Castles in the Air is a re-issue of one of the classic titles of military literature. It recounts the story of the B-17 Flying Fortress crews of the US 8th Air Force--the men and the planes that provided the main punch in the daylight strategic bombing offensive against Nazi Germany from 1942-45. This revealing book recreates, in the words of surviving aircrew members, the tension and terror of their sorties deep into enemy air space. There is a wealth of personal narrative and first-hand information.

This new edition has been re-written and updated by the author, Martin W....

The Boeing B-17 has come to epitomise the American war effort in Europe during World War II (1939-1945), the huge four-engined heavy day bomber taking the fight to Germany from the late summer of 1942 through to VE-Day. The primary operator of the Flying Fortress in Western Europe was the 'Mighty Eighth'. This volume, which is the first of two dealing exclusively with the 'Mighty Eighth', covers the 15 Bomb Groups of the First Air Division, each of which controlled four squadrons. The evolution of the force is traced through first-hand accounts of those individuals that took part in the...

The Boeing B-17, which has come to epitomise the American war effort in Europe during World War II (1939-1945), took the fight to Germans from the late summer of 1942 through to VE-Day. Its primary operator in Western Europe was the 'Mighty Eighth', who controlled 27 bomb groups for much of the war. This second of two volumes covers the 14 Bomb Groups of the Third Air Division. First hand accounts, period photography, profile artworks and nose art scrap views bring to life aircraft from each of the groups within the Third Air Division.

The B-17 saw combat in the Pacific from the moment a formation of these bombers arrived at Pearl Harbor during the midst of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack. By the end of World War II (1939-1945), SB-17 rescue craft were saving combat crews in the waters off Japan. This book reveals why, to the public, the Flying Fortress was better known than the Spitfire, the Boeing 747, or Lindbergh's Spirit of St Louis. The name recognition enjoyed by the B-17 was that company's reason for creating B-17 Steak Sauce and Osprey's reason to round out the saga of this great wartime aircraft.

Truly an example of engineering ingenuity born out of the desperation of war, the legendary 'all-wooden' Mosquito was perhaps the best twin-engined fighter-bomber of its size to see action in World War II (1939-1945). The first bomber variant to enter service was the B Mk IV, initial examples of which were issued to No 2 Group's No 105 Sqn at Swanton Morley, in Norfolk, in November 1941. Considerably faster than the unit's previous Blenheim Mk IVs, powered by inline rather than radial engines, and made of wood instead of metal alloy, the Mosquito initially proved a challenging mount for both...

The Phantom was developed for the US Navy as a long-range all-weather fighter and first flew in May 1958. It became operational in 1961. The US Air Force then realized that the Navy had an aircraft that was far better than any tactical aircraft in their inventory and ordered 543 F-4C variants. There then followed a spate of overseas orders from around the world. In Britain, it was ordered for the Navy and Air Force, but was modified to take the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan. One of the Naval Phantoms stole the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, a record that stood until taken by the...

The story in words and pictures, many of them never before seen, of the U.S. 8th Air Force fighter and bomber groups of the 1st, 2nd and Third Air Divisions 1942-45. Many first person stories tell what combat was like in the skies in the ETO against the Luftwaffe Gruppes of Bf 109s and Fw 190s and the B-17 Flying Fortresses and B -24 Liberators. Many first hand accounts detail the frenetic missions that were fraught with flak and fighters as the U.S. Strategic Offensive reached into the deepest parts of the Reich. Also told are stories from the Luftwaffe experten who opposed the bomber fleets...

Much has been written about the Mosquito, but this book features the young pilots and navigators who carried out daring operations against targets in Europe. Their stories are as compelling today as they were over sixty years ago at the height of World War II. The Mosquito was for many the perfect synthesis of power and beauty and arguably the most versatile of all Allied aircraft built during the Second World War. Yet three times the Mosquito project was deleted from Britain's future military plans, only to fight its way into the air and turn in performance figures that left fellow aircraft...