Air forces & warfare Books

This book is in brilliant colour, with many photographs. Discover what it was like to be in the professional, close-knit team that was the RNZAF Air Combat Force. Whether in the flying units at Ohakea and Nowra, or in the support units at Ohakea and Woodbourne, they were true professionals, ...

From the earliest beginnings of powered flight, aviation has played a vital role in the developement of New Zealand and its interactions with the rest of the world. This book tells that story in stunning photographs sourced from the world's best photographers and chosen to show our journey from the ...

New Zealanders were among the world's first aviators, with our geography and location making the prospect of flight an attractive one for our people and our nation. It comes as no surprise then that tens of thousands have served in not only the Royal New Zealand Air Force but in numerous air forces ...

 This Volume is the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War and was originally published in 1955 by the Department of Internal Affairs, Government of New Zealand. This is a reprint of that original title, which was printed in the United States of America 199...

This book marks the 75th anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It traces the broad sweep of the air force from the early twentieth century to the first decade of the 21st, and extends beyond the romance of early military aviation and the drama of World War Two to describe the diversity of ...

This gripping history has been written using the diaries, letters, photographs and personal reminiscences of members of 488 Squadron, who were based just outside Singapore City and valiantly kept planes in the air against Japanese attacks until just before the city was overwhelmed. The story of thei...

While the fighter aces in their Hurricanes and Spitfires have had their WW2 exploits well celebrated, most of us know much less about the contribution made by thousands of New Zealanders who fought and died in what proved to be one of England's most potent weapons - Bomber Command. In this detailed ...

Following on from his bestselling 'Fighter Boys', in this very different book, Patrick Bishop looks back at the lives, human realities and the extraordinary risks that the painfully young pilots took during the strategic air-offensive against Germany from 1939--1945. In 'Fighter Boys' Patrick Bishop...

Acclaimed historian Antony Beevor vividly brings to life the epic struggles that took place in Second World War Crete The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that th...

The Henschel Hs123 was a single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft flown by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of World War II. Used also by Spain and China, it was the first combat aircraft flown by the famous combat ace Adolph Galland. Th...

Douglas A-4 E/F Skyhawks in Marine Service is the companion volume to Naval Fighters Number Fifty-One. Douglas A-4 E/F Skyhawks In Navy Service. The Navy volume contains 41 pages of development, aircraft description details and drawings, as well as 19 pages of armament details and drawings that pert...

Almost from the very beginning, Douglas had suggested to the Navy that a two-seat version of the Skyhawk would be useful, both as a trainer as well as for some types of combat missions where a second pair of eyes might be useful. These requests had always been turned down by the Navy out of budgetar...

The popularity of the fighter aircraft used in World War II is huge in New Zealand, as evidenced by the enormous crowds that turn up for events such as Warbirds over Wanaka - over 80,000 people attended the 2010 event. New Zealand is extremely lucky that there are a wide range of airworthy WW II-era...

The new book from the author of the bestselling and much-loved Seabiscuit. On a May afternoon in 1943, a bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young ...

The inside story of the modern Royal Australian Air Force and its people in an action-packed period of air power from East Timor and the Bali bombings to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ian McPhedran takes us on another exclusive journey, this time to the heart of the RAAF through personal stories...

Auschwitz survivor and philosopher Victor Frankl wrote: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. While on one level a collection of moving personal histories of Kiwi airmen saved ...

In his bestselling Night after Night, Max Lambert wrote about New Zealanders in Bomber Command. In this long-awaited companion volume, he features their daytime counterparts - fighter pilots who fought in Europe, Asia and the Pacific during World War Two. From the mid-1930s to 1945, young New Zealan...

In the summer of 1940 the fate of Europe hung in the balance. Victory in the forthcoming air battle would mean national survival; defeat would establish German tyranny. The Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the RAF, but during the Battle of Britain it was the RAF that emerged triumphant, thanks to two k...

Soldier, Sailor and Airman Too is a comprehensive history of the life and career of Group Captain A.B. Woodhall. His story provides a unique slice of British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Airforce history, spanning both World Wars and finishing in New Zealand. Not only can his story be read as a biogra...

The essential guide to the world's aircraft Over 500 color photographs Civilian and military aircraft Technical data Recognition silhouettes Aircraft markings identification guide

'My fingers close around the trigger. I pause for a split second to think about the bullets I am about to spray across the ground. After today, I'll no longer be the new girl.' Captain Charlotte Madison is blonde, beautiful and flies Apache helicopters for a living. She has completed two tours of du...

Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top ...

At the beginning of 1918 the great aces seemed invincible. Flying above the battlefields of the Western Front, they cut a deadly swathe through the ranks of their enemies, as each side struggled to keep control of the air. Some were little more than boys when they started to fly, yet they were respe...

They were the best of enemies - dedicated, skilled and deadly. In the night skies above wartime Germany an RAF navigator-bomber from New Zealand and a Luftwaffe pilot seek out their targets, testing the gap between success and their own destruction as they cross each other's paths. The odds are heav...

Two months before the outbreak of the Second World War, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF. Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately...

The entry of the United States premier jet interceptor into the Korean War was triggered by the ever-increasing presence of the Soviet-built MiG-15 south of the Yalu River. The possibility of the USAF losing air supremacy over the Korean Peninsula was unacceptable. The 4th Fighter Wing got the call ...

"Eighth Air Force" received glowing reviews in hardback alongside Patrick Bishop's "Bomber Boys" - 'They complement each other superbly, encapsulating the best modern scholarship on the subject', said Andrew Roberts in "The Times". It reprinted quickly, and has sold ste...

This large format hardback is heavily packed with information on the Ju87 Stuka. Highly illustrated, it represents a comprehensive, detailed reference work to be used by enthusiasts and modellers for 'one-stop' ease of access to information to one of the most well known aircrafts of Word War 2. The ...

The heroic efforts of RAF Fighter Command in 1940 are deeply ingrained in the public consciousness, but the role of Bomber Command in the Battle of Britain period remains largely overlooked. Bomber Command was feeling its way, torn between its pre-war plans for the Strategic Air Offensive, meeting t...

'Fly is an absorbing read thanks to the amazing and previously untold stories Veitch collected from aging pilots, navigators and gunners.' HERALD SUN All over the world during World War II, thousands of young men who had never so much as been near an aeroplane left offices, farms and classrooms t...

The story of the unsung heroines who flew the newest, fastest, aeroplanes in World War II -- mostly in southern England where the RAF was desperately short of pilots. Why would the well-bred daughter of a New England factory-owner brave the U-boat blockades of the North Atlantic in the bitter winte...

A global survey of modern warfare, from the first fervid days of the French Revolution of 1789 to the bloody stalemate that ended the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. In the modern era, warfare entered a new phase. Technological innovation yielded evermore destructive weaponry, international communications...

In early 1970, the Commanding Officer of 22 SAS flew into the strategically critical Sultanate of Oman on a covert intelligence mission to monitor a Communist rebellion threatening the Arabian Peninsula. Within six months, the Regiment arrived in theatre to lead a fierce, secret war against the rebe...

USMC/USMCR/USNR Douglas A-4A/B Skyhawks is he companion volume to Naval Fighters Number Forty-Nine, the Douglas A-4A/B Skyhawk in Navy Service. The Navy volume contains 61 pages of development, aircraft description details and drawings, that pertain to Marine A-4A/Bs. Although much fewer Marine squa...

On D-Day, Dick Winters took off with 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and prepared to parachute into German-held north France. Ground troops landing on Utah beach were relying on Easy Company to secure one of the causeways that were vital if the troops were to get off the beaches and reach the soli...

An updated and extended version of the now-out-of-print Volume 12 in the highly acclaimed Classic Warbirds series, this new book tells the stories of ten Australian and New Zealand pilots in WW2, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes based in Britain, the Middle East and the China/India/Burma theatre of w...

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to ...

The covert, clandestine operations of the Special Air Service (SAS) regiment, from the jungles of Malaya, Borneo and Brunei to the deserts and mountains of the Middle East and Afghanistan have always been the focus of intense fascination, stoked by the regiment's 'closed' organization and secretive ...

The first heroes of the air. Rewriting the rules of military engagement and changing the course of modern history as a result, the pioneering airmen of the First World War took incredible risks to perform their vital contribution to the war effort. Fighter Heroes of WWI is a narrative history that ...

The Dambusters raid is an unforgettable event in British military history and has passed into legend. On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bomber crews gathered in the dusk at RAF Scampton. Their brief was to fly at night across occupied Europe and drop specially designed 'bouncing' bombs at a mere 60...