Tag: World War II

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New Official History Details RAF Decoys and Visual Deception of German Bombers in WW2

Coming soon from Air World is Deceiving Hitler’s Bombers: RAF Decoys and Visual Deception in WWII, which is an official history of clever visual deception―dummy sites, fake lights, and camouflage―to mislead German bombers and protect key locations during WW2.

The first, and most essential element in aerial bombardment is that of locating the target. All the inherent costs and risks in undertaking a bombing raid are of no avail unless the objective of the mission is correctly identified. If, through means of decoys or visual deception, the attacking aircraft can be tricked into dropping their deadly payloads in areas of little importance to the general war effort, the enemy bombers will have failed in their mission.

It was accepted at the start of the war that enemy bombers would always get through the UK’s defences and that the German bomber crews could be expected to have a reasonable understanding of Britain’s geography and of its main industrial and military facilities. That being the case, how could the most important sites be protected? Continue reading New Official History Details RAF Decoys and Visual Deception of German Bombers in WW2

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New Book Chronicles Perilous Work of USAF Combat Cameramen

Coming soon from Helion and Company and author Kevin Wright is USAF Combat Camera 1941–1991: The Brave Ones Shoot Bullets, the Crazy Ones Shoot Film, documenting USAF cinematographers and photographers and their frequently hazardous work.

USAF Combat Cameramen and later women have participated in every major US military operation and deployment worldwide. Whilst some of their wartime productions like the original Memphis Belle and The Last Bomb, rightly gained wide public acclaim, the vast majority of their work, often classified, was for the Pentagon’s eyes only. Their main role was to keep senior military commanders and decision-makers informed about USAF operations and to record the challenges faced by US armed forces on the ground.

Combat Camera charts those activities from their origins in Hollywood, producing military training films, through wartime movies, bomber operations over Europe and Japan, the liberation of France, the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and the 1991 Gulf War.

These events are explored mainly through personal accounts from the combat cameramen and women themselves. From acts of individual heroism, through organisational change, new equipment and their often ringside seats at historic events, Combat Camera captures the work of these remarkable men and women and has been produced with cooperation of the membership of the USAF Combat Camera Association.

This volume is profusely illustrated with original photographs and includes unique links to original motion footage shot by the USAF Combat Cameramen, in addition to the @War series signature colour artworks.

The 72 page paperback publication is currently available for pre-order with release set for June 15.

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The Harrowing Experiences of Doolittle Raid Pilot Donald Smith Told in New Book

Set for release later this year from Pen & Sword and author Geert Rottiers is Doolittle Raid Pilot: The Story of Captain Donald Smith, Survivor of the Bombing of Tokyo in 1942.

Donald Gregory Smith’s early years were shaped by trauma. He was 5 years old when his mother died, following which he was placed in an orphanage by his father. Despite this background, in 1940, Donald earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Dakota. After graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry, but his passion led him to a career in aviation. By March 1941, through sheer determination and discipline Smith had completed his flight training and became a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In 1942, he was selected for a top-secret mission led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle: a surprise bombing raid on Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. The story follows Smith during his embarkation aboard the USS Hornet, alongside fifteen other B-25 Mitchell crews. During training, he successfully lifted off after only eighty-seven meters – the shortest take-off of all the Raiders. On 18 April 1942, the day of the infamous Doolittle Raid, Donald’s crew bombed industrial targets in Kobe with precision. During the subsequent diversionary flight to China, his aircraft was attacked by Japanese fighters, but Smith managed to evade them over the Sea of Japan. A shortage of fuel forced Smith to execute a perfect belly landing on water in the East China Sea before getting ashore. With the help of Chinese villagers, Smith and his crew evaded advancing Japanese patrols and eventually returned home. After returning to the United States, Smith was reassigned to the 319th Bomb Group. In November 1942, he flew a B-26 Marauder to Europe as part of a ferry operation. A few weeks later, during a transfer flight from RAF Attlebridge in Norfolk to St. Eval in Cornwall, his aircraft crashed in bad weather. Smith was killed.

The 256 page, hardcover book is currently available for pre-order with release scheduled for September 30.

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From Biplanes to Jets: The RAF’s Long Watch in the Far East

Newly released from author Steve Bond and Grub Street Publishing is RAF Boys in the Far East: True Tales of the RAF in India, South East Asia and Hong Kong.

For 82 years the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), which in 1918 became the Royal Air Force (RAF), maintained a permanent military aviation presence in the Far East. Throughout that time a huge variety of squadrons, flying many different aircraft types, together with all the necessary operational, technical and administrative support, took on all that was asked of them. The first RFC units arrived in India in 1915. RAF India grew substantially in the interwar period and throughout World War Two. Various changes in the command structure finally saw the creation of the Far East Air Force (FEAF) in June 1949, covering South East Asia and Hong Kong. In the 1960s the UK government decided to withdraw all forces East of Suez and on 31 October 1971 the FEAF disbanded and most UK forces withdrew from Singapore at this time. The last RAF unit to leave the region was 28 Squadron flying. They had been operating Whirlwind and Wessex helicopters in Hong Kong until the territory was handed back to China in 1997. RAF Boys in the Far East illustrates what it was like for those air and ground crew who were there by telling their stories in their own words, supported by explanation of the situations at the time and photographs primarily drawn from veterans’ own collections. The stories are as varied as the locations, the units and the personnel; everyday operations, exercises, triumph and tragedy, off duty time, and of course, the humour for which the RAF is renowned. Chapters focus on differing aircraft roles and their operations, including emphasis on the war years in India and Burma, and the Singapore era with actions such as Operation Firedog and the Indonesian Confrontation. Today those veterans who look back on their time served in the FEAF do so with a great deal of pride, and rightly so. This is their story.

The 256 page book is available in hardcover, Kindle and audiobook editions.

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Defenders of the Reich: The Luftwaffe’s Fierce Battle Against America’s Bombers

Recently released by Osprey Publishing and author Robert Forsyth is Defenders of the Reich: The Luftwaffe’s War Against America’s Bombers, which tells the story of the Luftwaffe fighter arm’s desperate defense of the Third Reich from the growing Allied bomber offensive in WW2.

The Reichsverteidigung (Defence of the Reich) was a do or die campaign that saw the very best fighter pilots in the Luftwaffe attempt to defend German skies from increasingly large formations of RAF and USAAF medium and heavy bombers. Flying both piston-engined and, eventually, the first jet-engined fighters to see operational service, the Jagdflieger employed a wide range of weapons and tactics in an effort to blunt the Allied air offensive across Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe.

Defenders of the Reich focusses on the story of the pilot, his aircraft, his weaponry, his draining, dangerous missions and Luftwaffe tactics against the USAAF and the RAF bombers from the summer of 1942 through to VE Day. They fought until they were all but obliterated as USAAF and RAF fighters decimated their ranks in the air and targeted their airfields in devastating strafing attacks.

Leading Luftwaffe historian Robert Forsyth uses German and Allied archival documents coupled with interviews with former Jagdwaffe pilots, to tell the history of this last-ditch aerial campaign from the perspective of the Luftwaffe.

The 466 page book is available in hardcover, Kindle and audiobook editions.

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DC-3’s Epic Milestone: 90 Glorious Years Soars Onto US Shelves!

Fonthill will soon release The Douglas DC-3: 90 Glorious Years, author Geoff Jones’ comprehensive history of the Douglas DC-3, exploring its military, commercial, and enduring global legacy.

