Search results for ""Author Martyn R. Ford-Jones""

This book is based on the World War II diaries of Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer Reg Heffron. The reader follows Heffron through initial training, his wartime posting to No.622 Squadron, and the fear and trials of operational flying, off duty antics, training rookie crews, and finally, the joyous return home to his family in Australia.

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During the Second World War, thousands of young men volunteered for service with the Royal Air Force. Some of these became fighter pilots, but a great many more were destined to be trained as members of bomber aircrew; pilots, navigators, wireless operators, bomb aimers, air gunners and flight engineers. On completion of their training a number of these men were posted to XV Squadron, a highly regarded frontline bomb squadron which had been formed during the First World War. Bomber Squadron -Men Who Flew with XV relates the personal stories of a small number of these men, giving an insight to their anxious moments when flying on operational sorties, staring death in the face in the form of enemy night-fighters and ground fire, and relaxing with them during their off-duty hours. The book also reveals the motivations, emotions and personal attitudes of these men, who flew into combat on an almost nightly basis. Their stories encompass the whole six years of the war, over which period XV Squadron flew a range of different bomber aircraft including Fairey Battles, Bristol Blenheims, Vickers Wellingtons, Short Stirlings and Avro Lancasters.

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Oxford's Own is the story of No.15/XV Squadron, Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force, of the men who served with it and the aircraft it flew. It is a story of determination, courage, fortitude and life. The life of a Squadron at war and play, embroidered together with the lives of hundreds of young men from varying backgrounds and the four quarters of the Globe. The story begins with the formation of No.15 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, on the 1st March 1915, at South Farnborough, Hampshire and follows the fates and fortunes of the men and machines who served during the Great War, between December 1915 and December 1919. Reformed in March 1924, the Squadron provided valuable service as part of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, for over ten years. Declared a day bomber Squadron in June 1934, No.15 adopted the use of the Roman numerals XV, which are today still carried on its aircraft. In April 1939, the Squadron was adopted by the city of Oxford and was unofficially known as "Oxford's 'Own'". The Second World War brought major expansion and changes in equipment. Battles, Wellingtons, Stirlings and Lancasters all saw service with No.XV Squadron. The post World War II era led to the Squadron being equipped with Avro Lincoln bombers, followed in succession by American built B-29s, known to the RAF as the Washington bomber. The jet age brought in turn the Canberra, Victor, Buccaneer and Panavia Tornado. Complete with seventeen appendices and illustrated with nearly 800 black and white and colour photographs from the Squadron's own albums, the Mildenhall Register, the author's collection and many private sources.

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