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MiG-17 and MiG-19 Units of the Vietnam War
by Iain Wyllie Istvan ToperczerThe erstwhile enemy of the USAF and US Navy during the nine years of American involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Vietnamese Peoples' Air Force (VPAF) quickly grew from an ill-organised rabble of poorly trained pilots flying antiquated communist aircraft into a highly effective fighting force that more than held its own over the skies of North Vietnam. Flying Soviet fighters like the MiG-17, and -19, the VPAF produced over a dozen aces, whilst the Americans managed just two pilots and three navigators in the same period.
MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War
by Mark Styling Istvan ToperczerOsprey's study of the use of MiG-21 Units in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Having honed their piloting skills on the subsonic MiG-17 and transonic MiG-19, the Vietnamese Peoples' Air Force (VPAF) received their first examples of the legendary MiG-21 supersonic fighter in 1966. Soon thrown into combat over North Vietnam, the guided-missile equipped MiG-21 proved a deadly opponent for the USAF, Navy and Marine Corps crews striking at targets deep into communist territory. Most of the VPAF's 12+ aces scored their bulk of their kills in the MiG-21, which was then the best fighter produced by Russia's premier fast jet manufacturer, Mikoyan Gurevich. Well over 200 MiG-21s were supplied to the VPAF, and the numerous models and the schemes they wore are chronicled in great detail in this unique volume.
MiG-3 Aces of World War 2
by Dmitriy Khazanov Andrey YurgensonCreated by ex-Polikarpov designers Ivanovic Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich, the MiG-1/3 family of fighters was built to satisfy a Soviet Air Force requirement for an advanced, fast, high altitude fighter. Entering service in the spring of 1941, the problematic MiG-1 had its handling problems rectified with the hasty production of the MiG-3 - the latter had its Mikulin engine moved further forward, increased outer wing dihedral and a strengthened fuselage. As of 22 June 1941, Air Force manoeuvre units in the five borderline military districts could field 917 MiG-3s. Many of these were destroyed on the ground when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Nevertheless, enough examples survived to allow pilots such as Stepan Suprun (Twice Hero of the Soviet Union), Aleksandr Pokryshkin (Thrice Hero of the Soviet Union) and Lev Shestakov (Hero of the Soviet Union) to claim a number of victories on the type. Early successes by units such as 23rd and 28th IAPs resulted in 35 aerial victories being claimed by MiG-3 pilots in the first eight days of the Great Patriotic War. Other units enjoyed similar levels of success, with MiG-3-equipped 15 and 31st IAP proving themselves to be the most combat-ready fighter units on the Northwestern Front. By the end of 1941, a handful of pilots had 'made ace' flying the MiG-3, despite the Soviet air forces having taken a fearful beating at the hands of the Luftwaffe. In 1942 MiG pilots actively participated in the defence of Leningrad, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and Sevastopol, with still more aviators becoming aces as the year progressed. Amongst them was Aleksandr Pokryshkin, the second-highest scoring Russian ace with 59 victories to his name. He claimed his first five kills while flying a MiG-3 with 55th IAP. Stalin terminated MiG-3 production in October 1941, although the fighter remained in frontline service in large numbers until mid-1942. Surviving examples continued to serve with national air defence regiments until 1943.
MIG Alley: The Fight For Air Superiority [Illustrated Edition]
by William Y’bloodIncludes more than 20 photo illustrationsThe fight for air superiority began the day the Korean War started and only ended with the armistice three years later. Once the shock of the North Koreans' invasion wore off, it did not take long for the United States Air Force, assisted by other United Nations air forces, to destroy the North Korean Air Force. The arrival of the MiG-15 in November 1950, often flown by Soviet pilots, changed things considerably however. For the remainder of the war, bitterly contested air battles were fought almost daily. Yet despite a decided numerical superiority in jet fighters, the Communists were never able to gain air superiority, testament to the skill and training of the UN fighter pilots, primarily those U.S. Air Force airmen flying the magnificent F-86 Sabre.
