Here the author describes his experiences as a Luftwaffe Anti-Aircraft Assistant from 1944-1945: “It was simply a question of us fifteen to sixteen-year olds manning the anti-aircraft guns on the ground defending ourselves against the airmen in the bombers and fighters 20,000 feet above our heads.” Letters, reports, documents and above all, the author’s complete diary and photographs do so much to authenticate this time capsule. He describes how it was in those days, the final two years of World War II, both on the ground and in the air, manning the guns and systems of the 7th German Anti-Aircraft Brigade, or on operations with the bombers of the 15th US Air Fleet - including insight into the lives of the schoolboy troopers “down here” and the bomber crews “up there”. About the AuthorMSc Eng. Gerhard Oberleitner was born in Ybbs an der Donau, Austria, on April 7, 1928, the younger son of a Master Carpenter. He attended grade school in Ybbs, and the first to fourth years of high school in Vienna 19. He was supposed to attend the fifth to eighth high school years in Amstetten, but after the first trimester of the 6th grade, he was drafted as a Luftwaffe Anti-Aircraft Assistant. Almost up to the end of World War II, he served with a heavy AA battery in St. Valentin.

Billy Bishop was the top Canadian flying ace in the first World War, credited officially with a record breaking 75 victories. A highly skilled pilot and an accurate shot, he was fiercely ambitious, driven by an undisguised hatred of his enemies. He played hard and fought even harder. A highly skilled pilot and a crack shot, "top gun" of the Allied air forces, by 1918 Bishop was the most highly decorated war hero in Canadian history. He also remains the most controversial. Some of Bishop's fellow pilots were repelled by his grandstanding and suspected he was deliberately inflating his number of "kills." Since then, the claim has been repeated by many others. Bishop went from being the most decorated war hero in Canadian history to a crusader for peace, writing the book Winged Peace, which supported international control of global air power. While some historians feel that authorities upgraded Bishop's claims to improve morale, author Dan McCaffery presents the true life and accomplishments of Bishop through information he gathered from interviews and archival sources.About the AuthorDan McCaffery is one of Canada's most successful military aviation history writers. He is the author of Hell Island: Canadian Pilots and the 1942 Air Battle for Malta, Air Aces, and Battlefields in the Air, amongst others.

"This is a solid, no-nonsense book, an important one that lays the Bishop controversy to rest..

This book invites you to discover the history of the aircraft, with their often spectacular liveries, of jet-equipped display teams which have today disappeared, or those still flying, be it the most famous, such as the American Blue Angels, or the Thunderbirds, the British Red Arrows, the Italian Frecce Tricolori and, of course, the Patrouille de France, or those not often seen in our skies, such as the Indian Surya Kiran or the Singapore Black Nights.

A multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force, the F-16 has been in service for an incredible 36 years, with no sign of retiring. At a time when other planes retire to museums, General Dynamics’ fighter bomber is still a formidable foe in international combat against so-called “fifth generation” planes.The first prototype flew for the first time in 1974 and the operational career of the last aircraft built will continue well into the 2040s - almost 75 years and still going strong! Meanwhile, this light fighter was optimised for daylight missions and became a formidable fighter-bomber; more than 4,400 were built and used by more than 25 countries.Two volumes will be devoted to the F-16, this first will deal with it’s development and the F-16A and B.

The book concerns the Luftwaffe activity in North Africa during the first eight months of 1942. The author presents not only the actions of famous JG 27 fighters against Hurricanes, Kittyhawks and RAF bombers, but also the less frequently described service of bomber and ground-attack units of the Luftwaffe, which had played important role in supporting the Panzerarmee Afrika offensives. Like the other publications in the series, this title includes many firsthand accounts and period photos. REVIEWS“covers pretty much all the operations of the Luftwaffe where there was air combat for this entire period. There are quite a few pilot stories and action reports that make books like this interesting to readers. A goodly selection of period photos as well as a number of fine color profiles of desert painted Bf-109Fs are included in this volume. It given an excellent look at combat and the lax times as well, making for a well rounded book that I know you will enjoy reading.” Modeling Madness.

