Pilotens instruktionsbog (Flight Manual) for føring af det amerikanske amfibiefly fra 2. verdenskrig, Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina.

One of the most widely-used multi-role Allied aircraft of WWII, Consolidated's PBY Catalina was a flying boat to be reckoned with. They were used as anti- submarine warfare platforms in the Atlantic, and gained notoriety in the Pacific as rescue and reconnaissance platforms, and as bombers. With their distinctive fuselages painted the shade of midnight, the "Black Cats" undertook daring raids of Japanese shipping and shore installations. Originally printed by the U.S. Navy during World War 2, this flight handbook taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Classified "Restricted," the manual was recently declassified and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been slightly reformatted. Care has been taken to preserve the integrity of the text.

About the Author: Barrett Thomas “Tom” Beard entered the Navy as an enlisted man in 1953 and completed flight training as a Navcad in 1955. With a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve, he flew operational missions—including carrier landings—in A-l Skyraiders and E-l Tracers. He qualified in more than a dozen other types of Navy aircraft, including F-9 Cougars. He served two tours as flight instructor in his ten years with the Navy. In 1965, following his return from a Vietnam tour at Yankee Station, Mr. Beard entered the Coast Guard. He flew in SAR operations in the HU-16E Albatross, the C-130 Hercules, and the HH-52A Seaguard. He qualified as a seaplane pilot, a shipboard helicopters pilot, and a Coast Guard standardization pilot, accumulating more than 6,000 military flight hours during his career. Mr. Beard holds an FAA airline transport pilot rating and a commercial helicopter rating, plus a Coast Guard master’s license for inspected vessels. After retiring in 1975, Mr. Beard returned to college, earning a master’s degree in history from Western Washington University in Bellingham. Following employment as a museum director, he turned back to the sea, in sailboats. Over the past twenty years, he and his wife, Carolyn, have sailed nearly 150,000 miles and visited about fifty countries as they’ve circled the world one and a half times. Mr. Beard takes vacations from these voyages to return home to research and write articles in his field of maritime history.

No one captures the drama of war as brilliantly as bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin! From the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to America’s first bold counterstrike against the Japanese on the beaches of Guadalcanal, this compelling story takes you to the front lines of victory and defeat—and into the very heart of courage, loyalty, and valor. It is a heroic story of pride and passion you will never forget...

The consolidated PBY Catalina was probably the most versatile and successful flying boat/amphibian ever built, serving not just with the US Army, Navy and Coast Guard during the Second World War, but also with the air forces of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the Danes, Free French and Norwegians as well as in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and elsewhere. With a remarkable lifting capacity and endurance, this long-range twin-engine aircraft could absorb a great deal of punishment and still return home after flights lasting an entire day and covering thousands of miles. It was employed as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, as a bomber and torpedo-bomber, as an anti submarine weapon, as a mine layer, as a special operations machine and as a search-and-rescue craft by day and night. It ferried stores, mail and people - many of them sick and injured - across the world's oceans. In this book Andrew Hendrie tells the story of the "Flying Cats", of their achievements and exploits, of the heroism of many of the crews and the problems they had to endure.

A compact guide to 70 of the most iconic aircraft to have shaped warfare over the last 100 years. Aviation has revolutionised warfare over the last 100 years, and this new pocket guide gives the reader the essential details of 70 iconic aircraft, including the Sopwith Camel, the Spitfire, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-51 Mustang and the F-4 Phantom. Drawing on Osprey's comprehensive aviation archive, Plane Spotter's Guide uses detailed profile artwork to illustrate and aid recognition, as well as specification boxes to provide all the technical details.