Consolidated B-24 Liberator: boeken - historie (3/3)

An informative and personal account of a young man's flying experiences during WW2. Growing up in York, shaped by the threat of war-Jack Colman achieves his long held desire to become a pilot, joining the RAF in October 1940 just after his 21st birthday.
He is sent to Canada to learn to fly and becomes intrigued by the technical and practical aspects of flying and navigation. Becoming a Pilot/Navigator, he joins Costal Command on Liberators based in Iceland.

The practical difficulties of flying over the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans protecting the convoys and hunting U-boats are relived as he battles with atrocious weather and navigational uncertainties.
His brushes with death whether due to mechanical failure, hitting the sea, U-boat gun fire or running out of fuel, in an ever changing hostile environment are described realistically and calmly (often with humour), situations helped by a confidence in the good advice given by others, his knowledge, skills and a trust in his crew.
When training he hears about the death of his father, on leave he finds time to fall in love and marry.

This book on USN and USMC bomber units of the Second World War, is the story of U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing Seven (FAW-7) and the men who flew the Navy version of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber out of Dunkeswell and Upottery, England during World War II.

Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator squadrons were unlike their counterparts in the U.S. Army's 8th Air Force, who battled their way through thick flak and swarms of German fighters while flying to and from targets in continental Europe. The job of U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator aircrews was to keep German U-boats from successfully operating in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel by going out day after day, often in miserable weather conditions, on unrelenting search and destroy missions.

During the war, FAW-7 Liberators were responsible for the sinking of five U-boats and damaging many more.

Provides a gripping and detailed account of RAF Liberator missions against the Japanese in Asia. British and Commonwealth aircrews displayed great gallantry in many instances on low-level precise bombing sorties destroying specific targets, including a great number of bridges constructed by the Japanese in their conquest to reach India.

A number of detailed accounts are based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrews. 159 Squadron was the first four-engine heavy bomber squadron that flew from India and operated over Burma. They instigated greater accuracy in destroying a multitude of vital targets.

The legendary film The Bridge over the River Kwai (1957) evokes images that are historically set in celluloid; however, that blockbusting film had separated fact from fiction and this book examines the true events that took place through 'Bridge Busting', including techniques developed and deployed by the RAF against the Japanese.

Features:
- Referenced from operational flying log books written by aircrews during the Second World War
- Provides a detailed examination of the Japanese military administration and occupation of Burma
- Provides the true account of the destruction of the infamous bridge over the River Kwai
- Profusely illustrated with rare and unpublished photographs.

The work of the RAF's 100 Group remains one of the least known aspects of the 1939-45 war. Even less has been written about the specifics of day-to-day electronic warface operations and the countermeasures employed.
This book, the result of many years meticulous research by Squadron Leader Richard Forder RAF (Ret'd) redresses the balance by focussing on one the heavy units, 223, and its sister units at RAF Oulton, Norfolk.

Equipped with former USAAF Liberators, they operated from August 1944 to the end of the European war, with a primary role of protecting Bomber Command Main Force ops by radio and radar countermeasures against German defences.
By analysing original documents and recording first hand accounts from both sides of the conflict, including those of Main Force personnel, Forder and Bond present a complete, detailed and valuable picture of the secret and vital activities of the special operatives, and their effect on German defences.