Billy Bishop Lone Wolf Hunter: The RAF Ace Re-Examined by Peter Kilduff, Grub Street, London, 2014, $39.95 The dean of World War I aviation biographers, Peter Kilduff, has outdone himself with a very difficult subject, examining the career of Canadian hero William Avery “Billy” Bishop. Kilduff’s work is distinguished here by his judgment when balancing …
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Images of Aviation Series Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, S.C., $21.99 This roundup covers several new books by a company busy creating an invaluable niche aviation book market. Arcadia Publishing accomplishes this via subjects no major book publisher would typically bother to cover. Even though the potential market is small, these books are vitally important, for …
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Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, Casemate, Havertown, Pa., 2014, $32.95 You might think of Air Group 15 as the fortunate culmination of a process that began with the first carrier battles of the Pacific War, which turned the tide in the Pacific in 1942, and continued …
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Learning on the fly, the Nineteenth Air Force laid the foundation for modern expeditionary forces. Moving entire U.S. Air Force units across continents and oceans requires an intricate dance involving dozens of aircraft, hundreds of people and thousands of supplies. Amateurs need not apply. Today aerial deployments to far-flung locations are considered a matter of …
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The Breguet 14 wasn’t World War I’s fastest, most maneuverable or best-looking biplane, but it soldiered on long after more iconic aircraft had disappeared. To the untrained eye, World War I biplanes—essentially collections of wood, canvas and wires—appear hopelessly fragile. But looks can be deceiving, especially in the case of the Breguet 14. Though Louis …
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Jean Batten put New Zealand on the map during aviation’s Golden Age, then faded into obscurity. FOR HER 26TH BIRTHDAY ON SEPTEMBER 15, 1935, Jean Batten treated herself to a brand-new Percival D.3 Gull Six. The low-wing Gull had a 200-hp Gipsy 6-cylinder engine and auxiliary fuel tanks, giving it a cruising speed of 150 …
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After Hans-Ulrich Rudel ended his combat career by purposely crash-landing on an American airfield, the defiant Nazi refused to surrender. Early on May 8, 1945, the most decorated German soldier of World War II, Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel, wing commander of mann,” learned from the German high command that the war had ended. He was told …
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