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| raf servicing commandos: A History of the RAF Servicing Commandos Jeff Davies, J Pete Kellett, 1989 |
| raf servicing commandos: Spectacles, Testicles, Fags and Matches Tom Atkinson, 2004 Spectacles, testicles, fags and matches was a ritual used by Serving Commandos after doing anything they called 'hairy'. It was a completely non-religious act, but strangely comforting. From the jungles of Burma to the foggy plains of Germany, the RAF Servicing Commandos were the men who kept the most advanced aircraft of the RAF flying. Yet there has been very little written about them. Historians, up to today, are surprised to learn of their existence and astonished to learn of their activities. But without these SC Units the RAF would have had great difficulty in providing close cover for the forward troops and the fighter planes would have spent less time in action.These elite Units serviced and maintained, re-armed and re-fuelled, repaired and recovered the front line aircraft on which so much depended, and did it all immediately behind the most forward troops. They are, surprisingly, the Forgetten Men. This is their story. |
| raf servicing commandos: Commandos and Rangers Major Tim Saunders, 2012-07-25 In the dark days of 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill showed his belief in ultimate victory by ordering the raising of the elite Commandos to break the intolerable shackles of defeat. Having proved their worth in numerous raids and operations in the Mediterranean they and their American counterparts, the Rangers, were automatic choices for the most demanding and vital missions of the D-Day Landings in June 1944. These included the capture of key ports, enemy coastal defenses and the securing of vulnerable open flanks. rnrnThe tasks allotted to the Rangers included the seizure of Pointe du Hoc while No 4 Commando took the port of Ouisterham and 47 Royal Marine Commando that of Port-en-Bessin. These daring actions and many others are vividly described in this superb book written by a highly experienced battlefield tour expert and the author of many acclaimed guide books. Indeed each chapter concludes with invaluable tour notes for those who wish to visit these historic sites. It was only thanks to thorough planning, specialist training, inspiring leadership and, above all, the courage of the men involved that these missions were successfully achieved but at great cost. |
| raf servicing commandos: Commando General Richard Mead, 2016-11-30 Always marked out for high rank, Robert Laycock came into his own when selected to raise 8 Commando, a new ‘crack’ unit early in the Second World War. After training, 7, 8 and 11 Commandos were sent to the Middle East in early 1941 and all became Layforce under Laycock’s command. Layforce was disbanded after Crete fell. Laycock took part in the abortive raid on Rommel’s HQ. As commander of the Special Service Brigade Laycock played an important role in the Sicily landings and at Salerno. In October 1943 he succeeded Mountbatten as Chief of Combined Operations, coordinating combined services operations and training and attending Allied conferences. In later life Laycock became Governor of Malta and Colonel of the SAS. In this long overdue biography, the author reveals the detail of this fine soldier’s character and superb military record. |
| raf servicing commandos: Commando Despatch Rider Raymond Mitchell, 2009-04-03 “A year of a man and his motorcycle during WW2 . . . The guy was catapulted from teenager to soldier in a few short bounds.” —War History Online In 1944, Ray Mitchell landed in Normandy with his unit 41 Royal Marine Commando. His role in bringing the Third Reich to its knees was that of despatch rider. Often operating alone in totally unfamiliar and hostile terrain, he and his motorbike delivered vital messages to forward units. This is a fighting soldier’s account of war—warts and all—and describes in vivid terms his and his fellow commandos’ experiences and emotions. Over the next ten months the commandos were in the thick of the action in France, the Low Countries and Germany itself. Of particular note was the amphibious landing on the Walcheren Peninsula where the beleaguered German garrison fought fiercely to deny the Allies the vital port of Antwerp. Raymond Mitchell’s vivid memoirs of life and war on the road will be of interest to both military and motorcycling enthusiasts. “A delightful account of life in battle and between battles. It is by turns gripping, exciting, colourful, authentic and human.” —Firetrench “It is a richly detailed account and would be worthy of mention if it were just that of an ordinary infantryman’s experience, but it is all the more valuable as the lot of the despatch rider has never received much attention.” —The Pegasus Archive |
| raf servicing commandos: Commandos in Exile Nicholas van der Bijl, 2008-10-30 Formed from members of Free Forces who had escaped from German occupation, 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando was one of the most unusual units in WW2. All members had to pass the Green Beret commando course at Achnacarry in Scotland and the book begins by describing this training. With no less than six national troops, plus X Troop drawn from exiled Jews, 10 Commando never fought as an entity but loaned troops for specific operations, such as One Troop (French) taking part in the Dieppe Raid, 2 Troop (Dutch) fighting at Arnhem, 5 Troop (Norwegian) raiding the Lofoten Islands etc. At other times groups played a key intelligence role questioning POWs, translating captured documents, conducting reconnaissance patrols and intelligence gathering on the D-Day beaches. The history of X Commando, made up of escaped Jewish individuals is especially interesting.The book also reviews the growth of post-war national Commando forces. |
| raf servicing commandos: RAF in 100 Pictures Keith Wilson, 2018-07-15 An alternative insight into what has really impacted on the RAF in its first century. Profusely illustrated with images from the Air Historical Branch. |
| raf servicing commandos: A Dirty Swindle Walter Stephen, 2020-04-24 Walter Stephen provides an uninhibited look at the misery and toil of World War I through a collection of twelve stories. Providing a Scottish perspective, he takes a look at reports from home and abroad with scepticism, delving deeper to unveil the unencumbered truth. Recalling Siegfried Sassoon's words, Stephen reveals the failures of those in command as the Great War became known as A Dirty Swindle. The varied accounts chronicle the progress of troops from recruitment to training to the frontline, as well as revealing a side of Field Marshal Haig never seen before. |
| raf servicing commandos: Constant Vigilance Nigel W.M. Warwick, 2014-09-19 The RAF Regiment was created in the early years of World War II for the active dedicated defense of RAF airfields and installations. This book concerns the Regiments operational history in South-east Asia Command and draws on the diaries and recollections of the men who served in that theatre. It is strongly supported by maps and diagrams from official records. The Regiment played a vital and significant role in the two major battles for Burma, Imphal and Meiktila. The struggle at Imphal ranks alongside Stalingrad and Alamein in its significance for the defeat of the Axis. From humble beginnings, the Regiment in Burma had by 1945 become a highly-trained specialist ground force capable of defensive and offensive action. The successes of the 14th Army were founded on the support of the transport, fighter and bomber squadrons. The RAF could not have done this as effectively without the confidence that its airfields and vital installations were safe under the constant vigilance of the RAF Regiment. |
| raf servicing commandos: The Mediterranean and Middle East: The campaign in Sicily 1943, and the campaign in Italy, 3rd September 1943 to 31st March 1944 Ian Stanley Ord Playfair, 1954 |
| raf servicing commandos: Tangmere Reginald Byron, David Coxon, 2013-11-19 The complete history of the Royal Air Force fighter station that played a vital role in D-Day, the Battle of Britain and throughout WWII. In its day, RAF Tangmere was one of the most famous and strategically important fighter stations in the British Isles. At the outbreak of World War II, it sent the first RAF squadron to France. During the Battle of Britain, Tangmere was one of the main fighter stations constantly engaging with the deadly Luftwaffe. Tangmere’s Hurricane and Spitfire pilots heroically defended southern England for the next three years and turned increasingly to an offensive role. Squadrons at Tangmere were involved in Operation Jubilee and the combined raid on Dieppe. They harassed the enemy across the Channel with ever-increasing accuracy—a practice that led to their pivotal role in Operation Overlord, the Normandy landings. As the cold war set in, Tangmere was no longer well positioned as an interceptor station and by the end of 1958 Fighter Command had withdrawn its last squadron. It was eventually decommissioned in 1970, but lives on as the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Expertly told with use of official diaries and operations records, this is the definitive history of RAF Tangmere. |
