Tag: RAF

Free Download Michael J.F. Bowyer – Bombing Colours: RAF Bombers, Their Markings and Operations 1937-1973
Kookaburra Technical Publications | 1973 | ISBN: 0858800179 | English | 292 pages | PDF | 164.95 MB
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Free Download Spying on the Kremlin
by Mike Murtagh;
English | 2024 | ISBN: 1036103838 | 237 pages | True PDF EPUB | 130.12 MB

Free Download Cinderella Boys: The Forgotten RAF Force That Won the Battle of the Atlantic (Audiobook)
English | ASIN: B0BLCYVWJR | 2023 | 12 hours and 41 minutes | M4B@128 kbps | 692 MB
Author: Leo McKinstry
Narrator: Peter Noble
The remarkable story of the unsung RAF wing who rescued Britain from Hitler’s U-boats and made Allied victory possible. In early 1943 Britain was engaged in an epic struggle for survival. As the deadly wolf packs of German U-boats roamed the Atlantic, supply lines and shipping losses fell victim to the carnage. In desperation, Churchill turned to the RAF’s maritime wing – an overlooked, underfunded force known as "The Cinderella Service". But the ascendancy of the U-boat forced a change in attitude. Provided with the long-range planes, depth charges, rocket projectiles and radar equipment with which to challenge the enemy. The Cinderella boys provided vital air defence the whole way across the Atlantic.

Free Download Dave Forster, Chris Gibson – Listening In: RAF Electronic Intelligence Gathering Since 1945
Hikoki Publications | 2014 | ISBN: 1902109384 | English | 200 pages | PDF | 163.39 MB
As WWII closed, the Air Staff decided to preserve the UK’s electronic intelligence (ELINT) expertise, resulting in the formation of the Radio Warfare Establishment and later the Central Signals Establishment. A tentative ELINT program was commissioned in 1946 using a small number of Lancaster and Mosquito aircraft specially modified for the task and as relations with the Soviet Union deteriorated, interest focused on the growing Soviet air defense system, with the 1948 Berlin crisis resulting in the first major ELINT program against the Soviet Union’s air defenses.

Free Download Chas Hall, Julian Elfer (Narrator), "Facing Armageddon: With the RAF on Christmas Island 1961-1962"
English | ASIN: B0CTPKWMJ6 | 2024 | MP3@64 kbps | ~06:58:00 | 199 MB
After being called up for National Service in July 1960, twenty-year-old Chas Hall joined the RAF and signed on to extend his time for an extra three years becoming a regular serviceman.
Following initial training, he became a wireless operator and served at RAF Mildenhall. It was shortly after this that he got his first foreign posting in late 1961 to Christmas Island. It was on this island, that Chas encountered the horrors of nuclear testing. In an operation codenamed "Brigadoon" by the British government and "Dominic" by the Americans, Chas experienced twenty-five atmospheric nuclear tests. This he describes as his "twelve-month sentence" alongside over 300 British and 10,000 American servicemen who were posted to one corner of a remote coral island.

Free Download Michael Armitage – Classic RAF Battles from World War One to the Present
Brockhampton Press | 2002 | ISBN: 186019897X | English | 180 pages | PDF | 112.43 MB
The Royal Air Force has earned its celebrated reputation for excellence and courage over seven decades of service to Britain, through two World Wars and many small incidents, events and flash-points the world over. In compiling this superb visual testament to the RAF, the general aim has been to capture the very reason for the RAF’s existence – the combat actions which have given it such an historic tradition of defence to the nation. Some scenes are of general campaigns or aspects of the RAF’s history; most, however, are of specific raids, operations or incidents; but they all demonstrate the variety of locations, task’s and aircraft types that feature in the RAF’s reputation.

Free Download Norman Franks – Veteran Lancs: A Photographic Record of the 35 RAF Lancasters that Each Completed One Hundred Sorties
Pen & Sword | 2016 | ISBN: 1473847265 | English | 180 pages | PDF | 129.21 MB
Aviation historians will know that the Avro Lancaster bomber is the most famous aircraft to have fought with RAF Bomber Command during World War Two. They will know too that, of the 7,366 that were built, over 3,400 were lost on operations and a further 200 plus were destroyed and written-off in crashes. Operational sorties flown totalled more than 156,000, carrying over 600,000 tons of bombs to targets all over Europe. But this came at a terrible cost. With extensive losses on some night operations, occurring when bombers were pitted against a dedicated German night-fighter arm (as well as anti-aircraft fire) it is not surprising, or even incredible, that just 35 Lancasters managed to complete 100 or more sorties during the course of the war. A number of them actually achieved well over one hundred sorties, and a few were tragically lost after reaching this amazing figure. This book covers the history of these 35 incredible Lancasters, featuring many photographs of both aircraft and crew members drawn together in an effort to create a photographic record of these veterans.In addition, there is a section dedicated to many Lancasters that, whilst not achieving this almost magic total, either through eventual loss or the ending of the war, did achieve a large number of operations. Pictures of these have been added so that their achievements, as well as the achievements of the crews who flew in them, can be viewed together.

Free Download Leonard James, "Heroes of the RAF: No.43 Squadron"
English | 2012 | pages: 64 | ISBN: 190779137X | EPUB | 3,2 mb
This title looks at the heroic men (and more recently women) who have fought with the squadron over the years. It details their exploits in battle, their life with the squadron and in many cases their subsequent careers in the RAF.

Free Download Battle Under the Moon: The Disastrous RAF Raid on Mailly-Le-Camp, 1944 by Jack Currie
English | February 21, 2022 | ISBN: 1910809802 | 184 pages | PDF | 19 Mb
This is a gripping account of the ill-fated RAF raid, on 3 May 1944, on the Panzer tank depot and military barracks at Mailly-le-Camp south of Rheims in northern France, part of the softening up process on German military targets, in preparation for the D-Day landings. Raids like this over occupied France were considered relatively low risk affairs and only counted for one third of a mission for the crews concerned. In total, 362 RAF bombers, Lancasters, Mosquitoes and Halifax, from bases in England took part in a raid and although no-one involved anticipated disaster, forty-two Lancasters never returned home. Almost incredibly, those who planned the attack were apparently unaware that four German night fighter bases were located nearby. Luftwaffe fighters wreaked havoc on the bombers as they circled a marker in bright moonlight awaiting the order to attack their targetThis is the story of that battle, bitterly contested and ever-remembered by those who were engaged, one among hundreds that were fought in the skies over Europe between the RAF’s bombers and the Luftwaffe’s night-fighters in the course of World War Two. It lasted less than sixty minutes but cost two hundred and fifty-five lives.

Free Download Ian Black – RAF Tornado: 1974 onwards (all marks and models)
Haynes Publishing | 2014 | ISBN: 0857332473 | English | 264 pages | PDF | 123.73 MB
Owners’ Workshop Manual