Category: Books / Calendars / Publications

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New Book Offers a Unique, Hour by Hour Insight Into a Lancaster Bombing Mission

Coming soon from Evro Publishing and author Michael Napier is Avro Lancaster: Twenty-Four Hours on a Squadron, a unique hour-by-hour insight into a Lancaster bombing mission.

The most famous and successful heavy bomber flown by the RAF during World War 2, the Avro Lancaster remains one of the most enduring symbols of RAF, and indeed British, history. This book presents a completely new and original perspective on the iconic Avro Lancaster by covering the 24-hour cycle of a Lancaster squadron. Using over 200 first-hand accounts and illustrated with numerous photographs, it describes the activities and life of aircrew, ground maintenance personnel, mission planners and the plethora of support personnel each of whom played a vital role in the operation of a Lancaster bomber squadron. Starting with the ground activities on a typical wartime Lancaster airfield and the preparations for a night raid, the book then takes the reader with the aircrews on a night bombing mission over Germany, to discover the many dangers and hazards facing the crews throughout the flight, in their own words. In the thought-provoking and deeply poignant epilogue, the aircrew review their achievements against the sacrifices they made.

The 288 page hardcover book is currently available for pre-order with release set for September 15.

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New Book Explores B-29 Superfortress Technical Aspects, Crew Prep and More

Coming soon from Pen & Sword and author Peter Saxton is B-29 Superfortress: Strategic Air War in the Pacific.

The B-29 Superfortress was a vital and iconic strategic bomber of the Second World War. It was designed with a range and warlord capability that made it viable for operation in the vast regions of Asia Pacific. This bomber played a key part in the defeat and unconditional surrender of Japan, principally using fire-bombing techniques. The complex role and effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are reviewed critically. The work has 21st century connection in the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. The United States Navy, US ground forces and the B-29 wings were brought together to fight, in the author’s words, ‘he most massive air war the world had ever seen’.

Technical aspects including bomb-load and range – vital for the vast Asia Pacific, are set out for all readers, service, academic and lay. Continue reading New Book Explores B-29 Superfortress Technical Aspects, Crew Prep and More

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Sweeping the Skies: A History of No. 452 Squadron RAAF 1941-1945

Coming soon from Avonmore Books and author Mark Lax is Sweeping the Skies: A History of No. 452 Squadron RAAF 1941-1945

Sweeping the Skies is the story of No. 452 Squadron, an RAAF fighter unit formed in the UK in April 1941. Equipped with the superb Supermarine Spitfire, the squadron soon deployed to bases south of London and was in the thick of fighting against the Luftwaffe over England, the Channel and northern France.

Remarkably, between August and November 1941, No. 452 Squadron held the Fighter Command record as the top-scoring unit in Britain. This was largely due to the exceptional skills and leadership of some outstanding ace pilots, including Irishman Wing Commander Brendan “Paddy” Finucane and well-known VFL footballer Squadron Leader Keith “Bluey” Truscott. Continue reading Sweeping the Skies: A History of No. 452 Squadron RAAF 1941-1945

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Mosquito: The Ultimate Guide to the ‘Mossie’

Coming soon from Key Publishing is Mosquito: The Ultimate Guide to the ‘Mossie.’

The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was one of the outstanding aircraft of World War Two, making a significant contribution to the Allied victory. Of mainly wooden construction, the ‘Mossie’ was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world, and while designed as an unarmed high speed bomber, the ‘Wooden Wonder’ was quickly adapted as a night fighter, a fighter-bomber, and photo-reconnaissance aircraft. The Mosquito played a pivotal role in the bomber campaign, proving able to carry a 4,000lb bomb to Berlin, while giving its crew a much better chance of surviving the experience! It was also used for a succession of daring low level precision attacks against a range of targets, many of which are described in this amazingly researched 132-page special.

The publication is currently available for pre-order with release set for July 23.

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New Guinea Eagles: The Japanese Air Army Campaign in New Guinea 1942-43

Coming soon from Avonmore Books and author Michael Claringbould is New Guinea Eagles Volume 1: The Japanese Air Army from Rabaul to Wewak October 1942 to September 1943, which chronicles the Japanese Air Army campaign in New Guinea from when its first units arrived in October 1942 until the late September 1943 raids against Nadzab and Port Moresby.

Never before have the rationale, activities and losses of JAAF air power in New Guinea been chronicled in such detail and accuracy. The force operated an impressive range of aircraft types but found it much easier to commit than withdraw from the challenging theatre.

This volume covers Rabaul’s and Wewak’s beginnings as major JAAF bases. The period involved guarding supply convoys, attacking Wau and two major forays into the Solomons. Then by mid-1943 the Allied air war had gravitated towards the burgeoning JAAF airfield complexes spreading out along New Guinea’s northern coast. Two air divisions were combined to create the 4th Air Army in August 1943, and its aircraft soon ventured into the New Guinea Highlands before defending Nassau Bay, Lae and Salamaua. Continue reading New Guinea Eagles: The Japanese Air Army Campaign in New Guinea 1942-43

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Bristol Beaufighter’s Complete Story Detailed in New Book

Coming soon from Pen & Sword and author Edward Rippeth is Beaufighter: The Allies’ Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, which tells the whole story of the Bristol Beaufighter – from a particularly overweight ugly duckling to one of the deadliest warbirds of the Second World War.