| raf servicing commandos: Sustaining Air Power Trevor Stone, 2017-11-07 Draws on 25 years of original and exhaustive researchRichly illustrated with many previously unpublished photographsContent and style will appeal to a wide readership The Royal Air Force is the world’s oldest independent air arm, yet little has been written about its logistics. This ground-breaking book, which draws on 25 years of original archival research, opens the hangar door on this highly important discipline that has been at the forefront of supporting British air power since 1918. Written by a former senior RAF logistics officer and supplemented by material from veterans and currently serving military personnel, Sustaining Air Power: Royal Air Force Logistics since 1918 explores the fascinating development of RAF logistics. This journey, just short of a century, explores the inter-war years, Second World War, Cold War and the major campaigns the service has been involved in since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. The main narrative ends in 2014 with the RAF’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Dedicated chapters consider the more specialist aspects of logistics such as tactical and expeditionary logistics, fuels and explosives, transport, training, information technology and how the RAF has managed its extensive supply chain. Richly illustrated, its content and style will appeal to a wide readership. |
| raf servicing commandos: Airmen Behind the Medals Graham Pitchfork, 2015-08-10 Of the many human characteristics, few evoke greater admiration and respect than gallantry in the service of one's country. Here, Graham Pitchfork describes the outstanding bravery of twenty-one air men who served in the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. These accounts encompass most theaters of operation as well as a host of aircraft types and aircrew categories. Accounts of the gallantry of those who served on the ground in support of flying operations are also relayed in this substantial anthology. rnrnThe book explores the gallantry of airmen who fought in a variety of contexts, including that band of men who are so often forgotten, the Burma veterans. A gallant RAF sergeant and an RAF doctor who cared for and inspired fellow prisoners in Japanese camps are both included here, as are stories relating the extreme bravery of a Fleet Air Arm pilot, a Pathfinder pilot and a Typhoon wing leader.rnrnThe valorous acts of these airmen serve as inspirational examples to a new generation of flying men and women. Graham Pitchfork extracts the drama and poignancy of their tales, enlivening them to great effect in this riveting publication that is sure to appeal broadly to enthusiasts of the era.Links End Links Author End Author |
| raf servicing commandos: Taranto David Hobbs, 2020-11-30 “If you only read one book on the development of the Fleet Air Arm and Naval air warfare in the Mediterranean during World War 2 then this should be it.” —Military Historical Society After the Italian declaration of war in June 1940, the Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft were a critical element of an unprecedented fight on, over and under the sea surface. The best-known action was the crippling of the Italian fleet at Taranto, which demonstrated how aircraft carriers and their aircraft had replaced the dominance of battleships, but every subsequent operation is covered from the perspective of naval aviation. Some of these, like Matapan or the defense of the “Pedestal” convoy to Malta, are famous but others in support of land campaigns and in the Aegean after the Italian surrender are less well recorded. In all these, the ingenuity and innovation of the Fleet Air Arm shines through—Taranto pointed the way to what the Japanese would achieve at Pearl Harbor, while air cover for the Salerno landings demonstrated the effectiveness of carrier-borne fighters in amphibious operations, a tactic adopted by the US Navy. The author’s years of archival research together with his experience as a carrier pilot allow him to describe and analyze the operations of naval aircraft in the Mediterranean with unprecedented authority. This provides the book with novel insights into many familiar facets of the Mediterranean war while for the first time doing full justice to the Fleet Air Arm’s lesser known achievements. “A full and fascinating story.” —Clash of Steel |
| raf servicing commandos: Air Battle for Burma Bryn Evans, 2016-11-30 After a long series of crushing defeats by the apparently unstoppable Japanese air and ground forces, the eventual fight back and victory in Burma was achieved as a result of the exercise of unprecedented combined services cooperation and operations. Crucial to this was the Allies supremacy in the air coupled with their ground/air support strategy.Using veterans firsthand accounts, Air Battle For Burma reveals the decisive nature of Allied air power in inflicting the first major defeat on the Japanese Army in the Second World War. Newly equipped Spitfire fighter squadrons made the crucial difference at the turning point battles of the Admin Box, Imphal and Kohima in 1944. Air superiority allowed Allied air forces to deploy and supply Allied ground troops on the front line and raids deep into enemy territory with relative impunity; revolutionary tactics never before attempted on such a scale.By covering both the strategic and tactical angles, through these previously unpublished personal accounts, this fine book is a fitting and overdue tribute to Allied air forces contribution to victory in Burma. |
