Combat Aircraft Books - Great Britain - Royal Air Force (RAF)
A book on the Royal Air Force (RAF)? Explore here illustrated books on the history and deployment of combat aircraft from Great Britain.
Royal Air Force 100 (1918-2018) - Technical Innovations Manual
On 1 April 2018 the RAF celebrates its centenary, marking 100 years since its creation in 1918 out of the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.
The RAF has always been at the forefront of technology, both as an innovator and as a user of innovations. To celebrate the RAF's first 100 years, Jonathan Falconer showcases a top 100 technical innovations that have been used and/or devised by the Service over the past century, ranging from heated flying suits to radar; and from panel fasteners to the VTOL Harrier.
From the jet engine to radar, from the ejector seat to the bouncing bomb, the Haynes Royal Air Force 100 Technical Innovations Manual contains a double-page spread on each innovation or technological advancement, detailing its development, history and its use. Over 300 photographs and drawings help bring each one to life.
Author:
Jonathan Falconer
Specs:
224 pages, 27.5 x 21.5 x 2 cm / 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.79 in, hardback
Illustrations:
numerous b&w and colour photos
Publisher:
Haynes Publishing (GB, 2017)
ISBN:
9781785210846
Royal Air Force 100 (1918-2018) - Technical Innovations Manual
From Balloon to Boxkite - The Royal Engineers and Early British Aeronautics
The story of early British military aviation is one of trial and error, of triumph and adversity and it all began with a detachment of the Royal Engineers called the Air Battalion, which had previously been called the Balloon School. Created some forty years before the RAF, the Balloon School commenced a long history of British aeronautics. Initially, spotting for artillery, the Balloon School grew to encompass kites and gliders and early aircraft also.
This history of this little-known army detachment presents the tale of these daring aviators and the balloons, airship, kites and pioneer aircraft during a time of much change in military design and thinking. It shows the development of military aviation in its formative years, and the use of these new weapons in time of war.
Malcolm Hall brings together a thoroughly researched history of military aviation in the pioneer years with a selection of images, some previously unpublished, showing the development of the flying machines, both lighter and heavier than air.
Author:
Malcolm Hall
Specs:
256 pages, 24 x 17 cm / 9 x 6.7 in, paperback
Illustrations:
159 b&w photos
Publisher:
Amberley Publishing (GB, 2010)
ISBN:
9781848689923
From Balloon to Boxkite - The Royal Engineers and Early British Aeronautics
The world's first independent air force, the Royal Air Force celebrates its centenary in 2018. In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the service has been involved in almost continuous operations around the globe, giving the RAF the longest and most wide-ranging history of any air force in the world. But over the years this history has also become entangled with myths.
"The Royal Air Force: A Centenary of Operations " sets the record straight, dispelling these as it uncovers - in both words and photographs - the true exploits and accomplishments of RAF personnel over the last 100 years. From its formation as an independent service in the dying days of World War I, its desperate fight against the Axis air forces in World War II, to its commitments during both the Cold War and modern times, this is the complete story of how the RAF has defended Britain for a century.
Author:
Michael Napier
Specs:
340 pages, 29 x 25 x 3.2 cm / 11.4 x 9.8 x 1.26 in, hardback
Ian Philpott presents us here with a compendium of facts, operational histories and photo illustrations, combined to create a comprehensive account of the early years of the Royal Air Force. Illustrated throughout, it features details of all military operations from 1914 to 1918 which impacted upon the organisation.
Also included are operational details of the Independent Bomber Force throughout 1918, a supplementary historical strand that is sure to appeal to Aviation enthusiasts with a taste for features of niche focus. Details of the airfields, landing grounds, seaplane bases and various other landmarks of this era are given, and readers are encouraged to use the work as a reference book, being as it is a weighty tome of encyclopedic scope.
Sure to make a welcome addition to any aviation enthusiasts library, this well-researched piece of work has been a long time in the making. Philpott brings his typical flare to the project, leaving no stone unturned when it comes to this dynamic, defining period of Royal Air Force history.
