Air Force War

On February 15, 1991, Captain Steve Phillis was leading his wingman, Lieutenant Rob Sweet, on their 30th combat mission of Desert Storm flying the A-10 Warthog. They were tasked with attacking Iraq's vaunted Medina Division of the Republican Guards - by far their most dangerous mission of the war. Near the end of their attacks, Rob was forced to eject from his aircraft and began a five-minute parachute ride down to the troops he and Steve had just finished bombing. Steve immediately sprang into action to save the life of his wingman.

How can you fight an enemy when you don’t know who they are? Medics Paul Adams and Lizzie Jarman are back at home, recovering from two brutal tours of Afghanistan. They’re in the process of getting on an even keel when, in an attempt to escape the horrific memories of combat, Lizzie decides to take a sabbatical in Sierra Leone. Back in the United Kingdom aspiring investigative journalist, Eleanor Vickers, has uncovered something unusual about the local bio-technology institute that is sponsoring Lizzie’s sabbatical. She risks everything to uncover the truth about the secretive ...

Wayne K. Blickenstaff, known as "Blick," was a stalwart of the 350th Fighter Squadron of the 353rd Fighter Group based at Goxhill, Metfield, and Raydon, England, as part of the Eighth Air Force prosecuting the strategic air campaign against Germany. As an original cadre member, he rose steadily through the ranks to a Lieutenant Colonel and Group Operations Officer. His double "ace" status included a Me262 jet fighter and the destruction of five aircraft in one mission—giving him rare "ace in a day" status.

When Jess bumps into Milan unexpectedly, sparks are reignited, and she wonders if she made a mistake finishing with him in Amberton. But matters are complicated when a film company arrives at Bentley Priory to make a morale-boosting film about the RAF. The lead actor is none other than Leonard Steele, a man from Jess’ past who could ruin everything she has worked so hard to build.

Join Air Force veteran Dr. W. Lee Warren as he chronicles his fascinating, heartbreaking, and enlightening experience as a neurosurgeon in an Iraq War combat hospital.

There were no mission limits for a pilot in the Pacific during World War II; unlike in Europe, you flew until it was time to go home. So it was for James "Jug" Curran, all the way from New Guinea to the Philippines with the 348th Fighter Group, the first P-47 Thunderbolt outfit in the Pacific. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Curran volunteered to try flying in the blue yonder and trained as an Army fighter pilot. He got his wish to fly the P-47 in the Pacific, going into combat in August 1943, in New Guinea, and later helping start the "Black Rams" fighter squadron.

Diana Jean Schemo covered the Air Force Academy's sexual assault scandal in 2003, one of a series of academy embarrassments that have included drug use, rape complaints, and charges of evangelical officers pushing Christianity on cadets of all faiths. Today, the institution is in flux - a fascinating time to look at the changes being made and the experience of today's cadets. Schemo followed a handful of academy cadets through the school year. From the admissions process and basic training to graduation.

'Another excellent volume, breaking down a single posting into a multitude of interesting individual stories.' Ron Powell joined the C-130 Hercules fleet as a pilot just as the Falklands War started. So his early months on the aircraft, affectionately known to its crews as Fat Albert, are dominated by frequent visits to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. But this third volume of Shropshire Blue also chronicles flights across much of the rest of the world, from Las Vegas to New Zealand and northern Canada to the Falklands. Highlights include flights into Hong Kong, East Berlin, Beirut, ...

The Battle of Britain rages. London is in flames, and civilization itself totters on the brink. Does Pilot Officer Maurice Mickelwhite care? Not one damn. He may be one of the better fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force, but it's not by choice. Maurice is a mathematical genius, who, if not for Hitler, would be happily teaching algebra and calculus at university. To hell with the war! Maurice just wants his numbers. Trouble is...the numbers also want him.

John Comer kept a journal of the 25 missions he flew in 1943, when the casualty rate on his base was close to 80 percent. His book is handwritten history, recorded within hours after the battles occurred. Comer vividly creates his experiences as top-turret gunner/flight engineer in a B-17 squadron that was thrown against the best pilots the Luftwaffe could offer.

