Spitfire on My Tail

Spitfire on My Tail

Author: Ulrich Steinhilper

Publisher: Crecy Publishing

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781872836003

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Ulrich describes his 150 grueling missions as a fighter pilot par excellence, until being shot down and captured over England in October 1940.


Spitfires and Yellow Tail Mustangs

Spitfires and Yellow Tail Mustangs

Author: Thomas G. Ivie

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13:

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The USAAF 52nd Fighter Group enjoyed an outstanding record in World War 2. This book describes the group's missions from its activation in 1941 to the end of the war.


Ten Minutes to Buffalo

Ten Minutes to Buffalo

Author: Ulrich Steinhilper

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9781872836010

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Sequel to Spitfire On My Tail, the courageous story of Steinhilper's experiences as a German Prisoner Of War POW) in Canada and the USA and his three escape attempts.


Darwin Spitfires

Darwin Spitfires

Author: Anthony Cooper

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2013-10-23

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 1473830079

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The Japanese air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942 are well-known to most Australians, although not perhaps to the rest of the world. What happened afterwards, however, remains unknown to many. This publication attempts to illuminate this little-known period of war history, charting the exploits, losses and successes of the RAF's No 1 Fighter Wing and the contribution they made to the allied war effort. The stalwart Spitfire is celebrated in a narrative that is sure to appeal widely.For almost two years the airspace over North West Australia was routinely penetrated by Japanese raids, tallying about 70 in total. The 1942-43 air raids on Darwin constituted the only sustained and intensive direct assault on Australian mainland territory in the whole of World War II - and the whole history of post- 1788 Australia - yet, surprisingly, most Australians have no idea that it ever happened. And the rest of the world are yet more so in the dark.Telling the story of the RAF'S No 1 Fighter Wing, composed of both Australian and British Spitfire pilots, Darwin Spitfires explores the little known 1943 season of air combat over the top end, recovering important aspects of Australian history. It brings to the attention of the world the heroic exploits of the skilled pilots who did so much to protect Australia and support the Allied effort. This important publication attempts to celebrate and commemorate the spirit of solidarity that characterized the experiences of No 1 Fighter Wing.As featured in Aeroplane Monthly


The Final Hours

The Final Hours

Author: Johannes Steinhoff

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2005-08-31

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 159797479X

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Fighter ace Col. Johannes Steinhoff commanded an elite group of pilots trained to fly the first jet aircraft employed in combat, the famous Messerschmitt Me-262, at a time when Reich Marshal Hermann Goring, by then out of favor with Hitler for his failure to stop the Allied bombing raids, denounced his own pilots as cowards. After Goring refused to deploy the Me-262 as a fighter, the role for which it was designed, and instead ordered its use as a bomber, Steinhoff and other senior air leaders devised a plot to depose Goring from his command of the Luftwaffe in the futile hope of staving off final defeat in the air. The pilotsOCO long-standing disgust with their Reich MarshalOCOs military incompetence and technical dilettantism led to their dangerous intrigue in the fall of 1944. There was an added element of risk as their desperate gamble came in the wake of the July 20 plot against Hitler, the onrushing Allied onslaught, and the general disintegration of the German military and its war effort.Steinhoff crashed while trying to take off in a heavily laden Me-262. The explosion left him badly burned and still in the hospital when the war ended. From his hospital bed in the summer of 1945, he dictated to a fellow wounded German soldier the account that became The Final Hours. His memories are vivid, painful, and gripping. Free from the years of recrimination and reflection so common in similar works, his tale recounts the pressure of fighting for a lost cause and the intrigue fostered by an unstable command. His account reveals every facet of a remarkable fighter pilotOCOs struggle for survival and provides an excellent case study of the plodding bureaucracy and scheming obscurantism so characteristic of the Third Reich."


Spitfire

Spitfire

Author: Leo McKinstry

Publisher: John Murray

Published: 2010-10-14

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1848545037

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In June 1940, the German Army had brought the rest of Europe to its knees. 'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world will move forward into broad, sunlit uplands,' said Churchill. The future of Europe depended on Britain. A self-confident Herman Goring thought that it would be only a matter of weeks before his planes had forced Britain to surrender. The courage, resourcefulness and brilliant organisation of the RAF were to prove him wrong. By late September 1940, the RAF had proved invincible, thanks to the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire. It exceeded anything that any other air force possessed. RJ Mitchell, a shy and almost painfully modest engineer, was the genius behind the Spitfire. On the 5th March 1936, following its successful maiden flight, a legend was born. Prize-winning historian Leo McKinstry's vivid history of the Spitfire brings together a rich cast of characters and first hand testimonies. It is a tale full of drama and heroism, of glory and tragedy, with the main protagonist the remarkable plane that played a crucial role in saving Britain.


The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain

Author: James Holland

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 1114

ISBN-13: 1429919418

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A groundbreaking new account of the Battle of Britain from acclaimed Cambridge historian James Holland The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle. If Britain's defenses collapsed, Hitler would have dominated all of Europe. With France facing defeat and British forces pressed back to the Channel, there were few who believed Britain could survive; but, thanks to a sophisticated defensive system and the combined efforts of the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the defiance of a new Prime Minister, Britain refused to give in. From clashes between coastal convoys and Schnellboote in the Channel to astonishing last stands in Flanders, slaughter by U-boats in an icy Atlantic and dramatic aerial battles over England, The Battle of Britain tells this epic World War II story in a fresh and compelling voice.


R.J. Mitchell: Schooldays to Spitfire

R.J. Mitchell: Schooldays to Spitfire

Author: Gordon Mitchell

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2011-10-24

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 0752474480

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The Spitfire began as a near disaster. The developments of this famous aircraft took it from uncompromising beginnings to become the legendary last memorial to a great man - an elegant and, with its pilots, a highly effective, weapon of war. The Spitfire would not have happened at all, however, without Mitchell's indomitable courage and determination in the face of severe physical and psychological adversity resulting from cancer. His contribution to the Battle of Britain, and thereafter to the achievement of final victory in 1945, was so great that our debt to him can never be repaid. This poignant story is written from a uniquely personal viewpoint by his son, Gordon Mitchell.


Flying the Icon: Spitfire

Flying the Icon: Spitfire

Author: Jarrod Cotter

Publisher: Fighting High

Published: 2016-09-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780993212987

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A unique insight into what it is like to fly one of the most widely-recognised and popular aircraft in the history of aviation - the Spitfire.