This book offers a fresh, close-up look at the First World War as it was experienced by ordinary Canadian soldiers. Over 67,000 Canadians lost their lives in WWI and 173,000 were wounded. Their sacrifice was driven by a sense of duty to the ‘Mother Country’. This is the war as it was experienced by the tens of thousands of young Canadians. Reading their accounts offers a no-holds-barred picture of fighting, life in the trenches, the human cost in lives lost, and the physical and emotional aftermath for survivors. About the AuthorCynthia Faryon is an internationally published author and freelance writer residing in Victoria, B.C. Canadian born, she focuses her writing on Canadian content, covering topics such as travel, family issues, biography and history.

In July 1944 the Allies were stunned by the appearance of the Messerschmitt Me-262, the world’s first operational jet warplane. This new German fighter was more than 100mph faster than any other aircraft in the skies. Although always greatly outnumbered, the Me-262 gained scores of victories over Allied fighters and bombers, and by the end of the war, many of the Luftwaffe’s greatest aces had clamoured to be in their cockpits. No wonder military leaders believed that if it had been introduced earlier, this jet could have changed the outcome of the war.Sharks of the Air tells the story of Willi Messerschmitt’s life, and shows how this aeronautical genius built many revolutionary aeroplanes—not excluding the Luftwaffe’s mainstay, the Me-109—and culminating in the Me-262. It describes how his various warplanes fought in Spain, Poland, France, Britain, the U.S.S.R., and over Germany, and it provides thrilling accounts of air battles drawn from combat reports and interviews with veterans. This book also shows how Messerschmitt—like other geniuses such as Porsche, von Braun, and Speer— was affected by cut-throat Nazi politics, and describes his intense rivalries with other aircraft designers. It reveals aspects of his life never before made public, including his love affair with the beautiful Baroness Lilly Michel-Rolino, a rich aristocrat who left her husband to live with Willi. Finally, it shows how in Word War II Messerschmitt believed he was loyally supporting the Fatherland, until he realised too late that Hitler was a madman. Like many of the technical innovations of Nazi Germany in the war, production arrived too late in order to change the final outcome.

From the Battle of the Marne to the end of the Vietnam War, this “first half” of the 20th Century must undeniably be considered as the period of greatest development for aerial warfare. With the 400 profiles and illustrations contained in this book, Bruno Pautigny, the world famous illustrator, presents the technical portraits of the most famous fighters and bombers of all the great conflicts of the previous century; the First and Second World Wars, Indochina, Korea and Suez, Algeria, Vietnam, and beyond.

In 1944 George Grod, a strip cartoon, modeling and aviation enthusiast, discovered with amazement some American magazines which an MP billeted near his village lent him. What he liked best were the gleaming advertisements scattered throughout the pages.In the eighties, during an “old papers” fair, George came across some old numbers of Life Magazine and from there he started an unbridled search for original magazines dating back to between 1942 and 1945. Now presented in this single volume, we see the return of all his great themes - aviation, kits, cartoon strips, the love of art and even the cinema. The book is not just a collection of beautiful pictures all strung together or a sample from a huge collection; it is above all the testimonial of a period, the reflection of that immense war effort the American people made during the last World War, seen through the kaleidoscope of publicity and propoganda. It is also a tribute to the most glamorous of our liberators.George Grod worked alongside great film-makers like Verneuil, Minnelli, Zinnemann, Lumet and Zanuck before working on the television series les Dossiers Noirs with his friend Jean-Michel Charlier who took part later in the Grands Maïtres de la BD (Grand Masters of the Cartoon Strip) which he created for the Visiteurs de Mercredi (Wednesday’s visitors). This book is a must for anyone interested in art, history or World War II; an impressive edition to anyone’s collection.

This book describes and illustrates all the fighter aircraft used by the Romanian armed forces during WW2. Covering both the indigenous designs employed early on through to the German fighters flown for much of the period, the camouflage and markings of these aircraft are described and illustrated in great detail.Fully illustrated with many rare wartime photos. Also included are full color profiles of many of the represented aircraft.Aircraft described:PZL P.11cPZL P.24Hurricane Mk IHeinkel 112EBf 109EBf 109GBf 110MiG-3Fw 190F-8Fw 190A-8IAR 81/81

First title in a new series, “Camouflage and Decals”. This book describes, in great detail, the camouflage and markings of three aircraft types used by Polish pilots in France in 1939/40. Also include high quality decals for examples of these aircraft in 1/48 scale, produced by Techmod.

