When war came to the island of Silau, south east of New Guinea, the pilots of a Royal Australian Air Force squadron laughed at two freakish-looking planes already operating there. “Pop” Onslow and his son, Willie, ran an air-freight business which used an ancient Vickers Virginia bomber and an odd little crate called a “Flying […]
In the air war over Russia Anton Pozetski found life dangerous and confusing. It was easy to identify the enemy — they were the Germans and they shot at you. However, it wasn’t so easy to identify your friends. For a start, the Political Commissar and the Squadron Commander were apt to stab you in […]
A Royal Navy destroyer is a formidable fighting unit — fast, well-armed and deadly. So when Pete Brandon was posted to join one in Rangoon, he was delighted. But what happened? Instead of joining the destroyer, he found himself on a little H.D.M.L. — a Harbour Defence Motor Launch! Well, he didn’t know it then, […]
“Gunboat Jim” was the nickname he earned in the end. But for a long time before that young Sub-Lieutenant Jim Potter was “Calamity Jim” to everyone. He could never take the wheel of one of the high-speed flotilla’s boats without running her slap-bang into trouble.
With the German Blitzkreig in full flow, retreating British forces were headed for the evacuation at Dunkirk. Meanwhile, Jimmy Campbell — a tough, impulsive Hurricane pilot who wasn’t so good at following orders — had ended up in the brig to teach him a lesson. His base overrun, Jimmy was determined to fight the enemy […]
At the controls of his trusty Airco DH2 biplane, Lieutenant Andrew Maxwell of the Royal Flying Corps was used to duelling with German pilots high above the trenches. However, after being shot down and taken prisoner by a deranged, sword-wielding enemy officer, Andrew soon wondered which type of duel was more dangerous – in the […]
Sergeant Alek Pavlikov had hardly any flying hours under his belt but still felt ready to join in the fight against the Luftwaffe in the battle for supremacy of the skies above Kursk. His dreams of heroism were soon overtaken by a dawning realisation that a surprising number of his fellow rookies were dying on […]
They twisted and turned all over the sky, the two pilots trying to pull every trick in the book to be the one who drilled in the final killing burst. This was no ordinary dog-fight…for both aircraft carried the colours of the Royal Air Force. Something very odd was going on to have a Spitfire […]
The other pilots sneered and joked about it…the day of shame when they called Jim Black yellow. But Jim wasn’t laughing, and neither would any other pilot accused of cowardice and kicked out of the squadron. He’d just have to prove them wrong, even without an aircraft…
A veteran of the battle to defend Malta in 1942, Flight Lieutenant Jim Newman remembered barely surviving against Italian Macchi 200 aircraft. A couple of years later, when promoted to Squadron Leader in the Balkan Air Force – a multinational unit based in Yugoslavia and fighting the Luftwaffe – the Englishman was less than pleased […]
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