Showing titles in Air Forces

The airplane changed the course of history. Above all, it changed the history of the United States. When the Wright brothers invented their flying machine, Americans lived in a nation of two dimensions, circumscribed by lines drawn on a conventional map. A century later, their nation existed - in fact, reigned - in three dimensions. Two million Americans slipped the surly bonds of earth daily, carried aloft by aircraft operating in every part of the world.

Since he was a young boy, Joe Balzer dreamed of flying. He pursued his goal with passion and earned his pilot licenses, piling up hours of flight time with a wide variety of planes and jets with one overarching goal: to one day fly for a major airline. But Joe had a problem. He was an alcoholic and refused to admit to himself that he had a problem. His alcoholism caught up with him in March 1990, when Joe was arrested with two other pilots for flying a commercial airliner while under the influence of alcohol.

Generals during World War II usually stayed to the rear, but not Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor. During D-Day and the Normandy campaign, these commanders of the 82nd "All-American" and the 101st "Screaming Eagle" Airborne Divisions refused to remain behind the lines and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their paratroopers in the thick of combat. Jumping into Normandy during the early hours of D-Day, Ridgway and Taylor fought on the ground for six weeks of combat that cost the airborne divisions more than 40 percent casualties.

The Final Flight of Maggie's Drawers is the true story of Joe Maloney, a B-24 tail gunner during WWII. HIs story unfolds as he describes, in detail, life in the military, from living in a tent city to countless bombing runs over Nazi-held Europe.

On February 15, 1991, Captain Steve Phillis was leading his wingman, Lieutenant Rob Sweet, on their thirtieth combat mission of Desert Storm flying the A-10 Warthog. They were tasked with attacking Iraq's vaunted Medina Division of the Republican Guards—by far their most dangerous mission of the war.

This is the story of a pilot who flew the F-4, the F-105, the F-111, and the O-2 in defense of his country. In addition, he spent several years working on the ground with Army frontline forces as an air liaison officer, integrating airpower into the ground battle. Many people have asked what it feels like to fly jet fighters. In fact, most people have never flown in a small plane. With no relevant reference, it’s very hard to describe. They truly are missing the most incredible feeling of being airborne alone, among the clouds, looking down at the ground and feeling amazingly free.

Bloomsbury presents Coventry by Frederick Taylor, read by Leighton Pugh On 14 November 1940 the historic city of Coventry was subjected to the longest and most devastating air raid Britain had yet witnessed. After eleven hours of relentless bombardment by the German Luftwaffe, residents emerged...

Gathering more than a hundred personal narratives from Americans and from Japanese, Pacific Skies recounts a history of air combat in the Pacific theater. Together their stories express fierce individualism and resourcefulness and convey the vast panorama of war that included the skies over Pearl Harbor, Wake, and Guadalcanal and missions from Saipan and Tinian.

Diana Jean Schemo covered the Air Force Academy's sexual assault scandal in 2003, one of a series of academy embarrassments that have included drug use, rape complaints, and charges of evangelical officers pushing Christianity on cadets of all faiths. Today, the institution is in flux - a fascinating time to look at the changes being made and the experience of today's cadets. Schemo followed a handful of academy cadets through the school year. From the admissions process and basic training to graduation.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE BASIS FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A “riveting” (USA Today) true tale of courage during America’s “forgotten war” in Korea, from the author of A Higher Call and Spearhead “In the spirit of Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat comes Devotion...

The story of the United States Air Force (USAF) stretches back to aerial operations prior to the First World War and looks forward to a new era of airpower in space. Fighting from Above presents a concise account of this history, offering a new perspective on how the air forces of the United States created an independent way of warfare over time.

Ready For Takeoff–Stories from an Air Force Pilot recounts the extraordinary events of my ordinary Air Force career. From B-52 Cold War nuclear alert as a navigator, to wartime aerial refueling missions during Desert Storm and the Bosnian War, to flying General Tommy Franks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, my career intersected many moments in history. I began as a quiet navigator and rose to command an Air Force squadron tasked with flying our nation's commanding four-star generals and admirals. These stories represent the exploits of many proud Air Force servicemen and women.

A magnificent volume of short novels and an essential World War II report from one of America's great twentieth-century writers A Penguin Classic On the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath and at the height of the American war effort John Steinbeck, one of the...

The sensational true story of Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest flying ace At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies—the car and airplane—took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these...

Grasshopper Pilot gives long-overdue attention and credit to the crucial role these courageous men played in combat and adds valuable information to an understudied dimension of the war.

From Martin Dugard, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Killing series—with more than 12 million copies sold—comes a soaring account of England's desperate fight to fend off German invasion. Great Britain, summer 1940. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain...

Stephen E. Ambrose, acclaimed author of Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage, carries us into the skies of World War II aviation, flying aboard the crowded and dangerous B-24 bombers as their crews fought to destroy the German war machine and secured Allied victory. The young men who flew the...

The last battle of World War II was not for military victory but for the technology of the Third Reich. In American Raiders, Wolfgang Samuel assembles from official Air Force records and survivors' interviews the largely untold stories of the disarmament of the Luftwaffe and of Operation Lusty—the hunt for Nazi technologies.

After travelling across various airbases in India and engaging with Air Force personnel-including the first generation of Chinook or Prachand helicopter pilots, Garud Commandos, surface-to-air missile operatives and Kargil heroes-Swapnil Pandey presents a collection of true stories that are more...

Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp.