Aircraft Books (since 1945) - USA - US Air Force (USAF)

Early Jet Fighters : British and American 1944-1954 (Images of War)

In almost 200 archive photographs Leo Marriott traces the course of the development of British and American jet fighters during the first pioneering decade of their production.
In many ways the period from 1944 to 1954 was one of the most exciting and innovative in the history of military aviation. Rare images show the first jet fighters flown by the RAF towards the end of the Second World War and takes the story forward to the most advanced designs that played a key role in the war in Korea.

The range of experimental and operational warplanes that were conceived and built during this short time was remarkable. The initial straight-wing jets began with the Gloster Meteor and Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star which were later superseded by the first operational swept-wing fighters such as the Hawker Hunter, North American F-86 Sabre and Grumman F9F-6 Cougar.
Development of all these benefited greatly from German Second World War advances in aerodynamics that were exploited by the British and Americans when the war ended.

Progress was so swift that, by the mid-1950s, the prototypes of the next generation of truly supersonic fighters were starting to appear, and these are featured in Leo Marriott's fascinating selection of images.
He even includes a variety of prototypes which for various reasons did not result in production orders, as well as several unusual concepts such as flying boat fighters and mixed-power designs.

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US Military Helicopters - Rare photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)

The helicopter came on the scene too late to play other than a minor role in the Second World War but by the Korean conflict the Bell H-13 Sioux, OH-23 Raven and Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw were in service.

It was in Vietnam that the US military helicopters really came into their own and the best known were the Bell UH-1 Iriquois (known as the Huey), the Boeing CH-47 Chinook and the massive CH-37 Mojave. The USAF combat search and rescue Jolly Green Giant was indispensable.

Attack helicopters have evolved from the early Huey Cobra or Snake and the Boeing AH-64 Apache came into service in the late 80s when the Sikorsky UH-60 series became the military general purpose chopper.

All these formidable aircraft and many more are covered in detail in this superbly illustrated and comprehensive book.

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The 'C' Planes - US Cargo Aircraft from 1925 to the Present

Cargo aircraft are the backbone of today's military operations. From Operation Vittles to Operation Desert Storm, without the "C" planes the battles would have been lost.

This book is the definitive history of every cargo aircraft that displayed the American flag, from the commercial Douglas C-1 built in 1925, to the newest C-33 designation given to a potential commercial, off-the-shelf transport aircraft to supplement the C-17. The authors have attempted to trace the roots of each of the "C" aircraft.

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US Army Aircraft Since 1947 - An Illustrated Reference

This is the only comprehensive guide to the 124 aircraft and experimental flying machines used by the United States Army since 1947. The definitive reference source on its subject.

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AMARG: America's Strategic Military Aircraft Reserve

The United States military stores more than 4,000 aircraft in the Arizona desert at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Known as the "Boneyard," this facility is much more than a place where aerospace vehicles come to die. Here some aircraft are maintained in both short- and long-term storage, while others serve as a "parts inventory on the wing" holding valuable spare parts in known locations ready to be harvested, overhauled, and returned to the fleet when needed.
When an aircraft has yielded all the parts necessary to keep its brethren in the air, its carcass eventually meets the scrapper's torch.

AMARG's storage rows are home to massive fleets of F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 fighters, aerial refuelling tankers, C-130 and C-5 transports, helicopters of varying sizes, and bombers from the frontline B-1 to B-52s that are much older than the pilots flying them around the globe today.
Among the rows are special use aircraft including the AWACS, P-3 maritime patrol bombers, aeromedical evacuation aircraft, and reconnaissance planes that serve a variety of missions, along with celebrity aircraft such as MiG killers that dominated the skies in aerial combat.

As well as bringing the reader up to date with recent activities at AMARG, including the intake of new aircraft types, regeneration and the return to the fleet of aircraft formerly in storage, this book presents new, never-before-seen images that provide a visual tour of the Boneyard.

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