Shot down a few weeks before D-Day, this key RAF invasion planner was ordered to be assassinated before he could be captured by the Germans; happily he survived to become an Air Chief Marshal and a founder of the Indian Air Force.

High Endeavour: Life of Air Chief Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman

Biographies & Memoirs

Ivelaw-Chapman, John

Leaders & Notable People

Pen and Sword Aviation

The Battle of Britain saved not only that country from invasion, but also altered the course of the war for the rest of the world. This remarkable book traces the fortunes of the Royal Air Force and provides a comprehensive account of the Battle of Britain, including day-by-day summaries of the battle. It also includes an appendix of the aircraft used by the RAF and the Luftwaffe with schematic drawings, and a list of all the pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain from July 10th to October 31st 1940. The authors are military aviation exprerts who have also written among other things, Jane's World Aircraft Recognition Handbook.

Narrow Margin: The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power 1930-1949 (Pen & Sword Military Classics)

History

WOOD, Derek

Dempster, Derek

Military

John Killen's exhaustive work is a study of German air power between 1915 and 1945, from the early days of flying when Immelmann, Boelke, Richthofen and other First World War aces fought and died to give Germany air supremacy, to the nightmare existence of the Luftwaffe as the Third Reich plunged headlong to destruction. Here are the aircraft: the frail biplanes and triplanes of the Kaiser's war; the great Lufthansa aircraft and airships of the turbulent Thirties; the monoplanes designed to help Hitler in his conquest of Europe. Here are the generals who forged the air weapon of the Luftwaffe - the swaggering Goering, the playboy Udet, the ebullient Kesselring and the scapegoat Jeschonnek; here, too, are the pilots who tried to keep faith with their Fatherland despite overwhelming odds; Adolf Galland, Werner Molders, Joachim Marseille and Hanna Reitsch. Not least are the actions fought by the Luftwaffe from the Spanish Civil War to the Battle of Britain, through the bloody struggle for Crete and the siege of Stalingrad to the fearful twilight over Berlin.

The Luftwaffe: A History (Pen & Sword Military Classics)

Killen, John

Americas

Churchill's Eagles: The RAF's Leading Air Marshals of the Second World War

Mead, Richard

Europe

The Airman's War, 1914-1918

Richardson, Matthew

Matthew, Matthew

The Flying Adventures of Charles Green: The Extraordinary Airman who Revolutionised 19th Century Aeronautics

Goodrum, Alastair

Historical

The P-51 Mustang transformed the air war in Europe by enabling long-range, high-altitude escort of bombers, turning strategic bombing into a war-winning campaign.\nThe P51 Mustang, a single-engine warplane fighter, although a late arrival in the Second World War, proved vital in the crucial air-war conflict in Europe. It was first envisaged in a tactical role - a low to medium level reconnaissance fighter-bomber supporting army ground operations. It did well but was rejected by RAF Fighter Command as a high-level dogfighter as being out-performed above medium levels of altitude. RAF Bomber Command had abandoned day-time raiding over Germany because of the vulnerability of its bombers to fighter attack beyond the range of escort limit range of Fighter Command Spitfires. The waiting Me 10lis and FW 190s would pounce causing huge losses. Bomber Command then continued to take the fight to Germany under cover of darkness.\nThe US Eighth Army Air Force renewed daylight bombing with tactics of attacking in large formations of Boeing B17 Flying Fortresses with heavy machine guns for defensive cover but against experienced Luftwaffe pilots losses again mounted to unsustainable levels. The author gives a stunning picture of air crew experience in which the reader can feel personally involved. Development of the P51 continued and this must be one of the success-stories of the air-war. Rolles-Royce approved the admirable air frame and substituted the RR Merlin engine for the inadequately supercharged Alison engine. Merlin engines had been fitted in the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfires, de Havilland Mosquito and Avro Lancaster. The result was the Mustang as a virtually unbeatable high-altitude dogfighter with large fuel tanks giving a huge radius of action. So here was a world-class strategic fighter which could protect strategic bombers to the target and home again. The P51 Mustang was the single engine fighter with strategic capability that transformed strategic bombing as a war-winning campaign in Europe. Here is the essential difference between strategy and tactics and connection with concepts of 'offensive' and 'defensive' and the unique role of the P51.

The P51 Mustang: From Tactical Superiority to Strategic Supremacy

Saxton, Peter

Kamikaze: Japan's Last Bid for Victory

Review\n"...an easy-to-read, well-written book..." 
Naval Historical Foundation\n"...an informative and enjoyable study of this aspect of the war in the Pacific theater." 
Naval War College Review\n"The author describes not only the action but the Japanese culture that made the kamikazes possible." 
Seapower\nIn this fascinating book the author examines the Japanese concept of Kamikaze, the deliberate self-sacrifice of life in the cause of victory. This attitude, while incomprehensible to their American and European enemies, has its roots in the samurai tradition of fighting for their master or nation regardless of personal safety.\nBy late 1944 the Japanese had already proved themselves fanatical but the actions of the Kamikaze Corps of pilots from the Leyte Gulf battle onwards took matters to a new level. Allied forces were shocked to find themselves the subject of widespread deliberate suicide attacks by pilots.\nThese continued during the invasion of the Philippines in early 1945 and reached a climax during the Battle of Okinawa from 1 April to June 1945. In total over 1000 kamikaze airmen perished.\nGraphic description of these suicide attacks and the resulting loss of life and ships litter this revealing and shocking book.\nThe author’s in depth study of the historic and cultural reasons for this seemingly reckless courage is important and illuminating.

Self-Help

STEWART, Adrian

Death & Grief

Air Marshal Sir Keith Park: Victor of the Battle of Britain, Defender of Malta

Rowlands, Murray

Contains hundreds of unseen photos of the B-17 production line and design concepts. The Boeing B-17 was the first American heavy bomber to see action in World War II when it was supplied to the RAF. The design originated in 1934 when the US Air Corps was looking for a heavy bomber to reinforce their air forces in Hawaii, Panama and Alaska. For its time, the design included many advanced features and Boeing continued to develop the aircraft as experience of the demands of long distance flying at high altitude was gained. When the USA entered WWII, production of the aircraft was rapidly increased and it became the backbone of the USAAF in all theaters of war. This book describes how it was built and utilizes many hitherto unpublished photographs from the design studio and production lines. It illustrates and explains the many different roles that the aircraft took as the war progressed. Heavy bomber, reconnaissance, antisubmarine and air-sea rescue operations there were few tasks that this solid design could not adopt

Boeing B-17: The Fifteen Ton Flying Fortress

Simons, Graham M.

Friedman, Harry

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Pen and Sword Aviation publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Pen and Sword Aviation