In many ways the Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter defined the modern multi-role combat aircraft. It was right in the thick of things at various critical turning points of the war, in every theatre. Night fighter, anti-shipping strike aircraft, maritime air superiority fighter and ground attack weapons platform – the Beaufighter redefined every role it took on. This is despite the fact it was a hastily designed lash-up, a modestly performing oversized ‘heavy fighter’, which might easily have been parked with the Westland Whirlwind in obscurity. Continue reading Bristol Beaufighter’s Complete Story Detailed in New Book

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Hawker Typhoon: Its Service Career and Technical Evolution

Coming soon from Key Publishing and author Jamie Ewan is Hawker Typhoon: The Making of a Ground-Attack Icon.

The Hawker Typhoon was one of Britain’s ‘heavy punchers’ during World War Two – and one instrumental in the allies’ victory in Europe. But flying in the shadow of myriad issues that followed it through its service, the brutish Hawker type is often tarred as a failure. Now, more than 85 years after it took to the sky, we tell of the service career and technical evolution of a fighter that found its true purpose as a low-level ground-attack aircraft – and one that not only filled the enemy with fear, but those who knew and flew it. A workhorse (the pilots of which collectively, embodied a decisive evolution in air warfare as they delivered time after time) we strive to connect new generations with this truly vital piece of heritage

The 116 page, paperback publication is currently available for pre-order with release set for July 9.

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Bomber Crew Escaper: A Wartime Airman’s Fight for Survival and Freedom

Coming soon from Air World and authors Jack Sowter and Ian Richardson is Bomber Crew Escaper: One Wartime Airman’s Story of Baling Out, Capture, Imprisonment and Escape

Sergeant Jack Sowter had joined the RAF in October 1941, originally as a trainee wireless operator. He later re-mustered as a navigator and joined the crew of a Handley Page Halifax of 78 Squadron.

On the night of 27/28 July 1943, Jack’s aircraft, JD 148, was one of 787 bombers tasked with attacking the port of Hamburg as part of Operation Gomorrah. Having successfully unleashed its deadly load on the German city, Jack’s captain, Sergeant Les Maidment, turned for home. However, Maidment could not escape the penetrating beams of the German searchlights, nor the enemy flak. With his aircraft repeatedly hit, Maidment gave his crew the order to bale out. Continue reading Bomber Crew Escaper: A Wartime Airman’s Fight for Survival and Freedom

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Follow the 9th Bomb Squadron Into WW2’s Most Dangerous Flying Conditions

Coming soon from McFarland Publishing and author Charles B. Kastner is To War and Back with the 9th Bomb Squadron: In the Skies Over Burma, Thailand, and China in 1945:

Written by his son, and incorporating his father’s stories, personal papers, and original research, this work follows Lt. Walt Kastner from the start of World War Two until its end. Walt joined a new B-24 bomber crew that fought with the 9th Bomb Squadron from its base in India during the drive to liberate Burma from the Japanese Army. His air crew attacked Japanese troop concentrations that barred the advance of the British 14th Army and flew missions deep into Thailand, including attacking the Burma-Siam Railway, the crucial rail link that carried supplies that fed and equipped the Japanese Army in Burma–a railway made famous by the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai. When air combat ended in May 1945, the squadron moved to Assam in eastern India where they hauled aviation gasoline over “the Hump” to the 14th Air Force in China, exposing them to the most dangerous flying conditions in the world.

The 155 page book is currently available for pre-order with release set for August 21.

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Air Battles Over the Baltic 1941: Revised and Expanded Third Volume Coming Soon

The third revised and expanded installment in a four volume series on Air Battles over the Baltic 1941 is scheduled for release shortly from Helion and Company and author Mikhail Timin.

Volume 3 of Air Battles Over the Baltic 1941 turns to the Luftwaffe and the German preparations for Operation Barbarossa, examining in unprecedented detail the aerial build-up to the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Drawing extensively upon German and Russian archival sources, Mikhail Timin reconstructs the strategic planning, reconnaissance operations and combat deployments that shaped the opening hours of the war in the Baltic theatre.

The volume examines the composition and disposition of Luftwaffe forces assembled against the Baltic Special Military District, including bomber, fighter and reconnaissance formations tasked with achieving immediate air superiority. Particular attention is paid to the activities of the secretive Rowehl reconnaissance units, whose pre-war aerial intelligence-gathering operations over Soviet territory enabled the Germans to identify Soviet airfields, infrastructure and troop concentrations in remarkable detail. Continue reading Air Battles Over the Baltic 1941: Revised and Expanded Third Volume Coming Soon

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