| raf servicing commandos: Wings of the Phoenix Great Britain. Air Ministry, Great Britain. Central Office of Information, 1949 Covers the air war in Burma from the Royal Air Force point of view. Gives a detailed account of the RAF's efforts from the defeats of 1942 to final victory in 1945. Covers the pairing of land and air forces and comments upon Wingate's efforts to further success against the Japanese in this war front. |
| raf servicing commandos: D-Day 1944 (4) Ken Ford, 2011-01-01 A highly illustrated and detailed study of the Gold and Juno Beaches Landings Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, was the greatest sea-borne military operation in history. At the heart of the invasion and key to its success were the landings of British 50th Division on Gold Beach and Canadian 3rd Division on Juno Beach. Not only did they provide the vital link between the landings of British 3rd Division on Sword Beach and the Americans to the west on Omaha, they would be crucial to the securing of the beachhead and the drive inland to Bayeux and Caen. In the fourth D-Day volume Ken Ford details the assault that began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. |
| raf servicing commandos: The Invasion of Sicily 1943 Jon Diamond, 2017-08-30 The decisive WWII campaign that brought Italy to its knees is vividly captured in this in-depth photographic history. With victory in North Africa complete, the Allies had a choice. The Americans wanted an early cross-channel attack from Britain on Northwest Europe. Churchill favored invading the soft underbelly of Italy to weaken the Axis forces and gain Italian surrender. With Eisenhower’s army and battle-hardened Eighth Army in North Africa, Churchill prevailed. The ambitious Operation HUSKY required meticulous planning. While the outcome was never in doubt, the mountainous terrain acted in the defender’s favor. While Montgomery's Eighth Army and Patton's Seventh landed successfully, the air landing proved costly. The German presence was higher than expected and the vast bulk of the enemy were Italian. The strategic plan was successful: the Italian capitulated, Hitler had to reinforce his Southern flank—relieving pressure on the Soviets—and valuable lessons were learned by Allied for D-Day. |
| raf servicing commandos: Sand and Steel Peter Caddick-Adams, 2019-04-22 Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West. Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's plans to make Europe impregnable-plans not completed by June 6. Sand and Steel reveals precisely what lay in wait for the Allies. But the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, personal testimony and interviews, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's gripping book, published on the 75th anniversary of the events, does Operations Overlord and Neptune full justice. |
| raf servicing commandos: Invasion Airfields Winston Ramsey, 2017-08-30 In his 1945 report to the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff on the success of Operation ‘Overlord’, the Supreme Commander General Eisenhower wrote that on the morning of June 9 I was able to announce that for the first time since 1940, Allied air forces were operating from France, and that within three weeks of D-Day, 31 Allied squadrons were operating from the beach-head bases. In their forecasts for the first three months following D-Day, the planners plotted the number of the advanced landing grounds that would be required in Normandy to support the Allied air forces up to September 1944. Using maps and aerial photographs, individual sites were surveyed and plans drawn up so that when each location was captured, either US Aviation Engineers, the Royal Engineers or RAF Airfield Construction Wings, could move in without delay to begin work to build them. This book tells the story of every airfield that became operational by D+90, explaining the methods used to construct them and the units that flew from them. The vast majority of the temporary airstrips have now been returned to the farmland from which they came, but by using engineers’ plans from the period and modern aerial photographs, we have portrayed the sites in true After the Battle fashion: as they were then and as they are today. |