The Royal Air Force - An Encyclopaedia of the Inter-War Years (Vol. 1) : 1918 to 1929
The inter-war years between 1918 and 1939 saw the newly created Royal Air Force fighting for its very existence politically, being despatched to the remotest corners of the British Empire and its Protectorates in various policing roles and then finally engaged in a head-long rush to modernize in the face of the new German Fascist regime that was threatening British and European freedom. Yet this important period in RAF history and its effect on political and military rationale during the period has never been completely documented.
This exhaustive and comprehensive reference is the most detailed work to be published on the subject. The author gives full information on the changing structure of the Force during the period, squadron operations, political machinations and their effects, the aeroplanes and their equipment, the personnel, technical advances in navigation and breakthroughs achieved in engine performance. The book is cross-referenced throughout, extremely well illustrated and contains an abundance of location maps and other diagrams.
This book will become a Bible for anyone interested in the history of the RAF.
Author:
Ian M. Philpott
Specs:
600 pages, 25.5 x 19.5 x 3.3 cm / 10 x 7.7 x 1.3 in, hardback
Illustrations:
321 b&w photos, 163 drawings
Publisher:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd (GB, 2005)
ISBN:
9781844151547
The Royal Air Force - An Encyclopaedia of the Inter-War Years (Vol. 1) : 1918 to 1929
The Royal Air Force History - An Encyclopaedia of the Inter-War Years (Vol. 2) - Re-armament 1930 to 1939
Volume II of this mammoth reference work covers the years in which the League of Nations failed because of the emerging dictatorships in Germany and Italy and the expansionist policies adopted by Japan. Britain was still reeling from the consequences of World War I and the RAF was sadly far behind the other major world powers in aircraft design, still relying on bi-planes that were direct descendants of World War I thinking. It gradually became apparent that, despite UK government dithering, the RAF needed to develop new aircraft, engines and increase production to confront the bully-boy tactics of the Axis powers.
As the turn of the decade approached extraordinary measures were taken to enable RAF to defend Britain's skies and this her freedom. As with Volume 1, this book covers every conceivable part of the RAF's history through these pre-War days. It looks at the development and invention of new equipment such as radar, monoplane fighters, metal construction and the heavy bomber. This was an era when science in aviation was rushing ahead and fortunately for Britain's freedom, it laid the foundations of victory in 1945.
Author:
Ian M. Philpott
Specs:
500 pages, 25.5 x 20 x 3.2 cm / 10 x 7.9 x 1.26 in, hardback
Illustrations:
321 photos and 163 drawings
Publisher:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd (GB, 2006)
ISBN:
9781844153916
The Royal Air Force History - An Encyclopaedia of the Inter-War Years (Vol. 2) - Re-armament 1930 to 1939
RAF Coastal Command was founded in 1936 when the Royal Air Force restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands. The Command played a key role in the Allied Victory during the Second World War, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic. From a modest beginning, the Command blossomed into a powerful anti-submarine force when protecting Allied convoys from the German submarine force, while also protecting that shipping from attacks by the Luftwaffe. Equipped with legendary aircraft such as the Sunderland, Wellington, Catalina and Liberator, along with advances in radar technology such as the new Mark III ASV (Air-to-surface vessel), it was able to locate, attack and destroy an increasing number of U-boats that had fast become the scourge of the convoys.
By the end of the Second World War, Coastal Command had flown more than a million flying hours, completed 240,000 operations and destroyed 212 U-boats - but suffered an ever higher loss rate than Bomber Command with 2,060 aircraft lost, along with the lives of 5,866 personnel. Post-war, Coastal Command saw a significant rundown but still made a contribution to the Berlin Airlift. When equipped with the new Shackleton aircraft, their activities shifted to anti-submarine patrols against the Soviet Navy and other fleets of the Warsaw Pact, particularly in the Atlantic. In 1969, Coastal Command was absorbed into the newly formed Strike Command.
This book is illustrated with images from the Air Historical Branch - many of which have never previously been published.
Author:
Keith Wilson
Specs:
128 pages, 23 x 16 x 1 cm / 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.39 in, paperback
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