Book picks similar to
Aircraft of the Chaco War, 1928-1935 by Dan Hagedorn
tbr-military-history
aviation
aviation-general
military
Attack Transport (Illustrated): The Story of the U.S.S. Doyen
Lawrence A. Marsden - 2020
Doyen is a fast-paced action-adventure story from World War 2 detailing the birth of modern amphibious warfare. The book follows the US Navy attack transport ship the Doyen (AP-1), the first of its kind, from its exciting launch on the California coast to its deadly assaults on the shores of Saipan, Leyte, Luzon, and Iwo Jima.
Drummer Boy: Honour Thy Family
E. Arthur Carkeek - 2018
Almost twelve years of age, he volunteers for the King's service, in the struggle against Napoleon and to help his war wounded father survive. A tale of bravery, family honor and finding out just what you are made of.
Al-Qaeda Dawn
P.M. Crowley - 2011
They intend to make a political statement by slamming a hijacked aircraft with hundreds of innocent people on board into an unknown target, possibly a nuclear power station, on the British mainland. As MI5 and Special Branch closely monitor the terrorist cell, a second al-Qaeda team arrive. MI5 have to make a quick decision, split their resources in two or take a chance and let them run. With no prior knowledge of what's about to happen on the other side of the pond, they decide to let them run. Bad call! With the Heathrow team safely apprehended, and a D Notice placed on the media, British Military Intelligence considers their efforts enough to protect the people of the United Kingdom. How wrong they'll be proved.Once news of the cowardly, indiscriminate attacks on the Twin Towers in the US start to filter through, MI5 realise their mistake. With their only credible agent in Afghanistan down, and no more information available, British Intelligence decide to send in a team to retrieve as much intelligence as possible. MI5 contact one of their Black Ops personnel. Jonny Davies, an ordinary guy, with extraordinary talents is asked to undertake an exceptional mission to liberate the information MI5 need if they're to stop the other terrorist cell before they can act against British targets. Reluctant to go at first, Ex-SAS Ops Sergeant Davies is persuaded with a million pounds to go; but he'll only accept the job if he can take a team with him. Even Jonny Davies won't do the Afghan run on his own. MI5 have no choice, it's accept Davies' terms or do it themselves. In this warts and all novel we see the raw nature of ordinary men pushed to the extreme. Davies will use any means necessary to achieve his objective. Against international law, he's driving into Afghanistan in a large white 4x4 with UN markings, flying a UN flag and Irish tricolour. It's what Jonny Davies does; he lies, cheats, bluffs, bribes and chances his luck. And if that doesn't work, he embraces the extreme alternative of military fire-power. He locks and loads and shoots whatever's in front of him.Once inside Afghanistan fire-fights with bandits, tribal factions and drugs runners soon follow. When he and his team reach Jalalabad they're expected to infiltrate the Devil's lair, immobilise the guards with a blade, enter the compound, extract the information and then blow the compound to smithereens. MI5 want it to look as though a US air strike has destroyed the place, and thus act on the information retrieved without al-Qaeda being any the wiser.Back home, and with the mission complete, Jonny Davies and his team look forwards to a big pay-day, only to find MI5 have an extended agenda.If the boys want paying, they'll have to go morally, a lot further than they've already been. What price a man's conscience? Would you kill for your country? Would you kill innocent women and children for your country? Unarmed civilians? This is what the British Secret Intelligent Service will ask Davies and his team to do if they want paying. On the horns of a dilemma the boys will have to make a difficult choice, commit an act of murder for the State, or wave their wages goodbye. What would you do? Honestly!
To the Walls of France (105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Wessex Regiment Book 5)
Martin McDowell - 2020
At the end of 1811, after four years of hard warfare against the forces of Napoleon, Wellington was not prepared to waste the Winter months and therefore he used them to capture, at great cost, the two ‘keys of Spain’: Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz. With these two now in Allied possession the story continues with Wellington advancing forward into Spain at the head of an Allied army to begin the campaigns of 1812. During this momentous year huge questions dominate the European stage, not least the aftermath of Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia and the loss of an army of 600,000 men and all their horses and equipment. The following twelve months extending into 1813 is a year of titanic set-piece battles which will settle, one way or another, the fate of Spain and Portugal within the French Empire and also events far away over the Atlantic will have their own part to play, with the armies of the new Republic chancing their arm with their own invasions of Canada. Both triumph and tragedy befall the Allied army during 1812, first the complete victory of Salamanca, then the near farce and tragedy of the Burgos siege, followed by a retreat back to Cuidad Rodrigo, worse than that of Coruna due to acute starvation. British Intelligence makes full use of Napoleon’s tragedy, weaving deceit on both sides of the Atlantic, such that El Rey Joseph is ordered to send men back to France and then in 1813 the Allies spring forward from the Portuguese border, with an advance so rapid that within three weeks there comes the triumph of Vitoria and then fighting to open the passes over the Pyrenees into France itself. As part of what is now a formidable army, the 105th Foot Wessex The Prince of Wales Own, must first contend with the retirement of their Colonel, Bertram Lacey, finally worn down by years of intense campaigning and finally the horrors of Badajoz. His replacement is Carr’s old enemy from his last visit back to England after Talavera, this replacement being Sir Ambrose Brockenhurst MP, the Colonel of the 105th’s Militia, him arrived from England to take over from Lacey and the result is incompetence and even humiliation. Carr is promoted to temporary Brevet-Colonel, but their reputation is now sullied, yet the 105th play their part in Salamanca and endure the retreat from Burgos. With the Spring of 1813, all Allied armies advance to Vitoria to play their part in this momentous battle and take part in the conflicts in the Pyrenees, where, on the far right of Wellington’s line at the battle of Sorauren outside Pamplona, the 105th’s reputation is finally restored. Throughout all, the band led by Colour-Sergeant Jedediah Deakin hold together, giving mutual support and comfort, and taking advantage of any opportunity that comes their way which may soften the hard and dangerous life they necessarily lead.