| raf servicing commandos: The Battle of Normandy 1944 Robin Neillands, 2013-10-17 A fresh and incisive examination of one of the Second World War's crucial campaigns, the battle for Normandy in the months after D-Day. What happened to the Allied armies in Normandy in the months after D-Day, 1944? Why, after the initial success of the landings, did their advance stall a few miles inland from the beaches? Why did the British take so long to capture Caen? Why did the US infantry struggle so much in the bocage south of Omaha beach? Who was right about the conduct of the land campaign - Eisenhower or Montgomery? How did the Germans, deprived of air support, manage to hold off such a massive Allied force for more than two months? And if Enigma was allowing the Allies to read German battleplans, why did things go wrong as often as they did? THE BATTLE OF NORMANDY re-examines the demands and difficulties of the campaign and sheds new light on both with the aid of accounts from veterans on both sides. (Oral history forms a large part of the book.) It also analyses in detail the plans and performance of the commanders involved: Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Montgomery, Crerar and, of course, Rommel. Controversial and at times catastrophic, the Battle of Normandy was the last great set-piece battle in history and is long overdue for reassessment. |
| raf servicing commandos: Rotterdam – 91 Day Far East Cruise Kalman Dubov, 2022-01-02 Volume 2 continues the saga of this incredible 91-day voyage across European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern ports. High points of this book reviews ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India, all in the Far East. We then journeyed to Oman and Jordan, visiting al-Aqabah and Petra. We then journeyed through the Suez Canal to Italy, Corsica, then to ports in Spain, to Southhampton, England, and finally to the city of Rotterdam, where we had first begun the journey. As in Volume 1, I review the history of each stopping point, reflecting on its unique culture and people, while visiting local sights of wonder. This journey was for me as a kind of vast exploration of the world, a way to share this time with others. I hope I've done justice to the experience. It changed my outlook in life as I ponder the vastness of humanity across the span of a vast territory. |
| raf servicing commandos: Spitfire Manual 1940 Dilip Sarkar, 2010-02-15 How to fly the legendary Spitfire fighter plane in combat using the manuals and instructions (pilot notes) supplied by the RAF during the Second World War. |
| raf servicing commandos: Spitfire Down Dilip Sarkar, 2022-09-15 Profoundly moved by the stories of wartime casualties as a child, Dilip Sarkar has since spent a lifetime reconstructing the lives of many of the fallen and is passionate about recording and sharing this very personal hidden history. In Spitfire Down he explores the stories of thirteen pilots who failed to return, all killed, either in action or flying accidents, while a fourteenth, Flying Officer Buck Casson, was brought down by a German ace over France and captured. There is, for example, the virtually unknown story of ‘The Baby of the RAF’, Sergeant Geoffrey Painting. Posted to fly Spitfires with 118 Squadron at RAF Ibsley in Hampshire, Painting was hit by flak during an attack on enemy shipping off Cherbourg on 30 September 1941. Still listed as missing, at just 17, he is believed to have been the youngest RAF pilot killed during the Second World War. The author has reconstructed Painting’s short life with help from his family, and forensically deconstructed that last flight with the help of the now late Wing Commander Peter Howard-Williams DFC, who was flying with the teenage pilot that day. The author also explores the heart-rending story of an American trainee fighter pilot, Pilot Officer ‘Jim Bob’ Lee, whose Spitfire collided with a Wellington bomber over Gloucestershire – resulting in the loss of all airmen involved. Two Canadian pilots perished on Pen-y-Fan, the highest peak in South Wales. The multi-national effort that defeated Hitler is further emphasised, in fact, through the stories of both Wing Commander Piotr Laguna and Flying Officer Franek Surma. But perhaps most tragic of all is how lightning struck Joan Welch twice: her first fiancée, Flight Lieutenant Lester Sanders DFC, was killed test-flying Spitfires in 1942, and her second, Pilot Officer Ian Smith, was killed flying in Palestine in 1945. Using correspondence, diaries and other personal papers of the pilots concerned, the author has reconstructed their all-too brief lives and provided a lasting and profusely illustrated record of these sacrifices. |