MiG Master
by Barrett TillmanTo be equally enjoyed by professional aviators and aviation buffs with limited technical knowledge, this biography brings to life the legendary aircraft that scored the highest kill ratio of any U.S. fighter aircraft in the Vietnam War. The book is filled with authentic re-creations of Crusader-MiG fights and vivid descriptions of the people and events that are part of the F-8 story, including John Glenn's 1957 record-breaking flight across the United States in three hours and twenty-three minutes. As the Navy's first supersonic aircraft, the Crusader holds an honored spot in carrier flying, and the author shows why it is called one of the most capable, versatile, and long-lived aircraft in naval aviation history. Barrett Tillman effectively combines an exciting account of the F-8's operational history with a detailed and authoritative explanation of its design, construction, and modifications. Tillman recalls the years of frustration and experimentation spent in refining the aircraft and its gunnery system, and then takes the reader through key actions in Vietnam where seasoned pilots handled their "rambunctious steeds" with scarcely a glance in the cockpit. Extensive appendixes provide further details.
MIG Menace Over Korea: The Story of Soviet Fighter Ace Nicolai Sutiagin
by Yuri Sutiagin Igor SeidovThis fascinating biography of a Russian flying ace offers a rare glimpse into the role of the Soviet Air Force during the Korean War. Nikolai Vasil'evich Sutiagin was the top-scoring Soviet flying ace of the Korean War. He flew his MiG-15 in lethal dogfights against American Sabres and Australian Meteors, winning twenty-two victories. For his distinguished service, he was named a Hero of the Soviet Union, the Soviet military&’s highest honor. Now, with the opening of the Russian archives, this authoritative biography presents a full account of Sutiagin&’s life and career. Beyond these official records, the authors draw from the reminiscences of Sutiagin's comrades and his wife's personal diary to present a nuanced and vividly detailed portrait of one of Russia&’s greatest fighter pilots.
MiG Pilot: The Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko
by John BarronTells of the life of Lieutenant Viktor Ivanovich Belenko in Tokyo, Moscow and Tokyo and his secrets in regards to the Soviet Union.
Mightier Than the Sword: Civilian Control of the Military and the Revitalization of Democracy
by Alice Hunt FriendThe civilian role in managing the military has never been more important. Today, civilian leadership of defense policy is challenged by the blurring line between war and competition and the speed of machine decision-making on the battlefield. Moreover, the legitimacy of political leaders and civil servants has been undermined by a succession of foreign policy failures and by imbalances of public faith in the military on the one hand and disapproval of civilian institutions on the other. A central question emerges: What does appropriate and effective civilian control of the military look like? Combining scholarly expertise and firsthand civilian experience in the Department of Defense, Friend argues that civilians combine authoritative status, institutional functions, and political expertise to ensure that democratic preferences over the use of force prevail. Friend focuses on the ways political context shapes whether and how civilian controllers—the civilians in professional and institutional positions with the responsibility for defense matters—exercise control over the military and each other. Mightier Than the Sword provides insights that enrich civil-military relations scholarship, as well as lessons aimed at revitalizing American democracy.
