The Supermarine Spitfire was developed by R.J. Mitchell and his team for just one reason - to intercept and shoot down enemy bombers from British skies. Lauded by the Chairman of Vickers as `a real killer fighter', the Spitfire was so advanced that it proved a huge challenge to the British aviation industry.

A direct successor to the famous Mirage III, the delta-shaped sail, the Mirage 2000 which has been present for over a quarter of a century in the French Air Force. Originally conceived as an interceptor car, this monoreactor has had a remarkable career in France - which is still ongoing - through its two-seat versions intended not only for ......

The North American P-51 Mustang was one of the most successful and effective fighter aircraft of all time.

The United States Air Force has a proud history of flying the fastest, best equipped and most powerful jet fighters in the world. This bookazine features more than 200 profiles including all 17 of the USAF's front line jet fighters, depicted by renowned artist JP Vieira

The story of the grim air battle to save Malta, waged in part with only a few battle-scarred Spitfires.

As Australia withdrew from Vietnam in 1972, few in the Australian Defence Force, none the least those in the Royal Australian Air Force could foresee the immense change that would sweep across the Service.

The industry known as "general aviation" - encompassing all flying outside of the military and commercial airlines - dates from the early days of powered flight. This book offers a history if this industry in America.

The story of the fighters who took the battle to Germany during the First World War from the bestselling author of BOMBER CREW and THE DAMBUSTERS

Rocket-firing Typhoons were the scourge of the Normandy battlefields after D-Day in 1944 and were responsible for inflicting catastrophic losses on the German Army. Typhoons continued with their hazardous tactical support sorties during the Allied advance into Germany, striking at enemy tanks and dog-fighting with German fighters defending the ......

Illustrated history of all the Spitfire types that served with the expatriate Greek pilots of the Hellenic Air Force during and after World War II.

This book is a compilation of 4-view colour profiles, scale plans and photographic details of the IIa variant of the Supermarine Spitfire, featuring scale plans in 1/72 and 1/48 scales plus drawings from wartime technical manuals and also photographs of the details in b&w and colour.

Founded in 1925 in Warnem nde, Arado-Flugzeugwerke, from the outset, produced civil aircraft as well as developing prototypes for the clandestine armament programme of the Reichswehr. From 1933 when the licensed production of military aircraft commenced, the factory also built a number of their own designs.

Photographic history of the German, Soviet, French, Italian, Swedish jet fighters of the 1940s and early 1950s.

A detailed account of the battle to defeat the V-1 Flying Bomb threat against the UK in 1944 and 1945.

TOP GUN meets BAND OF BROTHERS in this stunning untold story of the race among America's elite airmen to become the greatest fighter pilot of WWII.

From the 1970s until the 2000s, the spear tip of the USN air wings was the F-14 Tomcat. Illustrated by over 100 photographs and colour profiles, `Tomcats of the Storm' is an exclusive source about some of least-well known air combats fought by US Navy's fighter crews in recent history.

Four years after the end of the Second World War, at a small airfield in Hertfordshire, a brief event marked the greatest advance in civil aviation since the Wright brothers. The prototype of de Havilland's Comet airliner took off, carried out some simple manoeuvres and safely returned. The world had shrunk and Jet Age had begun.

Volume One of Pacific Profiles presents detailed profiles and descriptions of Japanese Army Air Force aircraft and units operating in New Guinea and the Solomons from December 1942 to April 1944.

The story of the technology that revolutionized aeronautics and changed modern warfare

Boulton Paul has been one of the great innovators of British aviation. They built more Camels than Sopwiths, the first all-steel airframe, the largest aircraft ever built in Britain, the first with a power-operated gun turret, the famous Defiant, the first single-engine turboprop, and are now world leaders in power control units and fly-by-wire.

At Hatfield Aerodrome de Havilland created the WW2 Mosquito, the first multi role combat aircraft. De Havilland companies pioneered turbojet development, leading to the Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner. De Havilland developed guided missiles and the Blue Streak rocket. The DH 108 was the first aircraft exceed Mach 1 outside the ......

Comprehensive study of one of Britain's most successful undertakings of the war

40 colour profiles of the famous Russian WW2 attack aircraft, showing a variety of camouflage and markings of different units.

The most iconic planes of WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, DeHavilland Mosquito and the Avro Lancaster, were all powered by one engine, the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The story of the Merlin is one of British ingenuity at its height, of artistry and problem-solving that resulted in a war-winning design.

An illustrated study of the colours and markings on Swedish bomber aircraft deployed before and during World War II and in the early 1950s.

This book aims to explain air power to both military and civilian audiences in an accessible manner, approaching the topic in a balanced and systematic way. The past 100 years illustrates that air power is an inevitable feature of any type of modern warfare. It has a key role to play in any of the three main operational environments: ......

The Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet is an evolutionary redesign of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 A/B Hornet. The Legacy F/A-18 Hornet first flew in 1980 and met the requirement for a multirole fighter to complement the larger and more expensive Grumman F-14 Tomcat, serving in fleet defense interceptor and air superiority roles. The Hornet proved to ......

This first volume of German Fighter Aces trace the story of the Luftwaffe's day fighter arm (der Tagjagd) from its inception to 1942.

Even today, almost eighty years after its first flight, the North American P-51 Mustang remains one of the most famous and recognisable aircraft in the world. Nimble and fast, qualities that lead the Mustang to be used even today in air races, the aircraft was forged in battle. This, the second of two volumes on this iconic aircraft, explores the ......

The history of Cold War reconnaissance in the words of the man who proved the aircraft, commanded the units, and flew the missions. This is the biography of pilot Col. William Gregory, whose astonishing career with the CIA and the US Air Force encompassed the attempts by US intelligence to understand Cold War Soviet Union.

The story of the top-scoring ace in history, a Luftwaffe pilot named Erich Hartmann who totalled 352 kills.

The Grumman-designed TBF Avenger was unquestionably the most successful torpedo bomber in the US fleet during WWII. Developed just prior to the US entry in WWII, the type made its combat debut at the Battle of Midway. Demand for the large carrier-borne aircraft, which could drop conventional bombs and depth charges in addition to torpedoes, soon ......

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was not only the largest and most advanced US aircraft to see combat in World War II, it was also the most expensive weapons system of the war, even exceeding the cost of developing the atomic bomb - the weapon that ultimately would be delivered to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by a pair of B-29s in August 1945. Through a ......

A mere 20 Sea Harriers operating from two aircraft carriers would take on the might of the Argentine air force, some 200 planes strong.

The P-8A Poseidon, a variant of the Boeing 737 series of airliner, takes over the role of antisubmarine warfare from the P-3 Orion, itself a derivative of an airliner, the Lockheed Electra. The P-8A brings new capabilities, endurance, and crew enhancements to the art form of maritime patrol, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The Poseidon also ......

In the first half of the 20th century the possibility of flight opened up entirely new avenues of thought and exploration. In the age of H.G. Wells and Biggles, the opening up of the air to balloons and planes- the Royal Flying Corps was founded in 1912 - appealed to concepts of courage and bravery which would be both encouraged and undermined by ......