Military Aviation

SOMETIMES THE PAST REFUSES TO DIE... U.S. Navy helicopter pilot Bud Lammers was on the fast track to promotion when a botched raid in Vietnam tainted his career and threw his marriage into a tailspin. Now, a decade after the war, he and his men are on the verge of wrapping up a successful peacetime mission, or so they think. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos have entrenched themselves as President and First Lady of the Philippines. The charismatic couple has vowed to bring peace and prosperity to a country that's labored nearly four hundred years under the yoke of colonial rule. But there’s ...

In 1929, a 22-year-old maverick named Frank Whittle - a self-taught aeronautical obsessive and risk-takingly brilliant RAF pilot - presented a blueprint for a revolutionary, jet-powered aircraft engine to the Air Ministry. His idea had the potential to change the course of history, but it was summarily rejected. In this meticulously researched biography, Duncan Campbell-Smith charts Whittle's stoic efforts to build his jet engine in the interwar years.

September 1962: On a moonless night over the raging Atlantic Ocean, a thousand miles from land, the engines of Flying Tiger flight 923 to Germany burst into flames, one by one. Pilot John Murray didn't have long before the plane crashed headlong into the 20-foot waves at 120 mph. As the four flight attendants donned life vests, collected sharp objects, and explained how to brace for the ferocious impact, 68 passengers clung to their seats. They all expected to die.

Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific....

But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squadron and witnessed the heart of America's Navy broken and smoldering on the oil-slicked waters below.

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Tired after eleven years of serving as flying 'Soldiers of Fortune' in South American wars and as 'Internationalistas' in the service of Republican Spain, Ricart, Wing, and Wilson have moved to the forests of Northern Michigan after fighting to the bitter end in Spain.Gathering Spanish refugees and Upper Peninsula locals, they start to form a manufacturing firm, building primary gliders and glider launching winches. The lure of big money temps Eddie Ricart to build the largest transport aircraft in the world from "acquired" plans and force the US military establishment to employ it by ...

Book 1 is a series of stories of my company-grade years beginning with learning to be a Marine Corps officer, then naval aviator. My first squadron experiences include learning to fly the first Marine Corps CH-53, being deployed overseas to Vietnam for my first of three combat tours, which are all described in book 1.

Tumbletite chronicles the 31-year flying career of a country boy from Mississippi. The author takes you along on a journey that took him from the backroads of Mississippi to the farthest reaches of the globe. The enlisted aircrew career fields make up approximately only two percent of the Air Force, Guard and Reserve total force. Johnny served in two separate enlisted aircrew career fields on two different aircraft. He spent 15 years as a C-141 Starlifter Flight Engineer and 16 years as C-17 Globemaster III Loadmaster. Come along as he takes you through his initial training, first missions,...

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.

Escaping certain death, not once but several times, lies at the core of this riveting, real-life story of an American soldier during World War II. In One Man's War: The WW II Saga of Tommy LaMore, a B-17 airman vividly details his experiences in war-ravaged Europe, from the horrific to the romantic and beyond.

From an elite Navy rescue swimmer comes this insider perspective on what it takes to survive some of the most dangerous situations imaginable—and how the lessons learned can help overcome other momentous challenges.

A blazing plane crash. Dangerous secrets. Can one young aviator stop the next world war? It's Top Gun:Maverick meets House of Cards at the tail end of the Cold War! Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1995. Trainee pilot Jason Conrad craves a connection with his politician father. Determined to rise above his childhood abandonment issues, he works himself to the bone to outshine his peers at the tough flight school. But tragedy strikes when he loses his closest friend in a fiery aerial accident. Horrified to discover his late pal was selling test answers, Conrad follows a trail of betrayal that...

When Henry Forester is shot down during a bombing run over France, the World War II pilot finds himself trapped behind enemy lines. In constant danger of discovery by German soldiers, Henry begins a remarkable journey to freedom. Relying on the kindness of strangers, Henry moves from town to town-traveling by moonlight, never asking questions or even the names of the people who help him along the way. Each day brings him closer to home, yet every step in enemy territory invites new dangers.

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 ...

Nowadays, people always use airplanes to get to their destinations. Instead of spending several days taking the bus or train, they prefer a flight that will take three hours at most. In an era when every minute of our day is precious, we can’t afford to waste time on ground transportation. But how did planes first came into being? Who came up with the idea of sticking some wings to a frame to make them fly? How did they manage to fly in the first place? There are so many questions that we want answered – which is exactly what this book is planning to do for you. Here, you will discover:...

From historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943, when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war.

Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II. This is hardly a straightforward tale of building an airplane—for years, the team was stymied by corruption within the defense industry and stonewalled by the Army Air Forces, who failed to understand the Mustang’s potential.

Concealed deep within China's inland borders is one of the most secret airplanes ever flown, known as Devil Dragon. She's sleek, unbelievably fast, and mysterious - her test pilots have one mission in mind: make her test flights successful for operational use as soon as possible. Or sooner. But when strange transmissions of pilots are recorded without an aircraft appearing on radar and bizarre cell phone signals are detected at towers hundreds of miles apart, Ford Stevens is asked to take on the most dangerous assignment of his life.

Great Britain, summer 1940. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Adolf Hitler’s powerful armies control Europe. England stands alone against this juggernaut, the whole world knowing it is only a matter of time before Nazi Germany unleashes its military might on the island nation. And in London, a new prime minister named Winston Churchill is determined to defeat the Nazi menace, no matter the costs. Luckily for Churchill, one quirky Englishman has seen the future.

'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, ...