Weapons & equipment 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 ...

October 27, 1962, a day dubbed Black Saturday in the Kennedy White House. The Cuban missile crisis is at its height, and the world is drawing ever closer to nuclear apocalypse. As the opposing Cold War leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, mobilize their forces to fight a nuclear war on la...

This book is a military collectors dream. An extensive photographic reference of equipment used by the New Zealand Army from 1910-1945. Equipment from operational deployments in Samoa, Gallipoli, France, Belgium, Palestine, Home Service, Egypt, Pacific, North Africa and Italy. Over 500 photos! Speci...

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...

Covers Land Rover Series III Truck, Utility, half-ton, 4X4, vehicles with 12 & 24 volt electrical equipment.

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...

This is an illustrated history and comprehensive directory of tanks around the world, with over 700 photographs. It offers an illustrated catalogue of tanks from every corner of the world, including tanks used in World Wars I and II, tanks from the inter-war years and the powerful modern fighting ma...

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...

Heart-pounding real-life tales from the military's most experienced snipers From the peaks of Afghanistan's Hindu Kush to the subtropical marshes of south central Iraq, American snipers have braved heart-pounding situations to hit their human targets dead-on. Few military feats stir the imaginati...

This book is filled with pictures of rare, strange and unusual guns, firearms and other weapons. Lewis Winant was a major dealer and collector of firearms. He assembled here more than 300 pieces. The many strange and freakish gun fabrications that are shown in this book are a tribute to man's invent...

With the outbreak of World War II, Britain's Royal Navy and her fleet of battleships would be at the forefront of her defence. Yet ten of the twelve battleships were already over twenty years old, having served in World War I, and required extensive modifications to allow them to perform a vital ser...

The First World War saw the birth of an extraordinary fighting machine that has fascinated three generations: the tank. In Tank Men, ex-soldier and military historian Robert Kershaw brings to life the grime, the grease and the fury of a tank battle through the voices of ordinary men and women who li...

Following on from the success of "Out of Nowhere: A History of the Military Sniper", Martin Pegler gives us an in-depth study of the emergence of American rifleman, sharpshooter and sniper, examining the evolution of the rifle in America from the earliest firearms of the 15th century, to t...

The US Marine Corps has been a key part of the US presence in a host of combat zones. While sharing some weapons systems with the other US Forces, the Marine Corps has developed its own distinctive approach to matters of dress, personal equipment and armament. The most important trends are a new gen...

The advent of combined arms operations in World War II created the need for specialized armoured vehicles. In the case of amphibious attacks, the issue arose of how best to land tanks on a beach. Although a variety of specialized landing craft were developed, the Dieppe raid in 1942 encouraged the d...

The Webley .455in service revolver is among the most powerful top-break revolvers ever produced. First adopted in 1887, in various marques it was the standard-issue service pistol for British and Commonwealth armed forces for nearly fifty years; later versions in .38in calibre went on to see further...

Most belligerents entering World War II armed their infantry with bulky and ineffectual anti-tank rifles as their primary means of combating tanks. US planners realized that what infantrymen needed was a relatively lightweight, man-portable anti-tank weapon that was simple to operate, accurate, and ...

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 ...

This is a technical outline of the history of the sniper rifle, from its introduction in warfare during the Napoleonic wars, through the US Civil War to its current apogee as the most frequently used combat rifle in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book details the development of ammunition, different wea...

In the early 14th century, a new weapon entered the arsenals of European armies. This first generation of black powder weapons put fear into the heart of the enemy and in 1453 Ottoman cannon succeeded in pummelling the once-impregnable walls of Constantinople. But cannons, which are both slow and cu...

The Browning 50-cal has become the longest serving weapon in the US inventory. The fifty has been employed in every imaginable role for a machine gun. It is considered such an effective and reliable weapon that few countries ever attempted to develop an equivalent weapon. Even the Japanese created a...

The Thompson submachine gun, or Tommy gun developed an almost iconic status during the 20th century. It had an unusual beginning, for it was developed during the dying days of World War I as a 'one-man, hand-held machine gun'. The war ended before these first prototypes could be shipped to Europe bu...

Here for the first time in one place is everything you need to know about modern military combat. Drawn from dozens of the U.S. Army’s well-written field manuals on every conceivable aspect of conducting combat operations, this huge compendium contains everything for any combatant anywhere&mda...

The story of New Zealanders at war and in peace - a personal story, the real story, told through the collections and recollections of those men and women who were there, and illustrated from the resources of the QEII Army Museum. The history of New Zealand is intertwined with the history of her army...

By the outbreak of World War II, Germany had done much to replace the Kaiser's High Seas Fleet, which was scuttled following the German surrender at the end of World War I. Forced to build her fleet anew, although small, the Kriegsmarine possessed some of the most modern and technically innovative w...

Written by a soldier of independent mind, this work pushed forward the evolution of land warfare and was directly responsible for German armoured supremacy in the early years of World War II. Published in 1937, the result of 15 years of study since his days on the German General Staff in World War I...

With a new Introduction by the author, the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic about how the atomic bomb came to be.In rich, human, political, and scientific detail, here is the complete story of the nuclear bomb. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly--or have...

August 5th 2005. On a secret mission to an underwater military installation thirty miles off the coast of Kamchatka, Russian Navy submersible AS-28 ran into a web of cables and stuck fast. With 600 feet of freezing water above them, there was no escape for the seven crew. Trapped in a titanium tomb,...

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...

The AK-47, or 'Kalashnikov', is the most abundant and efficient firearm on earth. It is so light it can be used by children. It has transformed the way we fight wars, and its story is the chilling story of modern warfare. C. J. Chivers' extraordinary new book tells an alternative history of the worl...

The essential work, fully revised in 2009 . . . This is the fourth fully revised edition of a book first published in 1970. This longevity is testimony to its enduring value as a reference work-indeed, 'Colledge' (as the book is universally known) is still the first stop for anyone wanting more inf...

The development of the most famous Italian World War II fighter plane is described and illustrated in this book. Combining the agility and excellent flying characteristics of the earlier MC.200 with a powerful German aero-engine, the Folgore was the best Italian fighter in large-scale service. It s...

The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbour to VJ Day. With its unusual twin-boom design, this was one of the most distinctive fighters of World War 2, and saw action in all theatres of the war, being especially effect...

The Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun (German for 'typhoon') was a German single-engine sports, touring and communications aircraft developed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Works). The experience gained by Messerschmitt in developing this aircraft led to the most important German fighter o...

This book offers over 70 pages of profiles and views of the bright and often gaudy colour schemes and markings applied to RAF aircraft used in the Training Role from the end of World War One and the creation of the RAF in April 1918 until the end of World War Two in May 1945. The aircraft types and ...