| raf servicing commandos: Kawanishi H6K ‘Mavis’ and H8K ‘Emily’ Units Edward M. Young, 2024-08-15 An illustrated account of the little-known operations of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's flying boat units during World War 2. Respectively codenamed the 'Mavis' and 'Emily' by the Allies, Japan's H6K and H8K flying boats outstripped their RAF and US Navy counterparts. The 1941 outbreak of war in the Pacific and Southeast Asia saw these remarkable aircraft carry out offensive missions across vast tracts of ocean and employ their unique capabilities to escort convoys and serve as transports between Japan's island bases. However, while the technical details of the H6K and H8K are well known in the West, this important new study marks the first English-language account of their wartime operations. Utilizing newly translated Japanese war diaries, as well as Allied intelligence and combat reports, celebrated Pacific War expert Edward M. Young reveals the full story behind the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's flying boat units. Contemporary photos and 22 colour profiles bring new dimensions to this fascinating area of Japanese military history, vividly illustrating the pivotal roles of 'Emily' and 'Mavis' in events including the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway and the fighting in the Aleutians and the Bismarck and Solomon Islands. |
| raf servicing commandos: Spitfire Ace of Aces Dilip Sarkar, 2011-07-15 The biography of the RAF's top fighter pilot, Johnnie Johnson, who shot down more enemy aircraft than any other pilot during the Second World War. |
| raf servicing commandos: A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945 Christopher Shores, Giovanni Massimello, Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk, Winfried Bock, 2016-08-05 The third volume in the epic military aviation series focuses on the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II. This work of WWII history takes us to November 1942 to explain the background of the first major Anglo-American venture: Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. Describing the fratricidal combat that followed the initial landings in Morocco and Algeria, it then considers the unsuccessful efforts to reach northern Tunisia before the Germans and Italians could get there to forestall the possibility of an attack from the west on the rear of the Afrika Korps forces, then beginning their retreat from El Alamein. The six months of hard fighting that followed, as the Allies built up the strength of their joint air forces and gradually wrested control of the skies from the Axis, are recounted in detail. The continuing story of the Western Desert Air Force is told, as it advanced from the east to join hands with the units in the west. Also covered are the arrivals over the front of American pilots and crew, the P-38 Lightning, the Spitfire IX, and the B-17 Flying Fortress—and of the much-feared Focke-Wulf Fw 190. The aerial activities over Tunisia became one of the focal turning points of World War II, yet are frequently overlooked by historians. Here, the air-sea activities, the reconnaissance flights, and the growing day and night bomber offensives are examined in detail. |
| raf servicing commandos: Three's Company Jack T.C. Long, 2005-03-30 No 3 Squadron was formed at Larkhill in 1912 from the No 2 (Aeroplane} Company under the command of the famous Major Robert Brooke-Popham. More importantly the squadron was the first in the RFC to be equipped with fixed-wing aircraft. Thereafter the squadron distinguished itself in both World Wars, its battle honors including Mons, Neuve Chappelle, Loos, Somme 1916, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, The Battle of Britain, Normandy and Arnhem. More recently it has seen service in the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq, and has just returned from Afghanistan. No 3 Squadron have recently been nominated to operate the Eurofighter Typhoon. This book is a highly-illustrated history of the Squadron's operations throughout its history. The rare photographs have been collected by the author over many years and the text includes firsthand accounts from the Squadron archives. This book is the ultimate record of one of the world's oldest and proudest military flying units. |
| raf servicing commandos: Heroes of the Skies Michael Ashcroft, 2012-09-13 Since the dawn of aerial combat in the First World War, the heroism of the men who put their lives at risk in the air has known no bounds. There were no more heroic airmen than the fighter pilots and bomber crews of the Second World War - men who sacrificed their own lives in order to save their crew or who, although in extreme pain, managed to get their aircraft home rather than risk becoming PoWs. In telling the stories of more than eighty such men, Heroes of the Skies paints a picture of aerial combat from the First World War right through to Afghanistan, and allows us to celebrate the extraordinary feats of our flying heroes. |
| raf servicing commandos: The Royal Air Force Medical Services Samuel Cuthbert Rexford-Welch, 1954 |
| raf servicing commandos: Wings at War Series United States. Army Air Forces, 1945 |
