BOOK SIGNING NEWS IWM Duxford Sunday May 26th

Forwarded message From: SIMON WATSON 

Book Signing News

Location: The Aviation Bookshop

Venue: IWM Duxford

Date: Sunday May 26th

Authors & Aircrew veterans will be present to sign copies at The Aviation Bookshop stand from 10.30am

Victor Boys

Tony Blackman

The Handley Page Victor was the third of the three V Bombers and the most long lasting, serving in the RAF until 1993, and still doing invaluable service in the first Iraq war. Moreover, in 1982 it was only the Victor tanker fleet based on Ascension Island that made possible the Vulcan Black Buck bombing of Port Stanley airfield and the long-range reconnaissance of Argentina by Nimrods.

Victor Boys tells the story of all the great things that were achieved, recounted first hand by the operators themselves, aircrew and ground crew. Starting with accounts by test pilot Johnny Allam, who undertook the major development of the aircraft, through its work as a nuclear bomber during the cold war, testing Blue Steel in Australia, to its superb work during the Falklands war and later as a first class air-to-air refuelling tanker and vital support tool for fighters and other aircraft.

Published to co-incide with the Victor's 60th anniversary, the gripping text is superbly illustrated with photographs from the operators themselves, never released before.

The stories are collated and set in context by Tony Blackman, ex chief test pilot of Avros who helped develop the Vulcan and initiated the development of the Victor K2 tanker. For him, initially, the Victor seemed a competitor but he now readily admits what a wonderful aircraft the Victor became.

The Bomber Command Memorial – We Will Remember Them

Robin Gibb, Jim Dooley, Gordon Rayner, Steve Darlow and Sean Feast.

55,573 members of Bomber Command lost their lives during the Second World War, yet

no Campaign Medal was awarded and their bravery and sacrifice went largely

unrecognised. At last this was corrected with the erection of the Bomber Command

Memorial in Green Park, London, in 2012. The journey from the initial idea to the

unveiling of the memorial was a long and complex one for those involved and 'The

Bomber Command Memorial - We Will Remember Them' tells the story of the campaign;

locating a site, obtaining permission, raising the funds, designing the memorial, and the

opening ceremony. The book also tells the remarkable story of Bomber Command from

the viewpoint of those who took part, and veterans reflect on the experiences they had

and what the memorial means to them. All the royalties for the book go the Bomber

Command Memorial Fund registered charity.

(The official commemorative book of the Bomber Command Memorial

Bomber Command Operation Hurricane

Marc Hall

On the 14 and 15 October 1944 RAF Bomber Command unleashed one of the Second World War's

most devastating bombardments, targeting the German industrial city of Duisburg. Known as

Operation Hurricane, Bomber Command's maximum effort involved approximately one thousand

four-engine heavy bombers on each attack, delivering a whirlwind assault on the enemy's war

machine as the Allied armies edged eastwards towards the Nazi homeland. Never before had the

city faced such a massive onslaught – the resulting devastation was unprecedented. This is the

story of Operation Hurricane from RAF Bomber Command's perspective, and that of the numerous

crews who flew, fought, and failed to return. Each of the aircraft lost has been investigated in

depth; the lives of the crews, the circumstances of their loss, and the identification of the airmen

and their respective crash sites. The author also details the investigation into the brutal murder of

one particular airman. Marc Hall, a relative of one of those lost on the raid, has pieced together a

comprehensive account of this historic attack, utilising a wealth of eyewitness accounts and

veteran and prisoners-of-war recollections, accompanied by numerous previously unpublished

photographs.Bomber Command Operation Hurricane

Dam Busters Failed to Return

by Robert Owen, Steve Darlow, Sean Feast, Arthur Thorning

On the night of 16/17 May 1943 a select group of young RAF Bomber Command airmen

carried out one of the most audacious and daring low level raids of the Second World

War. Nineteen aircrews of No.617 Squadron, flying modified Avro Lancasters, each armed

with a 'bouncing bomb', were detailed to attack specific dams, viewed as essential to

Germany's war effort. Two were indeed breached in an extraordinary display of skill and

courage, but at a cost of eight Lancasters lost. Of the 56 airmen flying these aircraft, 53

were killed and 3 were captured.

In Dam Busters Failed to Return Fighting High Publishing brings together notable

Bomber Command historians to recount the lives of some of the Dam Busters who were

lost that fateful night. Drawing upon family archives, official documents, wartime

memoirs and letters, flying logbooks, and relative and witness recollections, and

illustrated throughout with colour and black and white photographs and documents, the

authors piece together the extraordinary, gripping, yet ultimately tragic stories of these

select young men.

Simon Watson
The Aviation Bookshop
31-33 Vale Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN1 1BS
England
Tel: 01892 539284
Mobile: 07791 279154
www.aviation-bookshop.com