The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
by Gerald AstorEurope has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth.In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter. Soon these brave young men were hurtling themselves and their unproven planes across the Channel and into the teeth of enemy firepower, raining down bombs on the German military machine, and going up against Hitler's best fliers in the sky.This is the dramatic oral history of the Army Air Corps and the newly created Eighth Air Force stationed in Britain, an army of hard-fighting, hard-playing flying men who suffered more fatalities than the entire U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific campaign of World War II. Here, in their own words, are tales of survival and soul-numbing loss, of soldiers who came together to fight a kind of war that had never been fought before--and win it with their courage and their blood.But the road to victory was paved with sacrifice. From its inaugural mission on July 4, 1942, until V-E Day, the Eighth Air Force lost more men than did the entire United States Marine Corps in all its campaigns in the Pacific. The Mighty Eighth chronicles the testimony of the pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners who daily put their lives on the line. Their harrowing accounts recall the excitement and terror of dogfights against Nazi aces, maneuvering explosive-laden aircraft through deadly flak barrages, and fending off waves of enemy fighters while coping with subzero temperatures.Beginning with the opening salvos from a mere dozen planes, crewmen describe the raids on Berlin and Dresden, the fiasco at Ploesti, Romania, and Black Thursday over Schweinfurt. They fell to the terror of seeing aircraft destroyed--helplessly watching as comrades crash and burn, or parachute over enemy territory, where they will attempt to evade enemy capture through the underground. Others tell of mourning downed airmen murdered by vengeful citizens and soldiers, and of those who endured captivity in POW camps. -->
The Mighty Eighth at War: USAAF 8th Air Force Bombers Versus the Luftwaffe 1943–1945
by Martin W. Bowman&“Relates how the American Eighth Air Force bombers helped Britain's Royal Air Force in fighting Germany during World War II.&”—ProtoView From the beginning of World War II, the RAF&’s Bomber Command had been the only means of striking Hitler&’s Reich and its war machine. But the entry into the war of the United States—and the subsequent arrival in the UK of the Eighth Air Force—would more than double the Allied capability. The Flying Fortress and Liberator heavy bombers were mostly flown across the Atlantic by their young, green aircrew, and many succumbed en route and never arrived. Flying in northern Europe was a different ball game from American skies and it took a considerable time before the crews familiarized themselves with the vagaries of fog, low cloud, rain and snow. The American bombers bristled with defensive armament and elected to fly in close defensive formation during the day, leaving the RAF to carry out nighttime raids. With the arrival of long-range protective escort fighters, the task became a little easier. This book is the story, including many firsthand accounts, of how the American bomber force helped fight to eventual victory, by decimating German industry and transport systems—and breaking the Nazi war spirit.
The Mighty Eighth in WWII: A Memoir
by Brig. Gen. J. Kemp McLaughlinOn an early morning in the fall of 1942, Kemp McLaughlin's group set out for a raid on a French target. Immediately after dropping its bombs, McLaughlin's plane was hit. A huge fire burned a four-foot hole in his wing, his waist gunner bailed out, his radio operator was wounded, the plane lost all oxygen, and his pilot put on a parachute and sat on the escape hatch, waiting for the plane to explode. And this was only McLaughlin's first sortie. McLaughlin went on to pilot the mission command plane on the second raid against Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history, which resulted in the destruction of 70 percent of German ball bearing production capability. McLaughlin also participated in the bombing of heavy water installations in Norway. The Mighty Eighth in WWII also includes the stories of downed pilots in France and Holland who traveled under the cover of night through the countryside, evading the Nazis who had seen their planes go down. As a group leader, McLaughlin was responsible for the planning and execution of air raids, forced to follow the directives of senior (and sometimes less informed) officers. His position as one of the managers of the massive sky trains allows him to provide unique insight into the work of maintenance and armament crews, preflight briefings, and off-duty activities of the airmen. No other memoir of World War II reveals so much about both the actual bombing runs against Nazi Germany and the management of personnel and material that made those airborne armadas possible.
The Mighty Fallen: American War Memorials
by Larry Bond f-stop FitzgeraldThe Mighty Fallen is a beautiful, evocative presentation of more than 150 never-before-seen photographs of the nation's greatest monuments and war memorials, along with text that describes the memorials and tells their stories. This extraordinary collection calls attention to the power of memory and the ways in which we immortalize people and events. As Larry Bond notes in the Introduction, "Memories of a war or battle are unpleasant, but few veterans would want them erased." This book is a unique tribute to veterans and a commemoration of some of the most significant conflicts in our history. Most battlefields leave little record of the historic confrontations that occurred there. Those who fought in epic struggles want us to remember not just the outcome, but the cost of victory and those who paid the price for the freedoms we enjoy today. Memories fade, so we raise monuments of stone and bronze to carry their message of sacrifice through the centuries. The Iwo Jima Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC are instantly recognizable, but there are monuments all over North America honoring more than 300 years of military service. The Mighty Fallen shows you hundreds of monuments, memorials, and statues conveying the message their designers wanted you to hear—these are more than just a date and location.
