Air Forces

Masters of the Air is the riveting history of the American Eighth Air Force in World War II, the story of the young men who flew the bombers that helped bring Nazi Germany to its knees, brilliantly told by historian and World War II expert Donald Miller....

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. Malcolm Gladwell reexamines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time....

From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies....

They began operations out of England in the spring of '43. They flew their Flying Fortresses almost daily against strategic targets in Europe in the name of freedom....

The inside story of the most expensive and controversial military program in history, as told by those who lived it....

In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down....

Clean Sweep is a vivid narrative history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in 1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany....

In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal....

The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower....

There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly and so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway....

From New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes the gripping, untold story of a vital secret mission set during the darkest days of the Second World War.

The incredible true story of John "Lucky" Luckadoo, who survived 25 missions as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot in WWII....

The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, soon to be featured in the upcoming Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air....

Devotion tells the inspirational story of the U.S. Navy’s most famous aviation duo, Lieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, and the Marines they fought to defend. A white New Englander from the country-club scene, Tom passed up Harvard to fly fighters for his country....

The dramatic account of one of America's most celebrated - and controversial - military campaigns: the Doolittle Raid....

By the end of 2018, fewer than 400,000 WW II veterans will still be with us, out of the over 16 million who put on a uniform. But why is it that today, nobody seems to know these stories? Listen to find out more....

Concorde is an enthralling personal account of what it takes to fly planes faster than the speed of sound, and of the events that lay behind 114 needless deaths—the 113 victims of the crash and, ultimately, Concorde herself....

The firebombing of Tokyo. Strategic Air Command. John F. Kennedy. Dr. Strangelove. George Wallace. All of these have one man in common—General Curtis LeMay, who remains as enigmatic and controversial as he was in life. Until now....

You do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot....

The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior—a deep reconnaissance scout and attack aircraft—was legendary to those it supported. Regularly flying mere feet off of the ground while intentionally drawing enemy fire, almost everyone called Kiowa pilots crazy....

Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II....

Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth....

In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way....

Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were crippled....

A gripping chronicle of the band of maverick aviators who signed on for the suicidal, dangerous top-secret "Wild Weasel" missions during the Vietnam War....

On 17 December 1903, Wilbur Wright watched his brother, Orville, fly a biplane a distance of one hundred and twenty feet over the dunes of North Carolina. While obtaining an altitude of only twenty feet, their flying machine, powered by a twelve horsepower engine, accomplished a remarkable feat. In just twelve seconds, their “Flyer” broke the barrier of powered human flight. In less than twenty years, major world powers integrated the new technology into their militaries. In Great Britain, Hugh Trenchard predicted the airplane would transform warfare. From 1914 to 1945, Trenchard ...

Embark on an extraordinary journey with young heroes who fled their Hitler-occupied homeland to become WWII pilots. Facing scarcity and peril, they ventured across Europe, ultimately reaching England, where they valiantly served in the military. Some paid the ultimate price, while the survivors returned home as war heroes. However, their freedom was short-lived. Communist Czechoslovakia subjected them to persecution, humiliation, and imprisonment. “The aircraft stopped reacting to the pilot’s flying controls and headed toward unavoidable death. The drops of cold sweat appeared on ...

The legendary ‘Red Devils’ were among the finest combat troops of the Second World War. Created at Churchill’s instigation in June 1940, they began as a single parachute battalion of 500 men and grew into three 10,000-strong airborne divisions: the 1st, 6th and 44th Indian, each composed of parachutists and glider-borne troops. Wearing their distinctive maroon berets, steel helmets and Dennison smocks, they served with distinction in every major theatre of the conflict and played a starring role in some most iconic airborne operations in history.

In Marshall's Great Captain, author Kathy Wilson details Andrews's extraordinary life and career. The first biography dedicated to the namesake of Joint Base Andrews, this book sheds a light on Andrews's crucial role in orchestrating US involvement in WWII, as well as the professional relationship between Andrews and Marshall. Wilson raises Andrews's legacy to its legitimate place within the annals of both air power and WWII history and posits that there is a high probability that Andrews was Marshall's first choice for the office of Supreme Allied Commander.

Sent to France with the Royal Flying Corps at just 17, and later a member of the famous 56 Squadron, Cecil Lewis was an illustrious and passionate fighter pilot of the First World War, described by Bernard Shaw in 1935 as 'a thinker, a master of words, and a bit of a poet'. In this vivid and spirited account the author evocatively sets his love of the skies and flying against his bitter experience of the horrors of war. We then follow his progress from France and the battlefields of the Somme to his pioneering defence of London against deadly nighttime raids.

The P-38 National Association wants to put YOU in the cockpit of the greatest combat airplane of World War II with remembrances of the P-38 Lightning as told by the people who were there. This book is a very easy read, with over 200 pages of short stories compiled from the archives of the P-38 National Association membership publication, "Lightning Strikes." The book "P-38 Lightning: Unforgettable Missions of Skill & Luck" contains some of the most dramatic, heart-wrenching and humorous stories as told by the combat pilots, ground crews and other personnel who had hands-on experiences with ...

Beyond the Horizon: The Declassified History of the CIA’s Office of Special Activities at Area 51 invites readers into a concealed world where innovation, secrecy, and ambition seamlessly intertwine, revealing the unrecounted narratives and unveiled mysteries of America's most enigmatic military base. In the sequestered expanses of the Nevada desert, Area 51 silently veils its secrets beneath layers of history and silent machinations. This mysterious base, obscured by both physical desolation and governmental silence, emerges as the nerve center for the CIA’s Office of Special ...

Amid the Cold War, a top-secret mission unfolded within the hidden confines of Area 51. It was 1978 when the United States acquired its first Soviet MiG-23, codenamed FLOGGER by NATO. This enigmatic aircraft became the centerpiece of an ambitious operation orchestrated by the CIA, DIA, US Air Force, US Navy, and the covert CIA's EG&G Special Projects team. Assigned the classified US military plane designator YF-113, the MiG-23 was transported to the heart of America's most secretive facility, Area 51. Project HAVE PAD, a successor program to the MiG-21 Fishbed, and a series of previous MiG ...

The ability of the US Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the US victory over Japan in WWII. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded.

Liz McConaghy spent a total of seventeen years flying with the RAF’s Chinook Fleet. Aged just 21, she was the youngest aircrew member to deploy to Iraq and was also the only woman on the Chinook wing for four years. In her astounding career, Liz McConaghy completed two deployments to Iraq followed by ten deployments to Helmand province in Afghanistan in support of the enduring Operation Herrick campaign.