Outside the Wire: Riding with the Triple Deuce in Vietnam, 1970
James William Ross - 2013
Thoughtful, action-packed memoir of one American soldier's combat tour in Vietnam in 1970
Meeting Steve Canyon . . . and Flying with the CIA in Laos
Karl L. Polifka - 2013
This account has many illustrations of the grinding stress of intense combat in Laos, and the periodic clashes with the distant headquarters that had little knowledge of an extremely complex combat environment and was more focused on control rather than results.
IGOR (Global War On Terror Book 1)
Raymond Hunter Pyle - 2017
For an intelligence analyst without SEAL training, it can be traumatic. Navy Lieutenant (JG) Lee Toliver, Naval Academy Graduate, Linguist and Middle East Polyglot, is assigned to Trident, an Office of Naval Intelligence group dedicated to Naval Special Warfare Command. Having survived injuries from a suicide bombing in London, and almost a year in and out of Brooke Military Burn Center in Texas, he is ready to get his career back on track and anticipating his introduction to the SEAL Team he will support. American born linguists fluent in Middle East languages are in short supply and always in demand. His fluency in Pashto brought him to the attention of Detachment Bravo of SEAL Team 2 deploying to Bagram, Afghanistan. But Lee was also fluent in several dialects of Arabic. Seal Team 3 was raging across Anbar Province in Iraq, and in 2006, Ramadi is back on the radar for a major operation. Lee is about to find out that deploying with a SEAL Team has only a passing acquaintance with intelligence office work. In SEAL Team direct action ops, interpreters and interrogators are needed outside the wire as much as inside. Going kinetic, is a term he will come to understand intimately.
Billy Mitchell (Annotated): Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet Without Honor
Emile Gauvreau - 1942
Through the press and in person he lobbied naval brass about America's woefully unprepared defensive air power but his talk of dogfights over the Pacific with superior planes was laughed at and dismissed by all. Mitchell's vision of a US Air Arm would have meant massive, costly upgrades to the nation's dated flying machines owned by private firms holding patents on aircraft machinery. Old guard soldiers, like John J. Pershing, dismissed as delusional ravings Mitchell's belief that a battleship could be destroyed by a bomber. Mitchell's outspoken press conferences about an airplane trust supported by corrupt government officials led to his court-martial for insubordination in 1925. He died in 1936, a man ahead of his times.*Includes annotations and images.
Rebel Tribe
Ramy Vance - 2021
What do you do if you wake up hundreds of light-years from home in a strange ship and someone is trying to eat you?Jaeger can’t remember who she is or anything about her life, but she knows that's just wrong.The ship's AI tells her there are thousands of other lifeforms on board, but the instruments say she's alone—except for the killer.Something deep inside her screams that humanity’s fate hinges on her completing her mission…whatever it is.Jaeger must repair the ship and figure out her past while fighting for her life.Will she survive? If she can’t recall her mission, will humanity?
Shaped by the Shadow of War
Don Catherall - 2017
Don grew up in a world shaped by his father's silent grief, strict discipline, and painful lessons in survival. When his own turn came, Don joined the Marines and went to Vietnam. This book tells the story of his experience in Vietnam, as well as his father's experience in the South Pacific, especially the scorching battle for Peleliu. But this is also a story about family life and the way in which the shadow of war is cast beyond the individual combatants. Don grew up in the shadow of his father's war and parented his children in the shadow of his own experience in Vietnam. He saw war's impact as a child, as a parent, and in his work as a clinical psychologist. Ultimately, this is a story of generational healing and recovering one's humanity.
All Expenses Paid
John Launer - 2019
Setting the record straight that soldiers were not drug addicts, murderers, and baby killers, Launer documents that American media bias led to the public misunderstanding of the war. The action within is violent, bloody, and never ending, leading many veterans to devastating physical and psychological trauma upon their return home to the USA.
Surprised at Being Alive: An Accidental Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam and Beyond
Robert Curtis - 2014
A part fails and your helicopter comes apart in flight, or, another aircraft runs into you and the pieces of both fall to the ground below, or the enemy gunner pulls the trigger at just the right moment and his rounds find your aircraft in exactly the right spot to take it out of the sky. Whichever way it happens, it wasn t your day. Which is why, after 24 years and over 5,000 flight hours with four armed services, Major Robert Curtis was so surprised at being alive when he passed his retirement physical. Starting with enlisting in the Army to fly helicopters during Vietnam, and continuing on through service with the National Guard, Marine Corps and Royal Navy, he flew eight different helicopters from the wooden-bladed OH-13E, through the Chinook, SeaKnight and SeaKing, in war and peace around the world. During that time over 50 of his friends died in crashes, both in combat and in accidents, but somehow his skill, and not an inconsiderable amount of luck and superstition, saw him through. His flying career began with a misbegotten strategy for beating the draft by enlisting. With the Vietnam War raging full blast in 1968 the draft was inevitable, so he wanted to at least get some small measure of control of his future. Although he had no thought of flying when he walked into the recruiting office, he walked out signed up to be a helicopter pilot. What he did not know was that 43% of all the aircraft sent to Vietnam were destroyed in combat or accidents. Soon he was in the thick of the war, flying Chinooks with the 101st Airborne. After Vietnam he left the Army, but kept flying in the National Guard while going to college. He was accepted at two law schools, but flying is addictive, so he instead enlisted in the USMC to fly some more. Over the next 17 years he would fly around the world off US and British ships from Egypt to Norway and all points in between. His engaging story will be a delight to all aviation enthusiasts.REVIEWS one of those books that you read that gives you the feeling of Deja Vu, and makes the hairs on the back of your neck riseNeall Ellis Robert Curtis gives us a compelling account of his exemplary service in wartime and beyond. The combat missions he flew out of Phu Bai/Camp Eagle in Vietnam did so much for so many, and remain alive and meaningful for all of us today. Gary Matthews, American Ambassador (ret)Former Deputy and Province Senior Adviser, Thua Thien/Hue"
Phantom Strike
William H. Lovejoy - 1993
Their Sukhoi-24 bombers, capable of undertaking short-range lethal raids, have orders for a test target: three refugee camps, filled with women, children and the old. Millions of innocent lives are set to be destroyed in this flexing of the high command’s muscles, but at the first sign of aggression the entire region is set to erupt into total war… Spurred on by the intelligence reports yet unable to wage an overt pre-emptive attack, the White House is forced to turn to Andrew Wyatt. A “covert specialists” and former top gun pilot, Wyatt marshals his squad of unmarked F-4 Phantoms as a C.I.A. agent on the ground tries to learn more prior to their arrival. Wyatt must lead them through the deadly net of Libya’s air defences, risking everything as he endeavours to deliver a final blow in the name of international peace… Phantom Strike is a gripping, contemporary military thriller. Praise for Phantom Strike ‘Lovejoy writes in afterburner!… action that leaves you dry-lipped, moist-palmed and hungry for more. An excellent read.’ – M.E. Morris ‘Fast-paced aerial action… Phantom Strike is a supersonic rush toward a deadly target that rings with authenticity!” – Jimmie H. Butler, The Iskra Incident William H Lovejoy is the author of twenty-five thriller, suspense, and mystery novels, including Delta Blue and Delta Green. A Vietnam veteran, he resides in Colorado and is Vice Chancellor Emeritus from Mohave Community College. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7
Hornets over Kuwait
Jay A. Stout - 1997
Impetuosity aside, Stout's account has stood up to challenges from within and outside the Marine Corps. Controversy aside, Stout provides plenty of action and accurate descriptions of tactics and combat that have stood the test of time. At the same time he provides a self-effacing picture of his own performance, a factor that makes this work that much more credible and readable. A "must read" for anyone interested in air combat.
Ghost Fleet
D.A. Boulter - 2011
Experts say they are scanner echoes tossed out of the past by the Phenomenon. The rumors and a cryptic entry in an ancestor's diary propel Lieutenant-Commander Mart Britlot of the Confederation navy into the dangerous Sivon sector of space. There, Britlot hopes to find help for the Confederation, now facing a two-front war. As the last living Confederation descendant of the Adian nation, Britlot is obsessed with finding the ghost ships, believed destroyed during a mass emigration 300 years in the past. He dreams of riding to the rescue at the head of the never defeated Adian fleet; he dreams of finding family after the death of all his near relatives at the hands of the Combine. He'll drive his ship and crew beyond endurance to achieve this. The felid Tlartox Empire, eager to avenge their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Confederation, has voted to annul the long-standing peace treaty. The glory of The Hunt beckons. Admiral Tood Tlomega has focused on the human planet Lormar, with its great naval base, as a fitting target for retribution. She will return dignity to the people of Tlar. She will return them to the path that Tlar illuminated so many centuries ago.But a small band of Tlartox subversives intend to rake a claw across the plans of the war-mongers, and give both the Empire and the Confederation something they hadn't counted on.