All known combat claims and lossesMany personal accounts and memories of the battleIllustrated with new and rarely seen photographs Brian Cull and Frederick Galea’s definitive Fighters over Malta: Gladiators and Hurricanes 1940-1942 is a highly-detailed account of the gallant band of RAF and Commonwealth pilots who flew in defence of Malta between June 1940 and April 1942, when help in the guise of Spitfires finally arrived. Most of the Hurricanes, which held this tiny outpost of the British Empire in the heart of Axis-dominated territory, had been flown from the decks of aircraft carriers or from bases in North Africa, while a handful of fighter pilots arrived by Sunderland flying boats or other aircraft in transit from the UK via Gibraltar. Many of these pilots were inexperienced and quickly paid the supreme price, particularly when Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilots of the elite 7/JG26 arrived in Sicily in early 1941, and later in the year when JG53 made their presence felt. Important personal diaries and journals have come to light, and these have been widely quoted to provide the atmospheric background and thoughts and hopes of Hurricane pilots who defended Malta. Not all diarists survived, but their impressions provide a fitting tribute to their courage, aspirations and fears. Much of the early period of the air defence of Malta is enhanced by the personal experiences of Flt Lt (then Sgt Plt) James Pickering AFC, who flew Hurricanes with 261 Squadron.

For many years the importance and contribution of the Hawker Hurricane was eclipsed by the Spitfire but statistically the Hurricane was superior in the majority of cases. Thanks to Tommy Sopwiths initiative and gamble the Hurricane was ready at the outbreak of the Second World War and in service throughout.As this superbly researched book reveals by examining the roles, actions and personalities of ten Hurricane squadrons, this iconic aircraft was not only exceptionally robust but astonishingly versatile. We track its performance from the Battle of France and Britain through the Middle East, Italy and on to Burma. It excelled as day and night interceptor, intruder and importantly as a rocket firing tank buster.The Hurricane inspired great loyalty among its pilots and their colourful personalities and thrilling experiences make this splendid book an informative and entertaining read.

The author and WWII fighter pilot offers a firsthand look at an RAF squadron’s harrowing fate in this candid combat memoir. Before he became a prolific author of history and fiction, Terence Kelly served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, flying Hawker Hurricanes in combat against the Japanese. Hurricanes Over the Jungle is Kelly’s personal account of what happened to the twenty-two pilots of No. 258 Squadron, RAF, after leaving Scotland in late October 1941. One hundred and twenty days later, all those who had not been killed became prisoners of the Japanese. This heartbreaking story takes readers to the final defense of Singapore and then on to Sumatra and Java. In his vivid narrative, Kelly recaptures the atmosphere of squadron life, the bitter aerial engagements with the Japanese enemy, and the hostile jungle terrain over which they fought. For its honest depiction of front line combat, and its criticism of British and Allied failures that resulted in lost lives, Hurricane Over the Jungle offers an important perspective on the Pacific Theater of World War II.

At the beginning of 1941, the strategically vital port of Tobruk and its Allied garrison was under siege from Rommel's troops and the Luftwaffe and Italian Regia Aeronautica. The only air defence standing in the way was a handful of RAF Hurricane pilots, supported by their RAAF and SAAF colleagues.

A celebration of the renowned WWII aircraft and the aviators who flew them—includes rare photographs. The Hawker Hurricane, together with the Spitfire, is the most famous aircraft of the Second World War. Many pilots, including Douglas Bader, thought it was superior to the Spit—but together they saved Britain from Nazi invasion and possible defeat. Adrian Stewart has produced a gloriously atmospheric and nostalgic book capturing the spirit of these great aircraft and the pilots who flew them. It tracks the aircraft as it was developed and improved, and follows it to the many theaters of the war where it saw service. Among the lesser-known are Burma and hazardous convoy protection in the Arctic and Mediterranean, flying from makeshift carriers. This book will fascinate specialist aviation historians and those who enjoy a rattling good war story, and includes a superb selection of rare photographs.

Covers the German drive toward the East as the United States becomes involved in World War II.

Canadian-born flying ace Raymond Collishaw (1893–1976) served in Britain’s air forces for twenty-eight years. As a pilot in World War I he was credited with sixty-one confirmed kills on the Western Front. When World War II began in 1939, Air Commodore Collishaw commanded a Royal Air Force group in Egypt. It was in Egypt and Libya in 1940–41, during the Britain’s Western Desert campaign, that he demonstrated the tenets of an effective air-ground cooperation system. Flying to Victory examines Raymond Collishaw’s contribution to the British system of tactical air support—a pattern of operations that eventually became standard in the Allied air forces and proved to be a key factor in the Allied victory. The British Army and Royal Air Force entered the war with conflicting views on the issue of air support that hindered the success of early operations. It was only after the chastening failure of Operation Battleaxe in June 1941, fought according to army doctrine, that Winston Churchill shifted strategy on the direction of future air campaigns—ultimately endorsing the RAF's view of mission and target selection. This view adopted principles of air-ground cooperation that Collishaw had demonstrated in combat. Author Mike Bechthold traces the emergence of this strategy in the RAF air campaign in Operation Compass, the first British offensive in the Western Desert, in which Air Commodore Collishaw’s small force overwhelmed its Italian counterpart and disrupted enemy logistics. Flying to Victory details the experiences that prepared Collishaw so well for this campaign and that taught him much about the application of air power, especially how to work effectively with the army and Royal Navy. As Bechthold shows, these lessons learned altered the Allied approach to tactical air support and, ultimately, changed the course of the Second World War.