Search results for ""Author Clive Rowley""

It has been 80 years since the largest seaborne invasion in military history but D-Day could not have happened without the Royal Air Force. When the dramatic events of June 6, 1944, are retold the courage of British and Commonwealth pilots and aircrew is seldom mentioned yet the dangerous missions they flew were vital to Operation Overlord's success. To mark the 80th anniversary of arguably the war's most crucial turning point, the author recounts stories of quiet bravery and individual heroism high above the blood-soaked beaches and landing grounds of France, illustrated through a combination of rare period photographs and beautiful aviation art. D-Day RAF: The RAF's Part in the Great Invasion presents the very human face of the air force''s role in the Normandy landings, and looks in detail at the types flown in support of them, from Supermarine Spitfire fighters and Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers to A-20 Boston and Avro Lancaster bombers. D-Day RAF: The RAF's Part in the Great Inva

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For forty-four years, Clive Rowley flew with the Royal Air Force and for thirty-one of those years he specialised as an air defence fighter pilot. Such was his love of fast fighter aircraft that, in order to stay flying, he transferred to Specialist Aircrew terms of service, relinquishing any chance of further promotion above his rank of squadron leader. During those years Clive flew Lightnings, Hawks and Tornado F.3s but, perhaps more intriguingly, for eleven years he flew Hurricanes and Spitfires with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), the RAF's, if not the world's most famous 'warbird' display team, which he ultimately led and commanded. Many readers will have watched him, perhaps unknowingly, as he flew these iconic aircraft, often alongside the Lancaster, at air shows and large-scale commemorations around the UK and Europe. During the Cold War Clive flew the BAC Lightning from Gutersloh in Germany and in the UK, becoming an expert in the art of air combat in the process. Then for sixteen years he flew the Tornado F.3 as the RAF moved into expeditionary operations. Packed with humorous and often hair-raising anecdotes, but also revealing the shock and sorrow he felt at the deaths of friends and colleagues, this book is a highly detailed account of life as a fighter pilot in the RAF in the last three decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Clive is open about the fears he sometimes felt in this dangerous world and how he allayed them to continue flying for more than four decades. This book is illustrated with wonderful photographs from his time on the front line as well as with the BBMF, many of which have never been published before. If you have ever wondered what it is like to fly supersonic jet fighters, like the Lightning and the Tornado F.3, or iconic 'warbirds', such as the Hurricane and Spitfire, Clive Rowley brings you into those cockpits and shares his experiences.

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