Ira “Taffy” Jones was a well-known air fighter during the First World War, having scored about 40 victories flying SE5 scouts in France with 74 Squadron. Well known in flying circles, Jones recorded stories drawn from his own experiences during the war and wrote of the many personalities he had met or known by association, both during the war and in the post-war flying years. An Air Fighter’s Scrap Book recreates the atmosphere of the days of the biplane, of wartime flying, of early peacetime adventures in the air, the development of civil aviation, and breathtaking record beating flights, all evoking the sheer delight in flying that characterized those early years.

Mick Mannock, Fighter Pilot is the authoritative life story of Britain and Ireland's most successful fighter pilot of the First World War; a working class hero and staunch socialist who in the skies above the Western Front combined engineering prowess, tactical initiative, and grim determination to become an inspirational squadron commander.

Photos of every U.S. Air Force prototype jet fighter program from the height of the Cold War to today's fighteres capable of supersonic cruise.

The F-117 Nighthawk was the world's first operational aircraft designed and built to utilize stealth technology. It was developed specifically to attack high-value targets and escape without being detected by hostile radar systems. The F-117 first saw action during Operation Just Cause in Panama in December 1989, it owned the skies over Iraq during Desert Storm in early 1991, and it supplemented NATO's Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia and Kosovo. This photography-driven history follows the design, construction, and flight-testing of BLUE-01 and BLUE-02, Lockheed's original demonstrator aircraft. The focus then shifts to the Scorpion Flight Test Team and the development of the F-117 from its first flight through its Initial Operational Capability approval. Only recently has the veil of secrecy surrounding the F-117 and its history been lifted, allowing the general public to learn about this groundbreaking aircraft and its amazing development team. F-117 Stealth Fighter Photo Scrapbook contains never-before-seen photography covering the design, construction, and development of the F-117 and its service history in Operation Desert Storm.

This gripping biography of Air Commodore Keith &‘ Grid' Caldwell CBE, MC, DFC & bar, Croix de guerre, tells the story of his remarkable exploits during the First World War. Flying single-seat fighters against the best of the German air force, including the Red Baron' s Flying Circus and airmen such as Werner Voss, Caldwell accumulated 26 victories in aerial combat.Over his illustrious career he flew with numerous &‘ stars' of the British air service, including Albert Ball, William &‘ Billy' Bishop and Edward &‘ Mick' Mannock. In the last year of the war, aged only 22, he was given command of the new 74 Squadron. Under his leadership 74 &‘ Tiger' Sqaudron become one of the war' s most feared and revered units.Written by a leading military historian, Grid details Caldwell' s journey from early flight training in Auckland to his death-defying sorties over enemy lines on the Western Front. It also details his pivotal role in sustaining military aviation in interwar New Zealand, and his role in reinvigorating interest in the airmen of the First World War during the 1960s and 1970s.

This book explores the British Army's response on the Western Front to a period of seminal change in warfare. In particular it examines the impact of the pre-war emphasis on worldwide garrison, occupation and policing duties for the Empire's defence of the mindset of the Army's leadership and its lack of preparation for a continental war involving a massive, unplanned increase in men and material. The reasons for the poor performance in the early years of the war, notably professionalism within the British Army, including poor staff work, 'trade unionism', careerism within the high command, and the tendency of an overconfident hierarchy to ignore the need for reform to tackle the tactical stalemate prior to 1916, are analysed. The high command rapidly learnt from the defeats of 1915-16 and performed much better in 1916-18, an especially formative period resulting in the promotion of a younger, more professional leadership and the development of the first truly modern system of tactics which has dominated wars ever since. During 1917-18 the Army's commanders and staff evolved and improved these new methods; developing a doctrine of combined arms to overcome the tactical stalemate bedevilling Allied offensives.

Starting in 1909 with the beginnings of military aviation and the aviation industry and ending with their catastrophic postwar contraction, the book examines the totality of the air war: its heroism, romantic myths, politics, strategies, and cost in men and materiel. John H. Morrow, Jr., also elaborates on the advancements in aircraft and engine technology and production during airpower's development into a viable and threatening military weapon within a decade of its origins.

The true story of the daredevil flying ace who rivaled the Red Baron, with photos included. This is the first full-length biography of nineteen-year-old Werner Voss, a legend in his lifetime and the youngest recipient of the Pour le Mérite, Germany’s highest award for bravery in WWI. At the time of his death he was considered by many, friend and foe alike, to be Germany’s greatest ace—and, had he lived, Voss would almost certainly have overtaken Manfred von Richthofen’s victory total by early spring of 1918. Voss is perhaps best remembered for his outstanding courage, his audacity in the air, and the prodigious number of victories he achieved before being killed in one of the most swashbuckling and famous dogfights of the Great War: a fight involving James McCudden and 56 Squadron RFC, the most successful Allied scout squadron. Yet the life of Voss and the events of that fateful September day are surrounded by mystery and uncertainty, and even now aviation enthusiasts continue to ask questions about him on an almost daily basis. Barry Diggens was determined to uncover the truth, and September Evening unearths and analyzes every scrap of information concerning this extraordinary young man. Diggens’s conclusions are sometimes controversial but his evidence is persuasive, and this study will be welcomed by, and of great interest to, the aviation fraternity worldwide.

This extraordinary book is both an engaging military history and an enthralling mystery. Australia’s Lost Heroes tells the astonishing little-known story of the Australian soldiers who fought the Red Army in Russia in 1919 and the personal odyssey, 100 years later, to locate and identify the lost grave of Victoria Cross hero Sergeant Samuel Pearse VC MM. The Anzac volunteers fought an arduous campaign punctuated by fierce ambushes in thick forest, swamps and marshes and attacks on fortified bunkers. They also had to fight a war within, avoiding the treachery and mutiny of White Russian ‘allies’. Remarkably, two Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross, one posthumously. Yet, unlike the reverence, recognition and commemoration afforded to WWI soldiers, not only do the deeds of Anzacs in Russia remain unrecognized, their graves lie lost and forgotten. Follow the author’s journey to a remote corner of Russia with the grandson of Samuel Pearse in the hope of identifying the lost grave. Guided by a Russian battlefield archaeologist, they discover an astonishing clue which may resolve the mystery of an Australian hero missing for 100 years. An extraordinary story of national importance dedicated to those forgotten Australian heroes who fought and died in Russia after the Armistice.