fortress of Pantellaria, which led to its surrender and occupation achieved almost by air attack alone. The account continues with the ultimately successful, but at times very hard fought, invasions of Sicily and southern Italy as burgeoning Allied air power, now with full US involvement, increasingly dominated the skies overhead. The successive occupations of Sardinia and Corsica are also covered in detail. This is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in northwest France. With regards to the long-range tactical role of the Allied heavy bombers, only the period from May to October is examined, while they remained based in North Africa, with the narrative continuing in a future volume. This volume also delves into the story of “the soldiers’ air force.” Frequently overshadowed by more immediate newsworthy events elsewhere, the soldiers’ struggle was often of an equally Homeric nature. “No future publication on the Mediterranean air war will be credible without use of this series.” —Air Power History
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945, Volume 5
Author: Christopher Shores
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
Published: 2021-12-03
Total Pages: 527
ISBN-13: 191166767X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“This international collaboration between air war historians is simply fantastic. . . . a deep-dive on the operations in a vast and very important theater of war.” —Air Classics During the final year of World War II, the defending Axis forces were steadily driven from southern skies by burgeoning Anglo-American power. This was despite the steady withdrawal of units to more demanding areas. This fifth volume of the series describes in detail the activities of the Allied tactical air forces in support of the armies on the ground as their opponents were steadily extracted from northern Italy and the Balkans for the final defense of the central European homeland. The book commences with coverage of the final fierce air-sea battles over the Aegean that preceded the advance northward to Rome and the ill-conceived British attempt to secure the Dodecanese islands following the armistice with Italy. The authors also deal fully and comprehensively with the advance northward following the occupation of Rome, and the departure of forces to support the invasion of France from the Riviera coast, coupled with the formation of a new Balkan Air Force in eastern Italy to pursue the German armies withdrawing from Yugoslavia and take possession of newly freed Greece. The effect of the creation within the same area of the US and RAF strategic forces to join the Allied Combined Bombing Offensive is also discussed. Includes photographs “Reflects the scope of a remarkable research effort and provides valuable detail that the reader is not going to find between two covers elsewhere.” —The NYMAS Review
