This title describes the airfields of Sussex during the last war, the planes and the pilots who flew them, and the local civilians who worked alongside them. It is fully illustrated.
David Berryman's thoroughly researched and action-packed book describes the history of each airfield. It will appeal equally to aviation enthusiasts and local readers who recall the era when the skies never ceased to throb with the drone of departing and returning aircraft.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the United Kingdom was described as one vast aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of Europe. During a seven year period 500 airfields were constructed to serve the needs first of the RAF and later the USAAF as they carried the war to German-occupied Europe. The airfields that were constructed took many different forms from training airfields and Advanced Landing Grounds to grass fighter airstrips and vast complexes used to accommodate heavy bombers. This book charts the history of each Second World War airfield in and around the UK providing a unique insight in to the construction, operational life and post-war history of each airfield. Alongside detailing the history of each airfield, this work comprehensively records the details of each unit that operated from airfields around the UK. The information provided in this meticulously researched book is supported by a wealth of 690 photographs providing an illustration into the life of each wartime station.
"Martyn Chorlton's book describes the history of each airfield, highlights some of the operations carried out from them, and puts them into the overall context of a country and nation at war. It will appeal equally to aviation enthusiasts and to readers who recall the era when the country's skies never ceased to throb with the drone of departing and returning aircraft."--Jacket.
An account of the part played by the airfields in Shropshire during the last war; the planes and pilots who flew them; and the local civilians who worked alongside them.
Stretching from the Peak District to the Welsh border and the Irish Sea, Cheshire has a rich diversity of landscapes, some of which it shares with neighbouring counties. This volume, which marks the 30th anniversary of Chester Society for Landscape History, celebrates that diversity, both in and beyond Cheshire, through a series of papers based on members' original research. It covers features dating from the twelfth century to the twentieth, all of which can still be seen today.
This work is a nostalgic look at the airfields used by the Eighth in the United Kingdom during the World War II. Conceived in war, the airfields experienced their moments of glory and, when the war ended, were left empty and derelict to die. The few which remain virtually intact have only survived because some private or public concern has formed a practical use for them, although not always as airfields. Some of the more remote airfields still dot the countryside the same as when the last plane left their runways and the last truck departed through the main gate. They are bleak, windswept and mouldering but they retain the atmosphere of the fine, high endeavours of the people who inhabited them and the aura of ineffable sadness that hangs over memorials to fighting men.
A full account of the part played by Lancashire's airfields during the Second World War. The history of each airfield is described with the squadrons and aircraft based at them and the main operations flown. The effects of the war on the daily lives of civilians, and the constant dangers from raids and night bombing are also detailed. Fully illustr