| raf servicing commandos: Forward Air Bases in Europe from D-Day to the Baltic Trevor Stone, 2024-01-18 The largely sea-borne invasion of Northern France in June 1944, Operation Overlord, is acknowledged as one of the key actions which hastened the end of the Second World War. The RAF played a vital part in the landings. It then supported the subsequent advance of Montgomery’s 21st Army, and the Allies as a whole, through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany. Following the breakout from the Normandy bridgehead in early August 1944, the RAF’s Second Tactical Air Force moved forward in support of the troops, occupying a number of temporary airfields as it went. The ground support for this operation was complex, a situation that was exacerbated by the fact that much of it had to be highly mobile. The advance, however, was rapid and soon ran into problems as the supply lines grew longer by the day. The planners had envisaged that capturing the Belgian port of Antwerp would eventually enable them to bring in vitally needed supplies much further north on the Continent. Although the city and its port were liberated in September 1944, the port’s route to the sea along the River Scheldt was still controlled by German forces. It took nearly three months until this was resolved, and the port opened for business. Until then, in the RAF’s equivalent of the US Army’s famed ‘Red Ball Express’, it was some 300 miles by road from Normandy with the Second Tactical Air Force largely reliant on the Army for transporting its needs. For an air force needing large volumes of fuel and ammunition, demand soon began to outpace supply. A number of emergency measures were put in place to keep the aircraft operational, which saw the RAF resorting to the use of its heavy bombers to fly in supplies. Even when Antwerp was up and running, supplying the Second Tactical Air Force remained a hand-to-mouth affair right through until the enemy’s surrender in May 1945. In Forward Air Bases in Europe from D-Day to the Baltic the author explores the challenges of supporting a mobile air force in those uncertain days as Hitler’s forces were retreating to their homeland. As the Allies found, things can go badly wrong when thinking loses touch with the art of the possible – logistics. In the end, miraculously, it worked, but it was a close-run thing. |
| raf servicing commandos: Wings at War Series: The AAF in northwest Africa , 1992 |
| raf servicing commandos: Wings at War Series, No. 1-6: The AAF in northwest Africa, an account of the Twelfth Air Force in the northwest African landings and the Battle for Tunisia Center for Air Force History (U.S.), 1945 Wings at War Series, No. 6 Commemorative Edition. Originally written and published by Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Office of Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, in the 1940s. Focuses on the critical second front that secured the Mediterranean and increased the enemy's vulnerability to a massive invasion from Britain. From this experience of the Twelfth Air Force and its British counterparts in 1942-43 evolved a spirit of Anglo-American cooperation and important aspects of air doctrine |
| raf servicing commandos: Wings at War Series , |
| raf servicing commandos: Royal Air Force, 1939-1945: The fight avails, by D. Richards and H. St. G. Saunders Denis Richards, 1953 |
| raf servicing commandos: Air Force Journal of Logistics , 1996 |
| raf servicing commandos: Royal Air Force Quarterly and Commonwealth Air Forces Journal , 1942 |
| raf servicing commandos: Special Operations in World War II Andrew L. Hargreaves, 2013-10-28 British and American commanders first used modern special forces in support of conventional military operations during World War II. Since then, although special ops have featured prominently in popular culture and media coverage of wars, the academic study of irregular warfare has remained as elusive as the practitioners of special operations themselves. This book is the first comprehensive study of the development, application, and value of Anglo-American commando and special forces units during the Second World War. Special forces are intensively trained, specially selected military units performing unconventional and often high-risk missions. In this book, Andrew L. Hargreaves not only describes tactics and operations but also outlines the distinctions between commandos and special forces, traces their evolution during the war, explains how the Anglo-American alliance functioned in the creation and use of these units, looks at their command and control arrangements, evaluates their impact, and assesses their cost-effectiveness. The first real impetus for the creation of British specialist formations came in the desperate summer of 1940 when, having been pushed out of Europe following defeat in France and the Low Countries, Britain began to turn to irregular forces in an effort to wrest back the strategic initiative from the enemy. The development of special forces by the United States was also a direct consequence of defeat. After Pearl Harbor, Hargreaves shows, the Americans found themselves in much the same position as Britain had been in 1940: shocked, outnumbered, and conventionally defeated, they were unable to come to grips with the enemy on a large scale. By the end of the war, a variety of these units had overcome a multitude of evolutionary hurdles and made valuable contributions to practically every theater of operation. In describing how Britain and the United States worked independently and cooperatively to invent and put into practice a fundamentally new way of waging war, this book demonstrates the two nations’ flexibility, adaptability, and ability to innovate during World War II. |