This is the previously untold story of one of the most ferocious and prolonged air/naval battles in history: the battle at the radar picket stations during the American assault on Okinawa in spring 1945. It weaves together the experiences of the ships and their crews, Navy, Army, and Marine Corps pilots, and Japanese kamikazes in an account which provides the complete story of this infamous battle. The US fleet and its accompanying airpower that took station off Okinawa was of gigantic proportions, such that the Japanese could only rely on suicide attacks to inflict critical damage. While losses in the main fleet have been well covered in the literature, less well known has been the terrific battle waged on the picket line, the fleet’s outer defence against the swarms of Japanese marauders. Of the 206 ships that served on radar picket duty, twenty-nine percent were sunk or damaged by Japanese air attacks, making theirs the most hazardous naval surface duty in World War II. The great losses were due in large part to the relentless nature of the kamikaze attacks, but also to the improper use of support gunboats, failure to establish land-based radar at the earliest possible time, the assignment of ships ill-equipped for picket duty, and, as the battle went on, crew fatigue. The intricate nature of the US air cover is also described in full. Toward the end of the battle, the radar picket ships became the prime kamikaze target as Japanese pilots despaired of getting through the “big blue blanket” of American fighter planes to reach larger prey at Okinawa. About the AuthorRobin L. Rielly, the author of seven previous books, has written an engrossing narrative of air/naval combat. Combining firsthand action with astute tactical and strategic analysis, he has gone far toward completing our understanding of one of World War II’s epic campaigns.

The primary objective of this source edition is to provide readers with original documents, allowing them to form their own impression of the development, manufacture and operation of the Heinkel He 162. By linking this accumulated data with the historical situation of those times, we hope to have facilitated a more objective assessment of the "Volksjäger" project.For the purposes of this book, around 200 file documents were selected from a multitude of material on the Heinkel He 162 and reproduced in their original state. Complementing them are some 140 photographs, 50 scale drawings, 30 colour plates and innumerable citations from contemporary documents, teleprints, orders, lectures, reviews and intelligence reports.To make orientation easy, documents and illustrations are arranged in chapters that follow the historic pass off: Project, devlopment of the Heinkel He 162, manufacturing of the "Volksjaeger", in action within the Luftwaffe and allied war booty are the most important topics. For the first time the production and delivery numbers of the Heinkel He 162 have been broken down. Most of the original documents are not translated, but discussed in the text. A German-English glossary helps to understand the content of those original files.Rounding off the publication is a comprehensive annex giving details of propulsion units, camouflage schemes, armament, the cockpit, plus the various versions of the Heinkel He 162. An index of individals, place names and subjects and a list of sources and literature, both covering several pages, completes this supremely detailed retrospective of this famous German aircraft.About the AuthorThe author, Peter Müller, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Swiss Army and is now a military historian. For the past quarter of a century, he has researched armament from 1914-1945.

A further title in this well-established series looks at the history of this USAAF B-25 Mitchell 345 Bomb Group unit, which operated mainly in the Pacific Theatre. The unit was formed in late 1942 and finally entered the Pacific in mid-1943. There, due to the ingenuity of an ex-Philippines Airlines pilot, 'Pappy' Gunn and Jack Fox, a North American aviation technician, standard B-25s were turned into gun-toting strafers by adding additional machine guns to the nose and in special gun packs added to the sides of the forward fuselage. Black and white photos, colour profiles plus a bookmark with FS colour chips are all included. About the SeriesAir Miniatures is a series of books which focuses on the combat history of combat aircraft units. Each volume covers the history of the air unit, its organisation, equipment, camouflage, markings and detailed descriptions of the day-to-day exploits of the unit’s air combat. Includes over 50 photographs, as well as maps, colour profile artwork and free extras for modellers, with decals, photo-etched brass and masking foil.

The first in a new series from Kagero illustrating the combat history of P-40s in the Mediterranean. The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. By November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.Content covers their combat use in Syria and the Western Desert, Tunisia and Italy.About the SeriesAir Battles is a series of books focusing on World War II air battles of specific aircraft and units. Each volume contains information on the planes involved, lists of scores, pilot reports and portraits, colour profile artwork and maps. Over 50 photographs feature in each book, with free extras for modellers, such as masking foil and decal sheets.