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Aviation
With disaster scenarios of increasing interest and disaster preparedness paramount importance, it’s time to take a deeper look at what went very right before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Unlike the woefully unprepared civilian population, the Coast Guard was staged and ready. The unprecedented surface rescue put into action under Capt. Mueller and RADM Castillo took place with little fanfare, and saved the lives of 25,000 people by boat and 8,500 by helicopter.
This is the ePub/eBook version of this title. This is not the print edition.
This tragic story is a moving account of the powers of human endurance. It recounts in authentic detail the fateful circumstances of Little Eva’s last mission from a remote U.S. air base in Far North Queensland and follows the dedicated searchers and skilled trackers who risked their lives trying to save the lost crewmen.
The daring mission to cripple the Axis machine.
“A gallant officer, a superb airman, and an indomitable fighter . . . [He] rendered decisive assistance during a critical stage of operations.”
—Harry S. Truman, Medal of Honor Citation
DeBlanc first saw action in World War II at the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. From his very first day there, he proved himself as a talented fighter pilot. He shot down two Betty bombers on his first day and soon began to lead his own squadron in the air. Within weeks, he was considered to be part of the flying elite, the Marine Fighter Aces.
From its introduction to warfare in the 1940s to its role in Middle East operations, the helicopter has had a profound effect on military tactics and techniques. It has evolved from a means of transport to a precise component of the Special Operations Force. Apart from the challenges its design faced on the battlefield, this rotary-wing aircraft also faced opposition from the very military that employed it.
The development of flight has had far-reaching implications not only for combat technology, but also in politics, diplomacy, technology, and mass culture. The Influence of Air Power upon History is a thorough examination of how air power was applied from the very earliest days of the balloon down to the latest use of space technology. Hardcover.
Piloting the Bat Out of Hell, Lt. Bill Farrow volunteered for the dangerous American secret mission designed to boost morale during the darkest days of World War II. Dubbed Doolittle Raiders after Gen. James H. Doolittle, the commander of the Tokyo raid, Farrow’s crew set out to bring the war to the Japanese homeland by bombing a military target in Nagoya, Japan.
Marion Milton “Black Mack” Magruder, USMC, was one of the first American pilots to learn the art of Airborne Radar Intercept Operations and maintenance. During World War II, Magruder and three other pilots were selected by Maj. Gen. R. J. Mitchell to learn the specialized techniques from England’s Royal Air Force. Pressed for time after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they finished a one-year program in an astonishing three months. This biography follows Magruder through his WWII military actions, highlighting his accomplishments as leader of the top-scoring Nightfighter Squadron in the Pacific Theatre.
Conveying both heroic and light-hearted stories, from hunting and fishing in Great Falls to attending college in Los Angeles, from his Army training at camps like Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, to his flight training experiences in San Antonio, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio, the author paints vivid images of his formative experiences and explains what shaped his values, perspectives, and evident pride for his family and his country. His accounting of his 1942 enlistment and all that followed offers an insider’s view of basic training, flight training, Instructor’s School, and the role of a flight instructor.
While it’s common to say that the most predictable thing about the next war is its unpredictability, that wasn’t the case in the run-up to war with Japan. From Commodore Matthew Perry’s voyage into Japanese waters in 1853 to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States and Japan were on a collision course.