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Author: W. A. Harrison
Publisher:
Published: 2003-01-01
Total Pages: 50
ISBN-13: 9780897474504
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →History of the RAF's last biplane fighter from prototype through its extensive service in WW II, illustrated with 100 b/w photos, line art, 10 full color profiles, 3 cover paintings.
Author: Adam Cotton
Publisher: Monograph
Published: 2019-05-05
Total Pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9788365437860
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Gloster Gladiator was the very last biplane fighter to enter service with the RAF. Yet, despite being one of the fastest biplanes ever built, it was already obsolete upon its introduction to service in January 1937. Nonetheless, in the first eighteen months of WW2, it garnered many combat plaudits in the skies over the frozen Arctic, the sun-kissed Mediterranean, and the arid deserts of Africa. In Britain, it provided crucial defense of the RN Fleet anchored at Scapa Flow, and was among the first aircraft sent to France to aid the BEF. Adopted early-on by the FAA and renamed Sea Gladiator, for a time this navalized version represented the nearest thing the service had to a modern fighter as it struggled toward parity with its Axis opponents. This book tells the complete story. The text covers not only the type's remarkable operational history, but also that of Gloster's journey to its production. Also examined are the Gladiator's design and construction, and its subsequent technical development. Second-line duties and service with foreign air forces are also briefly covered. Supporting lavish artwork and 3-D exploded views vividly bring the aircraft to life, making it an ideal reference work for the modeler.
Author: Håkan Gustavsson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-12-20
Total Pages: 172
ISBN-13: 1782003290
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Both the Gloster Gladiator and the Fiat CR.42 Falco represented the peak in the development of the biplane fighter, which could trace its lineage back to World War I. However, by the time both aircraft entered service in the late 1930s, they were already obsolete. Nevertheless, they gave sterling service on all fronts in the Mediterranean and Africa in 1940–41. Indeed, the CR.42 was the Regia Aeronautica's staple fighter in both North and East Africa, Greece and over Malta in 1940–41, during which time its pilots routinely fought British and Commonwealth squadrons equipped in the main with Gladiator biplanes. Some bitter dogfights were fought between these two types as the Allies attempted to gain control of the skies over North Africa, Greece and East Africa. Both types were flown in the main by highly experienced pre-war pilots, and this in turn made for some closely fought engagements. The first known combat between the CR.42 and the Gladiator took place on 14 June 1940 over North Africa and the last engagement between the two types occurred on 24 October 1941 over the East African front.
Author: Francis K. Mason
Publisher:
Published: 1964
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Beskriver det engelske Gloster Gladiator fly, der stadig var operativ ved RAF i begyndelsen af 2. verdenskrig. Bogen omtaler de lande, der benyttede flyet bl.a. Finland, Norge og Sverige
Author: Harry Turtledove
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2009-08-04
Total Pages: 513
ISBN-13: 034551565X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A stroke of the pen and history is changed. In 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement, was fighting a war for which it was not prepared. Now, in this thrilling alternate history, another scenario is played out: What if Chamberlain had not signed the accord? In this action-packed chronicle of the war that might have been, Harry Turtledove uses dozens of points of view to tell the story: from American marines serving in Japanese-occupied China and ragtag volunteers fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in Spain to an American woman desperately trying to escape Nazi-occupied territory—and witnessing the war from within the belly of the beast. A tale of powerful leaders and ordinary people, at once brilliantly imaginative and hugely entertaining, Hitler’s War captures the beginning of a very different World War II—with a very different fate for our world today. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Harry Turtledove's The War that Came Early: West and East.
Author: Norman Franks
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2019-07-19
Total Pages: 405
ISBN-13: 1911621807
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A who’s who of the British airmen honored for their valor and courage—from the RAF’s inception to the post-WWII era—arranged alphabetically. When the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged on 1 April 1918, to form the Royal Air Force, the new command needed to have its own gallantry medals to distinguish itself from the Army and the Royal Navy. Thus the new Distinguished Flying Cross came into being. By the end of WWI, only three Second Bars had been promulgated for First War actions. Before WWII erupted, four more Second Bars had been awarded, and fifty were added to this total by the conflict’s end. Three more were awarded post-WWII, between 1952–1955, making a grand total of sixty. Still a significantly small number of members of this pretty exclusive “club.” Within the covers of this book recorded for the first time together are the mini-biographies of all those sixty along with the citations that accompanied their awards, or in some cases the recommendations for them. Also recorded are citations for other decorations such as the Distinguished Service Order, et al. As the reader will discover, the range of airmen who received the DFC and Two Bars, cover most of the ambit of WWII operations, be they fighter pilots, bomber pilots, night-fighter aircrew, aircrew navigators, engineers, etc., or reconnaissance pilots. Each has interesting stories, proving, if proof be needed, their gallantry in action.
Author: Peter C. Smith
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2015-09-30
Total Pages: 401
ISBN-13: 1473874254
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The era of the combat biplane is usually thought to have been between 1914 and 1938. By the outbreak of World War II, most of the advanced air forces of the world had moved on to monoplane aircraft for their front-line battle forces, both in bomber and fighter capacities. Yet despite this, many biplanes did still survive, both in front-line service and in numerous subsidiary roles, and not just as training machines but as fully operational warplanes. Thus in 1939 the majority of major European powers still retained some, albeit few, biplane aircraft. Sadly, and as an indictment of failed British Government defence policies, it was Great Britain who still had the bulk of such obsolescent combat aircraft, machines like the Gladiator, Swordfish, Walrus, Vildebeeste and Audax for example, while the inferior Albacore, meant to replace the Swordfish, was still yet to enter service!Germany had relegated most of her biplane designs to secondary roles, but they still managed to conduct missions in which biplanes like the He.50, He.51 and Hs.120 excelled. Both France and Italy had biplanes in active service, Mussolini's Regia Aeronautica attaching great importance to the type as a fighter aircraft as late as 1941, while the Soviet Union also retained some machines like the Po-2 in front-line service right through the war and beyond. In addition, a whole range of smaller nations utilised biplanes built for larger combatants in their own air forces. By the time Japan and the United States entered the war two years later, they had mainly rid themselves of biplanes but, even here, a few specialised types lingered on. This book describes a selection of these gallant old warriors of all nations. They represent the author's own personal selection from a surprisingly large range of aircraft that, despite all predictions, fought hard and well in World War II.
Author: Mark Barber
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-09-20
Total Pages: 135
ISBN-13: 1780968981
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The recent 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, combined with the threat of significant cuts to the current RAF, have highlighted the importance of Fighter Command in the early days of World War II once more. The role of the “few”, as described by Churchill, during the Battle of Britain has been the subject of much mythologizing both at the time and in the years since. This title will put Fighter Command in context; describing the lack of funding and attention which it received during the interwar period, until it was almost too late. The myth of the fighter pilot will be humanized, with first-hand accounts quoted which put nervous but brave human beings from all walks of life in the cockpit. Although the Battle of Britain may not have in itself been the decisive encounter that it has historically been portrayed as, the moral victory won by the RAF, the victory that proved that Germany could be defeated, was just as important as a military-strategic victory.