A Mighty Fortress: Lead Bomber Over Europe
by Chuck Alling&“In a fascinating way, Chuck Alling recalls his days as a pilot flying B-17s over Germany. He is truly a member of &‘The Greatest Generation&’&” (Former Pres. George H.W. Bush). A Mighty Fortress is the personal account of the captain and crew of a lead bomber in the enormous formation raids made by the Eighth Air Force during the last few months of the Second World War. It is an extraordinary tale of heroism and bravery on the part of the entire crew of just one B-17 amongst hundreds—but the one B-17 that meant most to them. Having flown twenty-seven missions before the war ended, Alling tells what it was like to be there, in the skies over enemy territory, constantly on the lookout for German fighters; of the enormity of some of the raids they were part of and the consequences for those on the ground; of the planes around them that fell out of the sky under enemy attack; of the horror and the determination to succeed. From a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, this book gives a unique insight into the lives of one crew of one plane as the war neared its end.
The Mighty Hood: The Battleship that Challenged the Bismarck
by Ernle BradfordThe story of the HMS Hood, the last great warship of the British Royal Navy, told by the bestselling author of Hannibal. When it was launched in 1918, the HMS Hood was the flagship of the Royal Navy. As a battle cruiser, &“The Mighty Hood&” was fast enough to evade enemy cruiser ships and powerful enough to destroy them. But for all the Hood&’s might, it had one fatal flaw: armor had been sacrificed for speed. In 1941, the Hood confronted the legendary German warship Bismarck. A salvo from the enemy penetrated the Hood&’s ammunition magazine, destroying the British ship and killing all but three of its crew. The brutal defeat marked the end of the Royal Navy&’s dominance. But it also inspired Winston Churchill&’s vow to sink the Bismarck—a vow that in time was fulfilled. Through oral history and documentary research, Ernle Bradford chronicles the Hood&’s career from design to demise, with colorful insight into life aboard the ship as well as its broader historical significance.
The Mighty Moo: The USS Cowpens and Her Epic World War II Journey from Jinx Ship to the Navy's First Carrier into Tokyo Bay
by Nathan CanestaroThe Mighty Moo is the tale of how a scrappy little World War II aircraft carrier and its untested crew earned a distinguished combat record and beat incredible odds to earn 12 battle stars in the Pacific. The USS Cowpens and her crew weren&’t your typical heroes. She was a flattop that the US Navy initially didn&’t want, with a captain nearly scapegoated for the loss of his last command, pilots who self-trained on the planes they would fly into combat, and sailors that had been in uniform barely longer than the ship had been afloat. Despite their humble origins, Cowpens and her band of second-string reservists and citizen sailors served with distinction, fighting in nearly every major carrier operation from 1943 to 1945, including the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. Together they faced a deadly typhoon that brought the ship to the verge of capsizing, and at war&’s end there was only one US aircraft carrier in Tokyo Bay to witness the Japanese surrender—The Mighty Moo. In the years to follow, Cowpens&’ service has become the wellspring for a remarkable modern tradition, both within the US Navy and the small Southern town that still celebrates her legacy with a festival every year. The Mighty Moo is a biography of a World War II aircraft carrier as told through the voices of its heroic crew—a &“Band of Brothers at sea.&”
The Mighty Warrior Kings: From the Ashes of the Roman Empire to the New Ruling Order