In Douglas DC-3: 90 Glorious Years, Geoff Jones explores the rich history of the aircraft from its beginnings in Southern California in the 1930s, to its participation in military operations such as the D-Day Normandy Landings, through to its use as a commercial aircraft into the twenty-first century. The Airbus and Boeing operators of today have their DC-3 operations to thank for their current success, and numerous enthusiast organisations continue to keep DC-3s airworthy and fly them for their members. Ninety years on, the legacy of this extraordinary aircraft is as strong as ever.

The 176 page paperback is currently available for pre-order with release slated for January 15.

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Bloody Skies Incoming: XV Fighter Command’s Untold War

Coming soon from Osprey and author Thomas McKelvey Cleaver is the new book Bloody Skies: XV Fighter Command Against all Odds, which details the operations of the USAAF’s overlooked XV Fighter Command that protected bombers during the campaign against the Romanian oil fields in World War II.

Formed in the fall of 1943, the Fifteenth Air Force was popularly known as the “The Forgotten Fifteenth,” as its achievements were overshadowed by more glamorous exploits of the Eighth Air Force in the air war over Germany. Nevertheless, the Fifteenth’s contribution to Allied victory was crucial, and a vital part of that was the role played by the escorting fighter groups from the XV Fighter Command who protected the B-17s and B-24s from the Luftwaffe in the skies over Romania.

In this new history of the campaign, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Fifteenth’s air war through first-person accounts of the fighter pilots of the Fifteenth Fighter Command, including such famous units as the Red Tails – the Tuskegee Airmen – the 82nd Fighter Group and the 325th’s “Checkertail Clan,” and with his ability to place wartime events in their greater context.

The 320 page book is currently available for pre-order in hardcover and Kindle editions. Release is scheduled for March 10.

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Unveiling Okinawa 1945: Dive into the Royal Navy’s Epic Carrier Campaign

Soon to be released from Osprey Publishing and author Angus Konstam is Okinawa 1945: The Royal Navy’s biggest carrier campaign. The title is described as “a fully illustrated study explaining the British Pacific Fleet’s campaign against the Japanese in the Sakishima Islands, and its overlooked role in the battle for Okinawa.”

In this book, naval expert Angus Konstam offers a newly researched account of the Fleet Air Arm’s air campaign in the Sakashimas. By 1945, the carriers and their aircrews were well worked up, and ready to tackle challenging and important targets. He explains the capabilities of the late-war Fleet Air Arm at Okinawa, and analyses their effectiveness against Japan’s still-dangerous airpower. Famously, at Okinawa the Royal Navy’s armoured carriers proved much more resilient to kamikaze strikes than the wooden-topped carriers of the Americans. Packed with spectacular original artwork, photographs, diagrams and maps, this book is a superbly illustrated history of the Royal Navy’s most extensive carrier campaign.

The 96 page paperback book is currently available for pre-order with release slated for January 27.

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Gardening with Bombs: New Book Reveals RAF’s Secret WWII Campaign

New from Tempest and author Jane Gulliford Lowes is The Invisible Campaign: Bomber Command Gardening Operations 1940-1945 which details the crucial yet little-known aerial minelaying operations by RAF Bomber Command which successfully disrupted Axis shipping between 1940–1945.

The Invisible Campaign, based on Air Ministry and Admiralty archival material, together with squadron records, veteran accounts and logbooks as well as contemporary publications and press releases, provides the most detailed account of Bomber Command’s minelaying operations and their effects ever written.

Historian Jane Gulliford Lowes looks at the aims of the campaign and how it was implemented, together with the measure of its success and how it compared against the mining operations implemented by the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. The role of Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris in overseeing minelaying operations is assessed and the experiences of the men who delivered the campaign, particularly the hazards they faced, are explored.

Featuring a foreword by renowned historian James Holland, The Invisible Campaign – Bomber Command Gardening Operations 1940-1945 sheds new light on a little-discussed but important and ultimately highly successful aspect of Bomber Command and is a must-read for anyone interested the RAF’s in wartime bombing operations.

The 300 page, hardcover title is currently available for pre-order with release slated for December 30.

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