'Excellent read and a great insight into pilot training.' If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to train as a military pilot, this is the book for you. But don’t expect a tale of seamless progress and glamour. Ron Powell had a difficult journey. Following on from Preparation For Flight, this second volume of Shropshire Blue follows Ron through a short course on the Chipmunk and then basic flying training on the Jet Provost, where his first solo was followed by the thrills of spinning and aerobatics, the advanced skills of navigation and formation flying, and his personal demon, ...

For decades, the soldiers who served in Vietnam were shunned by the American public and ignored by their government. Many were vilified or had their struggles to reintegrate into society magnified by distorted depictions of veterans as dangerous or demented. Even today, Vietnam veterans have not received their due. Until now. These profiles are touching and courageous, and often startling.

In 1948, Stan Andrews left a comfortable postwar life in Los Angeles to travel to the war-torn Middle East, where a four-front Arab invasion threatened to destroy the newly-declared State of Israel. There he joined the Israeli Air Force and became one of its first fighter pilots. Andrews was an unexpected volunteer for the fight for a Jewish state. He had previously been aloof from the struggle for Jewish independence but found himself so roused by the anti-Semitism of 1940s America that he decided to go to Israel and risk everything.

Nathan Raab, America’s preeminent rare documents dealer, delivers a “diverting account of treasure hunting in the fast lane” (The Wall Street Journal) that recounts his years as the Sherlock Holmes of historical artifacts, questing after precious finds and determining their authenticity.

In 1949 the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of Mao Zedung drove the Kuomintang and their leader, Chiang Kai-shek, off the mainland and onto the island of Taiwan. The CPC established a government on the mainland which has persisted to this day. Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, has flourished as a democracy for the past 70+ years. Although it is not formally a member of the United Nations and has no formal diplomatic relations with the United States, it has maintained a friendly relationship with the U.S. and the West for seventy years. For that period, the...

Even when you’re flying a desk, Afghanistan is a dangerous place. Medic Paul Adams thought he’d seen the last of Afghanistan after his last tour almost killed him and his colleague, Lizzie Jarman. They’d been there, done that, and got the medal. But he can’t turn down a temporary promotion. Just as he arrives in Kandahar air base, rockets start raining down, dealing death and destruction in equal measure. Unknown to Adams, Lizzie isn’t where he thought she was. Now much more than just a colleague, he thought she was safe and sound back at home. Sent out to replace a fallen medic, ...

In a return to sweeping social history of wartime, Patrick Bishop explores the lives and wartime experiences of thousands of men and women who served in all units of the air force. On 1st April 2018, the Royal Air Force will be 100 years old - a short life by military standards but an extraordinarily important and eventful one. From the start it was special, standing sometimes awkwardly but always proudly a little apart from the existing services.

1914 and the start of WW1, the Royal Navy has a tiny, fledgling air service with a small number of unreliable and underperforming aircraft, with no real clue about how to use them. Four years later, they had thousands of fighters including the best of the war, hundreds of seaplanes and the ships to carry them and hundreds of airships patrolling for submarines. They had been used at sea and overland from the Dardanelles to the Western Front and the Mediterranean. Bob Hunt was one of those early aviators. His story and that of his friend Arnold St John-Stevens form the narrative of how the ...

Taking place on a peaceful Wyoming ranch, this tale of love follows a brave pilot who confronts his personal struggles and finds forever in his soulmate. Sometimes the monsters are in your head... Xander ‘Panic’ Isaacs was always cool under pressure. His call sign had been a joke among the other pilots because nothing fazed him… until now. When even the bravest among the team shatters under pressure, they give a chance to one broken Flyboy to pick up the pieces in Wyoming. And sometimes you are trying to hide from them... Lyndsey is a forensic scientist and wants to testify for a ...

When Ian Fritz joined the Air Force at eighteen, he did so out of necessity. He hadn’t been accepted into colleges thanks to an indifferent high school career. He’d too often slept through his classes as he worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant to help pay the bills for his trailer-dwelling family in Lake City, Florida. But the Air Force recognizes his potential and sends him to the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, to learn Dari and Pashto, the main languages of Afghanistan.