by Philip J. PotterThe epic victories and struggles of nine kings—from the restoration of the western Roman empire by Charlemagne to the battles of Robert the Bruce.The Mighty Warrior Kings traces the history of early Europe through the biographies of nine kings, who had the courage, determination and martial might to establish their dominance over the fragmented remnants of the Roman Empire. The book begins with Charlemagne, who united large regions of current-day France, Germany and Italy into the Holy Roman Empire and ends with Robert the Bruce, who gallantry defended Scotland against the attempted usurpation of England. There are many famous warrior kings in the book, including Alfred the Great of Wessex, whose victories over the Vikings led to the unification of England under a single ruler, William I of Normandy, whose triumph at Hastings in 1066 changed the course of English history, while Frederick I Barbarossa led his army to victory in Germany and Italy solidifying and expanding the lands under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Emperor. Among the lesser known monarchs discussed in the work are Cnut, whose victory at the battle of Ashingdon won the English crown and resulted in the creation of the North Sea Empire, which ruled over the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway, while during the reign of Louis IX of France the knights of Europe answered his call for the Seven Crusade to expel the Muslims from the Holy City of Jerusalem. From Charlemagne to Robert the Bruce, the warrior kings created a new Europe with a centralized power base and set the stage for the following Age of Absolutism.“A most fascinating account.” —Firetrench
Mignon
by James M. CainA Union army invalid meets a comely Louisiana rebel and never looks backThe Union has captured New Orleans, and Bill Cresap has come to reap the profits. A school friend has a line on some easy money, and Cresap is eager to turn carpetbagger. But when he lands in the Crescent City, still nursing a leg wound from Chancellorsville, he finds that his friend has vanished and taken their start-up capital with him. Just when despair threatens to overpower him, Mignon Fournet arrives to overwhelm him instead. A Creole widow with rebel sympathies and hopeful eyes, she has come to Cresap in desperate need. The army has arrested her father and she will do whatever it takes to find out where he’s detained and what he’s charged with. She begs Cresap to use his army connections to find him. Cresap soon discovers that Mignon’s father shipped supplies to the Confederate commander; he could pay for treason with his life. Dazzled by the flirtatious Mignon, Cresap agrees to help free him. Although the veteran’s army days are behind him, his war is just starting to heat up.
MIKE Force
by Shaun DarraghA soldier serving with the MIKE Force in Vietnam wakes every day knowing that it might be his last. You don't run with the indigenous Montagnard strikers expecting to live forever. That's the nature of the beast that haunts American advisors serving with the tough little tribal volunteers in Vietnam's misty, enemy-infested Central Highlands. It's a tough, demanding duty and just the kind of thing that attracts military mavericks like former Peace Corps volunteer Galen St. Cyr, who discovers empathy and a new, mystical identity with the Jarai tribesmen of his MIKE Force unit. St. Cyr finds himself on the outskirts of the regular US military along with hand-picked American, Australian, and Vietnamese Special Forces advisors and quickly discovers that duty with Montagnard soldiers involves more than just beating the bush and killing the enemy. The world of the Jarai is both primitive and complex, and learning to survive in it is the challenge of St. Cyr's turbulent life. On a journey that becomes as much spiritual as military, he virtually becomes Jarai, taking a hauntingly beautiful native lover who commands a squad of assassins and listens to spirit voices, and deals with tribal separatist elements who are planning an anti-government coup.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
by Adam Tooby Alexander MiladenovThe MiG-21, nicknamed 'Fishbed' by NATO, was the primary Soviet jet fighter from 1972 onward, opposing the F-15 Eagle and F-14 Tomcat worldwide in a variety of conflicts.The MiG-21 firmly holds the title of the world's most widely built and used jet fighter, with over 10,000 units rolling off the lines of three plants in the former Soviet Union. The type was also built under license in India and Czechoslovakia, and without license in China until the late 2000s. Designed as a Mach-2 light tactical fighter, its original prototype, the Ye-6/1, was first flown in 1958. The first production variant of the type, designated the MiG-21F, appeared in 1960 and its improved sub-variant, the MiG-21F-13 (Type 74, NATO reporting name Fishbed-C), was made available for export by 1961. It was a simplified daytime short-range, clear-weather interceptor and tactical fighter. The MiG-21F-13 featured a relatively weak armament of just two R-3S air-to-air missiles (AA-2 Atoll, a slightly improved reverse-engineered copy of the AIM-9B Sidewinder heat-seeking AAM) with an effective range at low altitude of between 0.27nm/0.5km and 1.1nm/2km. According to its pilots, the MiG-21F-13 was an excellent clear-day interceptor though it had limited combat radius and poor night capability. The light and agile aircraft was designed from the outset to intercept transonic/supersonic bombers and tactical fighters at all altitudes, up to 66,000ft. The MiG-21bis was the last version of the type that took the air for the first time in 1969, with the first production examples rolling off the line in 1972. The MiG-21bis featured a strengthened fuselage, optimised for low-level air combat and ground attack. It was powered by the upgraded R-25-300 turbojet, rated at 40.2kN (9,038lb) dry and 69.65kN (15,653lb) with reheat, featuring a three-minute emergency reheat rating of 97 kN (21,790 lb) at low level. Pilots noted, however, that the heavier 'bis' was much less agile than the MiG-21PF/PFM, and that it behaved like a "bull" in the air while flying the MiG-21PFM was like "riding a stallion." The MiG-21bis was a successful combination of a 1960s airframe and powerplant fitted with a 1970s-vintage analog avionics suite and modern dogfight missiles. By the mid-1980s, although it retained the principal shortcomings of its predecessors - limited operational radius and radar range, lack of beyond-visual-range missiles, poor pilot visibility, mediocre slow speed handling characteristics and high pilot workload, requiring hard training and concentration during the entire sortie - it proved to be an inexpensive and widely popular combat aircraft.
Mikoyan MiG-31: Interceptor (FlightCraft)
by Yefim Gordon Dmitriy KomissarovA history of this advanced Russian jet, including useful information for model makers. The MiG-31 started life as an advanced derivative of the famous MiG-25P interceptor, becoming the first Soviet fourth-generation combat aircraft. First flown in 1975, it differed from its progenitor primarily in having a crew of two (pilot and weapons systems operator), a highly capable passive phased-array radar—a world first—and new R-33 long-range missiles as its primary armament. The maximum speed was an impressive Mach 2.82, the cruising speed being Mach 2.35. The type entered service in 1981; more than 500 copies were built between 1981 and 1994. The powerful radar and other avionics allowed the MiG-31 to operate as a &“mini-AWACS&” scanning the airspace and guiding other interceptors to their targets; a flight of three such aircraft in line abreast formation could cover a strip 800 km (500 miles) wide. To this day the MiG-31 remains one of the key air defense assets of the Russian Air Force. This book describes the MiG-31&’s developmental history, including upgrade programs, and features a comprehensive survey of the MiG-31 model-making kits available on the market.
Mil Mi-24 Hind Gunship
by Ian Palmer Alexander MiladenovWith its distinctive double-cockpit design, the Mi-24 'Hind' is arguably the most recognizable war machine of the Cold War, and has achieved near-legendary status in the annals of military history. The first Soviet helicopter to function as both a gunship and an assault transport, it served extensively in Afghanistan, and is now employed by militaries across the world. Written by an expert on the 'Hind', and drawing on manufacturing and military sources, this book presents the Mi-24 in all of its brutal glory, from design and development to deployment and combat. Also included are a number of color plates showing the distinct paint schemes employed by various nations in a range of theaters and for different armies.
MIL' Mi-6/-26: Heavy-Lift Helicopters (Flightcraft Ser. #10)
by Yefim Gordon Dmitriy KomissarovDeveloped in the early 1950s to meet a Soviet Army requirement and first flown in June 1957, the Mi-6 was the largest-yet helicopter created in the Soviet Union. Its notable features included a power-plant consisting of two turbo-shaft engines (for the first time on a Soviet helicopter) and stub wings offloading the main rotor in forward flight; the cabin was big enough to accommodate artillery systems and tactical ballistic missiles. Built by two plants, the Mi-6 saw service with the Soviet Air Force (including participation in the Afghan War) and the air arms of several Soviet allies. It also proved valuable as a civil air-lifter during oilfield exploration in Siberia, remaining in service right the way up to 2002.A worthy successor to the Mi-6 appeared in 1977 the Mi-26. With its 20-ton payload, it was (and still is) the worlds largest and most capable transport helicopter. Again, the Mi-26 had both military and commercial uses (the former included participation in several armed conflicts); the type is still in production, being updated to meet modern requirements, and has been exported to several countries in Asia and Latin America.The book describes the history, variants and service career of the Mil big lifters and contains a detailed overview of the scale model kits covering these types which are currently available on the market.
Mila 18
by Leon UrisIn a bunker underneath 18 Mila Street, a determined band of Warsaw Jews resist Nazi occupiers Italian-American journalist Christopher de Monti finds himself in Nazi-controlled Warsaw before the outbreak of World War II. Though wined and dined by German officers eager for sympathetic coverage, de Monti's nose for the real story soon leads him to discover the terrifying conditions of the Warsaw ghettos and the Nazis' chilling plans for the ghettos' inhabitants. He soon comes to know the Jewish resistance movement and joins their courageous--if doomed--last stand. Mila 18 is one of Uris's most powerful and heartfelt novels and is the product of meticulous research of pre-WWII Warsaw. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Leon Uris including rare photos from the author's estate.
Milan Rastislav Štefánik: The Slovak National Hero and Co-Founder of Czechoslovakia (Routledge Histories of Central and Eastern Europe)
by Michal KšiňanThis is the first scientific biography of Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880–1919) that is focused on analysing the process of how he became the Slovak national hero. Although he is relatively unknown internationally, his contemporaries compared him “to Choderlos de Laclos for the use of military tactics in love affairs, to Lawrence of Arabia for vision, to Bonaparte for ambition … and to one of apostles for his conviction”. He played the key role in founding an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 through his relentless worldwide travels during the First World War in order to create the Czechoslovak army: he visited Serbia and Romania on the eve of invasion by the Central Powers, Russia before the February revolution, the United States after it declared the war to Germany, Italy dealing with the consequences of the defeat in Caporetto battle, and again Russia plunged into the Civil War. Several historical methods are used to answer this question such as social capital to explain his raise in French society, the charismatic leader to understand how he convinced and won over a relatively large number of people; more traditional political, military and diplomatic history to show his contribution to the founding of Czechoslovakia, and memory studies to analyse his extraordinary popularity in Slovakia. By mapping his intriguing life, the book will be of interest to scholars in a broad range of areas including history of Central Europe, especially Czechoslovakia, international relations, social history, French society at the beginning of the 20th century and biographical research.
The Miles M.52: Gateway to Supersonic Flight
by Eric Brown Dennis BancroftIn December 1943, a top secret contract (E.24/43) was awarded to Miles Aircraft. The contract was to build the world's first supersonic jet capable of 1000mph. The only reliable source of data on supersonic objects came from the Armament Research Dept and their wind tunnel tests on ammunition. From this, Miles developed an exceptionally thin-winged, bullet-shaped aircraft. the research was inexplicably passed to the Americans in 1944. By December 1945, one prototype was virtually complete. The second, destined for an attempt at the sound barrier was 80 per cent complete. In February 1946, Capt Eric Brown was confirmed as the test pilot and October 1946 was set for the supersonic trials. However, on 12 February 1946, Miles were ordered to stop production. No plausible explanation was given for the cancellation when Britain was within six months of breaking the sound barrier. Eric Brown and others directly involved including Dennis Bancroft, the Chief Aerodynamicist on the M.52, have now come together to try and finally solve the mystery behind the cancellation.