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Spitfire Stories
- True Tales from Those Who Designed, Maintained and Flew the Iconic Plane
- Narrated by: Julia Barrie
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
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Spitfire Stories
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Publisher's summary
Contains exclusive sound clips from the Imperial War Museums archives.
Spitfire Stories, published in association with Imperial War Museums, is a fascinating anthology of firsthand stories from Spitfire heroes and heroines of the Second World War.
The Spitfire is the world's most iconic aeroplane. Coming into its own during the Battle of Britain, it became famous during the Second World War as the only plane that could match the enemy fighters in the sky.
Yet even today, the history of the Spitfire contains many hitherto hidden or little-known stories of the men and women behind the plane - not only the gifted creators and inventors who brought the Spitfire to life or the brave fighter pilots from many countries who triumphed in battle but also the thousands of other people whose lives were affected by their personal connection to it - engineers, ground crew, factory or office workers, and their families.
Spitfire Stories recounts the memories and stories of these people, from the birth of the iconic Spitfire in the 1930s to the present day. Among these accounts is the extraordinary tale of the fighter pilot who only discovered 50 years on the tragic truth of his last Spitfire flight, the businessman whose blank cheque changed the course of the war, the 95-year-old Royal Air Force engineer who was determined to be reunited with his beloved Spit before he died and the little girl who inspired the plane's creation - and went on to marry a movie star.
Using documents, letters and photographs from the Imperial War Museums' unparalleled archive, plus exclusive firsthand interviews, these stories of the Spitfire are a revelatory collection of small but significant histories, to be treasured by all who love and admire the iconic plane.
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By: Steve Snyder
-
Pathfinder Pioneer
- The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II
- By: Raymond E. Brim
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
In this engaging audiobook, we see how an 18-year-old miner shoveling ore from deep in the ground in Utah suddenly found himself, only two years later, 30,000 feet in the air over Nazi Germany, piloting a Flying Fortress in the first wave of America's air counteroffensive in Europe. Pathfinder Pioneer gives us vivid insights into the genesis of the American air campaign, told with the humor, attention to detail, and humility that captures the heart and soul of our Greatest Generation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Good Recounting of WW2 Bomber Missions
- By Sean on 07-25-17
By: Raymond E. Brim
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 606
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 557
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 555
In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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1 out of 5 stars
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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The Flying Tigers
- The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War Against Japan
- By: Sam Kleiner
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 503
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 443
Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This really happened.
- By Jason on 07-26-20
By: Sam Kleiner
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Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle
- By: Robert Morgan, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
As a young man growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Robert Morgan was a fast-driving party boy - a hell-raiser. But when his mother committed suicide upon learning she had inoperable brain cancer, Morgan's life changed dramatically. He was no longer a carefree playboy; he was a man searching for meaning. He found that meaning at the controls of an airplane, and in the flak-and fighter-filled skies over Occupied France and Nazi Germany.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Abridged Version = Butchered
- By Kyle on 01-03-17
By: Robert Morgan, and others
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 351
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 320
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 318
Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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The Unsubstantial Air
- American Fliers in the First World War
- By: Samuel Hynes
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the voices of the aviators themselves. A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great info poorly arranged
- By Joseph P. on 05-22-15
By: Samuel Hynes
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Vanished Hero
- The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet compelling, colorful, and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Performance for a Great Story!
- By Carter L. on 11-03-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II
- By: Philip Ardery
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
"The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account records one man's experience of World War II air warfare.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating...and true story
- By Loretta on 06-24-15
By: Philip Ardery
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Terror of the Autumn Skies
- The True Story of Frank Luke, America's Rogue Ace of World War I
- By: Blaine Pardoe
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 245
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 223
Frank Luke, Jr., was an unlikely pilot. In the Great War, when fliers were still "knights of the air", Luke was an ungallant loner, a kid from Arizona who collected tarantulas, shot buzzards, and boxed miners. But during two torrid weeks in September 1918, he was the deadliest man on the Western Front. In only 10 missions, he destroyed 14 heavily defended German balloons and four airplanes, a rampage unequalled even by the dreaded von Richtofen, and the second highest American tally of the entire war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Terror of the Autumn skies
- By K. Nelson on 11-25-19
By: Blaine Pardoe
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The German Aces Speak II
- World War II Through the Eyes of Four More of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders
- By: Colin D. Heaton, Anne-Marie Lewis, Dr. Dennis Showalter - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 303
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 271
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Story5 out of 5 stars 270
In The German Aces Speak II, Heaton and Lewis paint a picture of the war through the eyes of four more of Germany's most significant pilots, put together from numerous interviews personally conducted by Heaton from the 1980s through the 2000s. The four ex-Luftwaffe fighter aces bring the past to life as they tell their stories about the war, their battles, their off-duty lives, their lives after the war, and perhaps most importantly, how they felt about serving under the Nazi leadership of Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Too Slow!
- By zur45 on 05-01-20
By: Colin D. Heaton, and others
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The First Heroes
- The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
Immediately after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of vengeance: a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo itself. In those early days of World War II, America was ill-prepared for any sort of warfare. But FDR was not to be dissuaded, and at his bidding a squadron of scarcely trained army fliers, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, set forth on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Heroic Attempt
- By William on 07-20-04
By: Craig Nelson
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Deadly Sky
- The American Combat Airman in World War II
- By: John C. McManus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
This insightful chronicle takes listeners inside the experiences of America's fighter pilots and bomber crews, an incredible assortment of men who, in nearly four years of warfare all over the globe, suffered over 120,000 casualties, with over 40,000 killed. Their stories span the Earth, into every corner of the combat theaters in both Europe and the Pacific. And the aircraft explored are as varied, tough, and legendary as the men who flew them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Twelve O'Clock High Unabridged
- By Chiefkent on 05-23-17
By: John C. McManus
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Hell Above Earth
- The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill Him
- By: Stephen Frater
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Hell Above Earth tells an unforgettable story of two World War II American bomber pilots who forged an unexpected but enduring bond in the flak-filled skies over Nazi Germany. But there's a twist: one of them was related to the head of the Luftwaffe, Reich Marshal Herman Goering, and the other had secret orders from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to kill him if anything went wrong during their missions.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A very unusual story
- By David on 10-15-12
By: Stephen Frater
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Once They Were Eagles
- The Men of the Black Sheep Squadron
- By: Frank Walton
- Narrated by: David Randall Hunter
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
Marine Corps Fighter Squadron 214 was hastily organized in the field during World War II to meet the urgent need for another combat squadron in the South Pacific. The squadron, self-named the "Black Sheep", went on under the leadership of the swashbuckling "Pappy" Boyington to become the most famous in Marine Corps history. Now comes the true story of the Black Sheep Squadron and the men who wrote its record in the Pacific skies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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great insight at the leyendary squadron
- By Ernesto morales on 04-28-18
By: Frank Walton
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The Millionaires' Unit
- By: Marc Wortman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
The Millionaires' Unit is the story of a gilded generation of young men from the zenith of privilege: a Rockerfeller; the son of the head of the Union Pacific Railroad; several who counted friends and relatives among presidents and statesmen of the day. They had it all and, remarkably by modern standards, they were prepared to risk it all to fight a distant war in France.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Hard story to get into.
- By Craig Walker on 01-14-15
By: Marc Wortman
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Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 720
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 651
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 647
During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland