A tiny nation has been transformed into a devastating threat to global peace by the awesome technology of war. The lives of 300 captured Americans dangle by threads clutched in the fist of a ruthless despot. Diplomacy is futile when dealing with an unprecedented madman and his minions. A superpower has been pushed to the breaking point. The time has come for the use of force. And the last desperate hope of a great nation held hostage lies with the best and the brightest of the U.S. Air Force--and in an impossible rescue mission that will lead them through the fiery gates of Hell.

This is the story of military aviation in Rhodesia from the romantic days of 'bush' flying in the 1920s and '30s-when aircraft were refueled from jerrycans and landing grounds were often the local golf course-to the disbandment of the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) on Zimbabwean independence in 1980. In 1939 the tiny Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF) became the first to take up battle stations even before the outbreak of the Second World War. The three Rhodesian squadrons served with distinction in East Africa, the Western Desert, Italy and Western Europe. At home Rhodesia became a vast training ground for airmen from across the Empire-from Britain, the Commonwealth and even Greece. After the war, Rhodesia, on a negligible budget, rebuilt its air force, equipping it with Ansons, Spitfires, Vampires, Canberras, Hunters and Alouettes. Following UDI, the unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965, international sanctions were imposed, resulting in many remarkable and groundbreaking innovations, particularly in the way of ordnance. The bitter 'bush war' followed in the late 1960s and '70s, with the RhAF in the vanguard of local counterinsurgency operations and audacious preemptive strikes against vast guerrilla bases in neighboring Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana and as far afield as Angola and Tanzania. With its aging fleet, including C-47 'Dakotas' that had been at Arnhem, the RhAF was able to wreak untold havoc on the enemy, Mugabe's ZANLA and Nkomo's ZIPRA. The late author took over 30 years in writing this book; the result is a comprehensive record that reflects the pride, professionalism and dedication of what were some of the world's finest airmen of their time. The late Beryl Salt was born in London in 1931. She emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1952 to get married in Salisbury, where her two sons were born. In 1953 she joined the Southern Rhodesian Broadcasting Services (later the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, the RBC). With a love of history she wanted to find out as much as she could about her new country. This interest led to radio dramas and feature programmes, followed by several books: School History Text Book, The Encyclopaedia of Rhodesia and The Valiant Years, a history of the country as seen through the newspapers. She also produced a dramatized radio series about the Rhodesian Air Force. In 1965 she left the RBC and spent three years with the Ministry of Information, following which she was a freelance writer/broadcaster involved in a wide variety of projects until 1980 when she moved to Cape Town. She died in England in November 2001.

Unstoppable and deadly, this is the gripping story of some of the most feared soldiers in the war The daring, courage and skill of the highly-trained men who spearheaded German assaults in the blitzkrieg of 1940, dropping from the air to seize and overwhelm key invasion points, showed to an alarmed world that a new dimension had been added to the science of warfare. One spectacular success was the invasion and capture of Crete in May 1941, all be it achieved at a terrible price. The German paratroopers were an elite, justifying again and again their great reputation for courage and hard fighting in Russia, North Africa and Italy. Bestselling military historian James Lucas has researched deeply in Allied and German archives and interviewed many of the leading members of the Fallschirmjaegar who survived the war. This is an unmissable and dramatic account of the Second World War’s most frightening elite, perfect for readers of James Holland and Max Hastings.

Beginning in 1942, the Eighth Air Force began a precision bombing raid offensive deep into Nazi Germany, embarking from bases in rural England. Nearly 350,000 Americans were transplanted to English soil, joining their British colleagues for this joint Allied offensive. For many it was a period of great risk, and arguably the greatest adventure of their lives. With Wings As Eagles celebrates the heroics of these pilots and their missions. A lavishly illustrated, full-color, hardcover original, the narrative is the result of the author’s exclusive interviews with many of the pilots and crew, as well as research from contemporary diaries, journals, and scrapbooks. Readers relive the nostalgia and vivid reminiscences — of days of seemingly endless boredom and fatigue, the loneliness of soaring in an aluminum cocoon four miles over an intended target, and a surprising account of parachuting onto German soil and being captured by women and children. With Wings As Eagles relives the drama and history of an heroic era.

This is the story of the air war over Western Europe, told first hand by the American and German pilots and aircrew who took part. It spans the period between 1942 and 1945 and covers the encounters between the audacious Luftwaffe fighter pilots and the Fortress and Liberator bomber crews of the American 8th Air Forces flying from East Anglia. Many unique experiences are recounted from both the night and day bombing raids that were hurled against Hitlers war machine. What was it like to fly through the dense flak over the Ruhr and against the German Experten and to be hit by machine gun and cannon fire from Focke Wulf 190s and Bf 109s? How did so many badly damaged bombers manage to struggle back, against all odds, to their East Anglian bases? The author has sought the experiences of German fighter pilots, who explain how they stalked their prey in the sky over the Reich and how they pounced on their four engine victims from 12 oclock high. This book contains vivid accounts of some of the most heroic actions in the history of air warfare and contains many previously unpublished action photographs.

The former commander of the Israeli Air Force recounts his own rise from the ranks, the growth of his air force from pre-Independence secrecy to precision invincibility, and the struggle for men, material, and Israel's survival

A Wall Street Journal national security reporter takes readers into the lives of frontline U.S. special operations troops fighting to keep the Taliban and Islamic State from overthrowing the U.S.-backed government in the final years of the war in Afghanistan. A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “Powerful, important, and searing." —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (ret.), former commander, U.S. Central Command, former CIA director In 2015, the White House claimed triumphantly that “the longest war in American history” was over. But for some, it was just the beginning of a new war, fought by Special Operations Forces, with limited resources, little governmental oversight, and contradictory orders. With big picture insight and on-the-ground grit, Jessica Donati shares the stories of the impossible choices these soldiers must make. After the fall of a major city to the Taliban that year, Hutch, a battle-worn Green Beret on his fifth combat tour was ordered on a secret mission to recapture it and inadvertently called in an airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing dozens. Caleb stepped on a bomb during a mission in notorious Sangin. Andy was trapped with his team during a raid with a crashed Black Hawk and no air support. Through successive policy directives under the Obama and Trump administrations, America came to rely almost entirely on US Special Forces, and without a long-term plan, failed to stabilize Afghanistan, undermining US interests both at home and abroad. Eagle Down is a riveting account of the heroism, sacrifice, and tragedy experienced by those that fought America’s longest war.