The Pilot And The Commando tells the stories of David Carter MBE (a Fleet Air Arm pilot) and his close friend Jos Nicholl MC (an Army commando), giving fresh and vivid insights into what it meant to be a young man on active service in the Second World War, fighting in places as remote as Ceylon, Africa, Madagascar, Yugoslavia and Albania. Major events in which they participated also included the sinking of the Ark Royal off Gibraltar, the Allied landings at Salerno and the liberation of Sicily and Italy. A final chapter puts their wartime service into the context of their later lives. The Pilot And The Commando is much more, however, than just a stirring commemoration of bravery in action. Both David and Jos were committed Christians, and the book (much helped by the use of diaries and letters) has as its central theme the testing and strengthening of their faith through times of deep adversity. Writing of his experiences soon after the war, Jos Nicholl concluded: I have found that Jesus Christ provides the inspiration for every possible occasion or need. He can act as guide and helper and comforter, but primarily He can be the driving force in a life that is devoted to Him, and with this compelling power behind them it becomes true in practice that the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits These words find complete exemplification in The Pilot And The Commando. David and Joss story is both uplifting and challenging.

With the 100th anniversary of his birth on September 7, 2015 Dick Cole has long stood in the powerful spotlight of fame that has followed him since his B-25 was launched from a Navy carrier and flown toward Japan just four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In recognition the tremendous boost Doolittle’s Raid gave American morale, members of The Tokyo Doolittle Raiders were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in May 2014. Doolittle’s Raid was only the opening act of Cole’s flying career during the war. When that mission was complete and all of the 16 aircraft had crash-landed in China, many of the survivors were assigned to combat units in Europe. Cole remained in India after their rescue and was assigned to Ferrying Command, flying the Hump of the Himalayas for a year in the world’s worst weather, with inadequate aircraft, few aids to navigation, and inaccurate maps. More than 600 aircraft with their crews were lost during this monumental effort to keep China in the war, but Cole survived and rotated home in 1943. He was home just a few months when he was recruited for the First Air Commandos and he returned to India to participate in Project 9, the aerial invasion of Burma.

Project 9: The Birth of the Air Commandos in World War II is a thoroughly researched narrative of the Allied joint project to invade Burma by air. Beginning with its inception at the Quebec Conference of 1943 and continuing through Operation Thursday until the death of the brilliant British General Orde Wingate in March 1944, less than a month after the successful invasion of Burma, Project 9 details all aspects of this covert mission, including the selection of the American airmen, the procurement of the aircraft, the joint training with British troops, and the dangerous night-time assault behind Japanese lines by glider. Based on review of hundreds of documents as well as interviews with surviving Air Commandos, this is the history of a colorful, autonomous, and highly effective military unit that included some of the most recognizable names of the era. Tasked by the General of the Army Air Forces, H. H. “Hap” Arnold, to provide air support for British troops under the eccentric Major General Wingate as they operated behind Japanese lines in Burma, the Air Commandos were breaking entirely new ground in operational theory, tactics, and inter-Allied cooperation. Okerstrom’s in-depth research and analysis in Project 9 shed light on the operations of America’s first foray into special military operations, when these heroes led the way for the formation of modern special operations teams such as Delta Force and Seal Team Six.

A collection of commando tales where the courage and skill of the RAF pilots and ground crews during Second World War forms the backdrop.

'Corporal Baird was a modern-day warrior who set a standard that every soldier aspires to achieve.' - GENERAL DAVID HURLEY On 22 June 2013, Corporal Cameron Baird was a 2nd Commando Regiment Special Forces soldier when he led his platoon into a known Taliban stronghold to back-up another Australian unit under heavy fire. In the pronged firefight, Cameron was mortally wounded. In 2014, Cameron's bravery and courage under fire saw him posthumously awarded the 100th Victoria Cross, our highest award possible for bravery in the presence of the enemy. Cameron Baird died how he lived - at the front, giving it his all, without any indecision. He will forever be remembered by his mates and the soldiers he served with in the 2nd Commando Regiment. THE COMMANDO reveals Cameron's life, from young boy and aspiring AFL player, who only missed out on being drafted because of injury, to exemplary soldier and leader. Cameron's story and that of 4RAR and 2nd Commando personifies the courage and character of the men and women who go to war and will show us the good man we have lost.

Raymond Mitchell, already a veteran of Sicily and Salerno, served as a Despatch Rider (DR) with 41 Royal Marines Commando throughout the North-West Europe campaign. Fortunately he considered his position in the military hierarchy as too lowly for the ban on keeping diaries to apply to him. As a result, Commando Despatch Rider is both an accurate and atmospheric record of one man's war seen from an unusual perspective. Use of the Unit's War Diary and contemporary records gives this war story a broader dimension.

"A special acknowledgment goes to Madonna Yancey for writing the manuscript for the front of this publication"--P.4.