Air-To-Ground Battle For Italy [Illustrated Edition]


Book Description

Includes over 20 Illustrations. The story of a young fighter pilot from basic training through the end of the war in Europe, this short memoir is a welcome addition to the literature of World War II aviation. It is noteworthy for a number of reasons. It illuminates the world of tactical aviation, which has taken a backseat to stories of strategic bombing and air superiority combat...Perhaps most importantly, it combines the immediacy of contemporary impressions with the reflections possible after a long and distinguished Air Force career. Michael C. McCarthy was part of the first wave of young Americans who joined up in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. His peer group...arrived at the North African front in the spring of 1943 as part of an enormous bow wave of American human and industrial mobilization. His account of flight training is one of the best available anywhere and captures—in microcosm—the huge undertaking required to produce thousands of highly trained combat crews for the Allied war effort. McCarthy and his comrades joined the veterans of the prewar Army Air Corps who had held the line from El Alamein through the desperate battles around Kasserine Pass. McCarthy spent his entire war with the 57th Fighter Group, first flying the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and later the powerful Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. His battlefield was not in the stratosphere over the Third Reich...His war began with a ferry flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Cape Bon, Tunisia, after the Axis defeat in North Africa; through the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the long slog up the Italian peninsula in 1943-1944 including landings at Salerno, Anzio, and the battles around Monte Cassino, with a brief detour in support of the invasion of southern France. Their unglamorous business was conducting interdiction and close air support, part of a lengthy and costly combined-arms effort to leverage the Germans out of their powerful defensive positions on the Italian peninsula.




Command Of The Air


Book Description

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.




Monte Cassino


Book Description

Monte Cassino is the true story of one of the bitterest and bloodiest of the Allied struggles against the Nazi army. Long neglected by historians, the horrific conflict saw over 350,000 casualties, while the worst winter in Italian memory and official incompetence and backbiting only worsened the carnage and turmoil. Combining groundbreaking research in military archives with interviews with four hundred survivors from both sides, as well as soldier diaries and letters, Monte Cassino is both profoundly evocative and historically definitive. Clearly and precisely, Matthew Parker brilliantly reconstructs Europe’s largest land battle–which saw the destruction of the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino–and dramatically conveys the heroism and misery of the human face of war.




Strategy For Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 [Illustrated Edition]


Book Description

Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.




Warplanes of World War II


Book Description

From Germany's Junkers Ju 52 and Japan's Mitsubishi Zero to USA's Grumman Hellcat and the UK's Bristol Blenheim, Warplanes of World War II provides a close look at 50 key aircraft from World War II. They all appear in detailed large-format side-on color photographs, with notes on the craft's unique features. Information on each plane's development, manufacturing history, and technical profile accompany additional photographs and a specification panel.




Air Power in Three Wars: World War II, Korea, Vietnam [Illustrated Edition]


Book Description

[Includes over 130 illustrations and maps] This insightful work documents the thoughts and perspectives of a general with 35 years of history with the U.S. Air Force – General William W. Momyer. The manuscript discusses his years as a senior commander of the Air Force – strategy, command and control counter air operations, interdiction, and close air support. His perspectives cover World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.




Regia Aeronautica


Book Description

This new highly illustrated and comprehensive book covers the history of the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) from 1940 to 1943—an area of aviation history of increasing interest to historians, enthusiasts, and modelers. The book covers the aircraft, camouflage, and markings of the various aviation arms of the Italian Regia Aeronautica. Its machines were invariably colorfully camouflaged for tropical and over-water use and richly emblazoned with individual, tactical, and unit markings, making for popular modeling subjects. They flew in several operational theatres between 1940 and 1943 including France, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Russia, and Greece, and produced a number of flying aces such as Teresio Martinoli, Franco Lucchini, Leonardo Ferrulli, and Franco Bordoni-Bisleri. All aircraft are covered—day fighters, bombers, dive-bombers and ground-attack units, and maritime and transport aircraft. This is an ideal volume of reference for aviation modelers, particularly those with a specific interest in Italian aviation.




Joint Force Quarterly


Book Description




World War II Illustrated Atlas


Book Description

With 160 colour maps, World War II Illustrated Atlas plots the course of the land, sea and air campaigns in fine detail, tracing the ebb and flow of the fortunes of both sides. Contents include the land, sea and air campaigns in North-West Europe, Italy, North Africa, Russia, South-East Asia and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean.




Infantry


Book Description




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