"Cowboys of the Sky" is a legendary saga of the military jackets and the heroes who immortalized them: Charles Lindbergh, Jimmy Doolittle, Herbert Fisher, Claire Chennault and his Flying Tigers, Charles "Chuck" Yaeger, General Patton, etc. A fabulous aerial western comes to life thorugh the history of American aviation, from the glorious era of "the pioneers of the sky" to those of "the Jet Age". For this important retracing of "the American leather dream", Gilles Lhote chose ascollaborator and technical advisor the most important specialist on U.S. flight jackets: Jeff Clyman, President of Avirex, USA> The company of this aviation fanatic ans war bird pilot has sold over 2.500.000 jackets, manufactures for the American Department of Defense and made the flight jackets used in such moves as "The Right Stuff" and "Top Gun". This book contains almost 800 photographs and original docuents, both period and contemporary, in color and black and white, an unparalleled photographic record of the most prestigious and unique bomber jackets on this planet, and their part in 20th century aviation history and folklore; a guide for the amateur, the collector and the just plain curious.
In Where the Hell Are the Guns?, author George Blackburn returns to the early years of the Second World War. This volume which completes Blackburns award-winning trilogy, extending its coverage to the entire war brings wartime Canada and England to life in captivating, often comic, detail. With the skill of a novelist and the instincts of a seasoned reporter, this gifted storyteller traces the evolution of Canadas 4th Field Regiment from a motley assortment of ill-equipped recruits to the cream of the Allied artillery, more than ready to distinguish itself in the maelstrom of the battle for Normandy.
The Second World War comes to a generation of Canadians one sunny September weekend in 1939. It is a Canada woefully unprepared for conflict, and 4th Field Regiment is rapidly assembled from a grab-bag of volunteers from all walks of life many of them mavericks and misfits from a depression-ravaged land. The regiment passes its first year in Canada in makeshift accommodation, including hastily converted stables and pigsties in the exhibition grounds of Ottawa and Toronto. For the first few months the soldiers must wear incomplete and moth-eaten uniforms from the Great War, and their early training is conducted using obsolete equipment or no equipment at all. One year into the war, the regiment arrives in England without weapons or vehicles, and a month later, with Britain moving toward the greatest crisis in her history, the regiment is finally equipped with guns French ones with wooden wheels, dating from 1898.
From these inauspicious beginnings, the regiment slowly evolves with mishap and occasionally mayhem along the way into a proud and polished regiment, which in 1942 is declared the best field regiment in Britain. By the time the Allied troops land on the beaches in Normandy, the boys of 4th Field are more than ready to go to war.
This highly informative and beautifully illustrated volume presents you not only with an overview of a century of powered flight and the key technical developments, but also with an explanation of fundamental aerodynamic principles. Setting events in their historical context, it examines each of the most important fighters in turn and tells of the individuals whose ingenuity and courage gave military aviation its extraordinary momentum.
Graphic War is a superb collection of top-secret drawings, including training manuals and colorful wartime posters, from World War II. They were brilliantly created from a few downed aircraft, but mainly from pilots' views of the enemy in the air, during missions.
Almost all of the material was originally listed as "restricted -- official use only" and previously unpublished in any form. The cutaway drawings of the aircraft and airborne weaponry were critical to the war efforts of Allied and Axis forces alike. As there was little intelligence available to pilots about the design, power and armament on opposing aircraft, these "graphic transcriptions" were essential.
Many of the graphic artists and technical illustrators employed by the Allies, and most employed by the Axis powers, remain anonymous. Their work survives on these pages, however, to provide rare and unique insight into war room strategy and the air- and ground-crew trainee classroom.
Aviation enthusiasts, modelers, illustrators, artists and anyone with an interest in World War II history will find Graphic War a compelling inside look at the war fought in the sky.
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