Short Sterling (WO 2): boeken - historie, techniek en inzet

Introduced in 1941, the Short Stirling was the Royal Air Force's first four-engine heavy bomber of the Second World War. However, early on, the Stirling's performance was compromised by several issues: a reduced wingspan, which resulted in serious limitations on maximum altitude capability; the two-stage landing gear proved to be dangerously frail; and the bomb-bay design proved incapable of carrying large-scale blockbuster bombs. Its altitude ceiling limitations left the aircraft particularly vulnerable to isolation and dispatch by enemy night fighters within the bomber stream, and it was these factors that ultimately led to its withdrawal from Britain's strategic bombing campaign over occupied Europe.

By November 1943, it was replaced by the more effective Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. However, it did see important second-line duty in the glider-towing, paratroop drop, minelaying, and supply roles. The Stirling also saw post-WWII duties as a passenger transport up to the late 1940s.

This book is a concise, visual history of this lesser-known RAF WWII bomber.

"Short Stirling: The First of the RAF Heavy Bombers" is dedicated to the RAF's first four-engine heavy bomber and is the culmination of an incredible thirty years' comprehensive research.

Illustrated with largely unpublished wartime photographs, it describes the design, construction and factories where Stirlings were produced. The men and women who built them relate their stories and the aircrews give their personal accounts of operating the Stirling.

A chapter is devoted to the training of aircrews and flying the Stirling is described in detail. Not forgotten is the work of RAF ground crews and maintenance units, often working outdoors in sub-zero conditions.
Then there are the civilian men and women who undertook repairs; little adulation was given for the vital work they achieved in rebuilding battle-damaged Stirlings.

The final transport version of the Stirling is featured both in its RAF and post-war civilian role and how it went full circle to become a bomber once more in the hands of the Egyptian Air Force.

Of the RAF's trio of four-engined heavy bombers in World War 2, the mighty Short Stirling was the first to enter service in August 1940. From its first raid in February 1941, the Stirling was at the forefront of the British night bombing offensive against Germany before unacceptably high losses forced its relegation to second-line duties later in the war.
In its modified form as the Mark IV the Stirling fulfilled vital roles with the RAF as a paratroop transport and glider tug on D-Day, at Arnhem and on the Rhine crossing as well as flying countless Special Duties operations over Occupied Europe and Norway.
Its last gasp was in 1948-49 when a handful of Mk Vs were acquired by the Royal Egyptian Air Force to bomb Israel in the First Arab-Israeli War.

Containing numerous first-hand combat accounts from the crews that flew the bomber and detailed profile artwork, "Short Stirling Units of World War 2" uncovers the history of one of the RAF's greatest World War 2 bombers.