The Red Star and the Roundel are the symbols of organisations that share a century of existence, a century with a full quota of conflict as well as harmony. The Russian red star has maintained its impact in the hundred years since the Revolution. The Royal Air Force's red white and blue roundel has seen action in the air world-wide for the same period. Phil Wilkinson had forty years of Royal Air Force service--the final three and a half were in Russia. With this unusual double qualification, he examines the dynamics of the Russia-RAF relationship, sometimes as allies, sometimes as adversaries. Drawing on personal reminiscences, and on the recollections of surviving veterans of RAF service in Russia during the Second World War, as well as on official records from throughout this shared century, the narrative is sometimes light-hearted, sometimes sombre. It goes from brutal combat in the early years, to language difficulties later on; from innocent misunderstandings to deliberate deception; from cultural contrasts to aesthetic links. Perhaps the narrative's most worthwhile effect will be to draw the reader's comment: "Well, I didn't know that before." There is still a lot to learn--a century's worth.

Russian Red Star, RAF Roundel: symbols of radically different organisations, sharing a century of achievement and challenge as both allies and adversaries. The author links his own air force experiences, not least those from his time in Russia, to other personal recollections and to official records, to highlight the relationship's dynamics.

No single volume in English has ever appeared in the West dealing with this intriguing subject area, but now that restrictions have relaxed in the former Soviet Union, records of the deeds of the elite pilots of the various Soviet Air Forces are coming to light. Although initially equipped with very poor aircraft, and robbed of effective leadership thanks as much to Stalin's purges in the late 1930s as to the efforts of the Luftwaffe, Soviet fighter pilots soon turned the tables through the use of both lend-lease aircraft like the Hurricane, Spitfire, P-39 and P-40, and home-grown machines like the MiG-3, LaGG-3/5, Lavochkin La-5/7/9 and the Yak-1/3.

See hundreds of iconic military uniforms, insignias, and badges worn by armies, navies, and air forces all over the world during the Second World War.

This book, in two volumes, attempts to explain the technology developments that evolved in the period from 1900 at Kitty Hawk through the ensuing seventy-five years leading to the development of the United States F-16 Multinational Weapon System in the mid-1970s. By 2017, 4,550 F-16s, all with the first all-electric, fly-by-wire flight control system have been manufactured for use by twenty-six countries. Awestricken birds undoubtedly ask themselves, How do humans do that? as an F-16 streaks by at over two hundred times the airspeed of the bird. This book strives to provide the how-and-why answer to that fascinating story.

A review of history, antiquities and topography in the county.