How to fly the legendary Spitfire fighter plane in combat using the manuals and instructions (pilot notes) supplied by the RAF during the Second World War.
“Peter Vacher has revised and updated his classic account of the discovery and restoration of our Hawker Hurricane Mk I-R4118.” —Hurricane Heritage Twelve years since the amazing account of Peter Vacher’s discovery in India was originally published, Grub Street is thrilled to bring readers the updated story of Hurricane R4118. Since the restoration of this magnificent aircraft to flight in 2004, Peter Vacher continued to research its history. In Hurricane R4118 Revisited, more stories of R4118’s origins are told, including the extraordinary tale of how this aircraft shot down a friendly Whitley bomber before it was assigned to a RAF squadron. Focus is also given to the role of 605 Squadron’s ground crew and the aircraft during the Battle of Britain. Continuing into the present day, Vacher highlights the challenges of maintaining and flying a historic warbird, while Keith Dennison, a warbird pilot, provides expert commentary on exactly what it is like to fly a Hurricane. The book concludes with the sale of R4118 to an enthusiastic Englishman and the decision taken to keep the aircraft at the Shuttleworth Collection. With brand new photography and sources, including wartime letters from veteran pilot Bunny Currant, this book is essential reading for all Hurricane enthusiasts. “Photos and firsthand accounts trace the ongoing restoration and display of a legendary aircraft.” —FineScale Modeler
No aircraft is absolutely safe. This book is about Aviation, from learning to fly, becoming a test pilot, flight testing, demonstrating on some of the third world's worst airfields, then specializing in Avionics and finally joining the Board of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, helping to formulate the regulations that the author had spent so many years living by. Many stories are told, including flying with the legendary Howard Hughes when the world thought him a mad recluse, and testing many aircraft including all three V Bombers, an almost unique experience. The book, very well illustrated, makes the point that flying is inherently risky, that regulations always try to quantify acceptable risk, that safety is a cost, and that test pilots have to sell their aircraft and should not try to make an aircraft safer than the rules require. It emphasizes the almost unbelievable changes in aviation in one working lifetime, whilst painting a picture of a much simpler world, now gone beyond recall
This book examines the reality behind the myths of the legendary RAF fighter aces during the Battle of Britain. The accounts of the experiences of fighter pilots are based on archival research, diaries, letters, published and unpublished memoirs and personal interviews with veterans.
A celebration of the renowned WWII aircraft and the aviators who flew them—includes rare photographs. The Hawker Hurricane, together with the Spitfire, is the most famous aircraft of the Second World War. Many pilots, including Douglas Bader, thought it was superior to the Spit—but together they saved Britain from Nazi invasion and possible defeat. Adrian Stewart has produced a gloriously atmospheric and nostalgic book capturing the spirit of these great aircraft and the pilots who flew them. It tracks the aircraft as it was developed and improved, and follows it to the many theaters of the war where it saw service. Among the lesser-known are Burma and hazardous convoy protection in the Arctic and Mediterranean, flying from makeshift carriers. This book will fascinate specialist aviation historians and those who enjoy a rattling good war story, and includes a superb selection of rare photographs.
This is a pulsating account of the young RAF fighter boys who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants in England against the Luftwaffe and from Malta 1940-45 against the Regia Aeronautica. Their story is told using combat reports and first person accounts from RAF, German and Commonwealth pilots who fought in the skies in France in 1940, in England during the Battle of Britain, and in the great air offensives over Occupied Europe from 1942 onwards. Chapters include the stories of Wing Commander D. R. S. Bader, Wing Commander Adolph Gysbert 'Sailor' Malan, Oberleutnant Ulrich Steinhilper, Flight Lieutenant H. M. Stephen, Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, 'Johnny' Johnson, Squadron Leader M. N. Crossley, Squadron Leader A. McKellar, 'Cowboy' Blatchford and Squadron Leader D. H. Smith, an Australian veteran of the Battle of Malta and many others whose names have now become legendary.
For many years the importance and contribution of the Hawker Hurricane was eclipsed by the Spitfire but statistically the Hurricane was superior in the majority of cases. Thanks to Tommy Sopwiths initiative and gamble the Hurricane was ready at the outbreak of the Second World War and in service throughout.As this superbly researched book reveals by examining the roles, actions and personalities of ten Hurricane squadrons, this iconic aircraft was not only exceptionally robust but astonishingly versatile. We track its performance from the Battle of France and Britain through the Middle East, Italy and on to Burma. It excelled as day and night interceptor, intruder and importantly as a rocket firing tank buster.The Hurricane inspired great loyalty among its pilots and their colourful personalities and thrilling experiences make this splendid book an informative and entertaining read.