| raf servicing commandos: Hawker Typhoon Richard Townshend Bickers, 1999 The Hawker Typhoon became the epitome of ground-attack aircraft in World War II. During the invasion of Europe it was used to great effect as the Allied troops advanced from the English Channel to Berlin. This is a collection of first-hand accounts from operational pilots of the Hawker Typhoon. |
Royal Air Force - Wikipedia
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. [8] It was formed towards the end of the First World War …
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For over a hundred years the Royal Air Force has defended the skies of Britain and projected Britain’s power and influence around the world. We work with our UK and international …
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The Road Accident Fund (RAF) provides appropriate cover to all road users in South Africa, compensating persons injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents.
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The history of the Royal Air Force | RAF Benevolent Fund
Mar 28, 2025 · The Royal Air Force is the oldest independent air force and has been defending the British skies for more than 100 years. In this hub, you'll find details about the history of the …
Aircraft - Royal Air Force
Find out about the RAF's active aircraft and where and how we use them. Profiles of all the RAF's active aircraft - role, capability, specifications, recognition, history, current squadrons and …
Royal Air Force Mildenhall > Home
U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Korell, 100th Operations Group commander, renders a salute to Airmen during his change of command ceremony at RAF Mildenhall, England, June 10, 2025. This …
Royal Air Force - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Air Force (acronym: RAF) is the air force of the United Kingdom. The RAF began in 1918 [1] when the Royal Flying Corps (pronounced core) and the Royal Naval Air Service …
List of Royal Air Force operations - Wikipedia
This following list of Royal Air Force operations includes both national and multi-national operations, as well as joint and air-only operations that the Royal Air Force has participated in. …
Royal Air Force - Wikipedia
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. [8] It was formed towards the end of the First World War …
Royal Air Force | Home
For over a hundred years the Royal Air Force has defended the skies of Britain and projected Britain’s power and influence around the world. We work with our UK and international …
Home | Road Accident Fund - RAF
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) provides appropriate cover to all road users in South Africa, compensating persons injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents.
Royal Air Force (RAF) | Facts, History, & Aircraft | Britannica
5 days ago · Royal Air Force (RAF), youngest of the three British armed services, charged with the air defense of the United Kingdom and the fulfillment of international defense …
RAF Recruitment | Find Your Role - Royal Air Force
Whether a full time regular or a spare time reserve the RAF has loads of roles for you to choose from including Apprentice, Graduate and Rejoiner roles.
The history of the Royal Air Force | RAF Benevolent Fund
Mar 28, 2025 · The Royal Air Force is the oldest independent air force and has been defending the British skies for more than 100 years. In this hub, you'll find details about the history of the …
Aircraft - Royal Air Force
Find out about the RAF's active aircraft and where and how we use them. Profiles of all the RAF's active aircraft - role, capability, specifications, recognition, history, current squadrons and …
Royal Air Force Mildenhall > Home
U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Korell, 100th Operations Group commander, renders a salute to Airmen during his change of command ceremony at RAF Mildenhall, England, June 10, 2025. This …
Royal Air Force - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Air Force (acronym: RAF) is the air force of the United Kingdom. The RAF began in 1918 [1] when the Royal Flying Corps (pronounced core) and the Royal Naval Air Service …
List of Royal Air Force operations - Wikipedia
This following list of Royal Air Force operations includes both national and multi-national operations, as well as joint and air-only operations that the Royal Air Force has participated in. …
