The C-47 units of the USAAF were an integral part of some of the most dramatic episodes of World War II (1939-1945): the airborne assaults in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, southern France, Operation Market Garden and the crossing of the Rhine. The mass fratricide off Sicily, the night drop for D-Day and the Bastogne supply missions are also covered, along with more typical accounts of training, formation flying, airdrops and casualty evacuation missions. This book details an aircraft that remains a popular favourite and an acknowledged design classic, carrying out missions every bit as...

C-47 is an aircraft that remains a popular favourite and an acknowledged classic design, carrying out missions every bit as strategically important and as dramatic for the aircrew as those of the fighters and bombers. The C-47's wartime operations paved the way for post-war military air transport. It also demonstrated how the USAAF was able to invest in and carry out a mission that it had not devoted much time to preparing for in terms of pre-war doctrine (in contrast to strategic bombing). In addition to linking theatres (by flying across 'the Hump'), it showed how vital it was to operations...

The task of implementing an effective US policy and cementing Afghani rule is hampered by what Isby sees as separate but overlapping conflicts between terrorism, narcotics, and regional rivalries, each requiring different strategies to resolve. Pulling these various threads together will be the challenge for the Obama administration, yet it is a challenge that can be met by continuing to foster local involvement and Afghani investment in the region This paperback edition includes a new 2011 afterword by the author.