Halifax Wellington by Chaz Bowyer & Armand van Ishoven lands on the |> SALE <| shelves in my shop.
The Promotional Reprint Company Limited, 1994, Hardback in dust wrapper.
First in this edition. [First: In two volumes by Ian Allan, as Halifax at War by Brian J. Rapier in 1987 and Wellington at War by Chaz Bowyer in 1982. ] Jacket illustration: The first squadron to operate the type, No. 35 Squadron, took part in many famous bombing raids with the Handley Page Halifax. This well known study is of a Halifax B. ll Series I of the squadron, which was shot down on the night of 28/29 August 1942. Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Facsimiles; Diagrams; Maps; Tables;
From the cover: Here are two aeroplanes quite different in their size and purpose. They were, however, the backbone of RAF Bomber Command in the early years of the Second World War, before being to some extent displaced by later types.
HALIFAX
From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good lord deliver us this Tudor prayer could easily have been uttered by the besieged inhabitants of German cities such as Hamburg and Hannover, as Allied bombs rained down upon them.
In the four-engined bomber department, Handley Pages Halifax bore the brunt, alongside the Avro Lancaster, of Bomber Harris strategic air offensive against Nazi Germany. Over 6,000 were built, running to more than 20 variants. Between 1941 and 1945, Halifaxes dropped over 227,000 tons of bombs on Axis targets, and flew almost 80,000 sorties.
This most versatile but much-maligned aircraft played its part in a wide variety of roles and theatres of operations from the flak-torn night skies over north-west Europe, to the swirling sands of the North African desert; from the bleak watery wastes of the North Atlantic, to top-secret cloak and dagger operations.
Former Halifax crewmen add their recollections to the visual history provided here by the impressive selection of contemporary photographs and tone profiles. This formula provides a fascinating insight into the life and times of a famous warplane, and of those who flew in Halifaxes.
WELLINGTON
The Vickers Wellington was RAF Bomber Commands leading twin-engined medium bomber in its day, which was from the outbreak of war until 1943, and from then on the Wellingtons specialised variants went on in service through the war period and beyond until the last one, a trainer, in 1953.
It was remarkable for its geodetic structure a feature of construction developed by Dr. Barnes Wallis, that made the airframe capable of sustaining enormous punishment, and yet survive the journey back to the base.
Introduced in October 1938, and therefore contemporary with Hurricanes and Spitfires (in that they were all types already on delivery to the RAF on the day that war broke out), Wellingtons were bombing enemy shipping at Wilhelmshaven on the very next day after Britain came into the war.
Variants of the Wellington ran from Mk. I to Mk. XVIII, powered by a wide variety of engines. Long range general reconnaissance bombers with Coastal Command, torpedo-bombers, transports its varied roles and theatres of operation (Britain, Middle East, North Africa, Italy and India) explain why total production was over 11,000 machines.
One act of bravery concerning a Wellington earned a VC for one of its crew, following his extraordinary feat of climbing out onto a blazing wing in flight, and somehow preventing the spread of the engine fire, which eventually burnt itself out. After he climbed back in, everyone in the Wellington got home safely.
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper otherwise a very well presented copy.
Pictorial boards. 256 pages. Bibliography. 11¾” x 8¾”.
This book will be eventually reach my delightful website…(added to my Military Air Force category.) but get 60% off buying from this very blog blog… Buy it now for just £2.60 + P&P! Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!
BookLovers of Bath 