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John Grehan

Alexander Nicoll

A pictorial history of America’s response to Pearl Harbor, with “hundreds of photos of the various stages of the raid” (ModelingMadness).

On April 1, 1942, less than four months after the world was stunned by the attack on Pearl Harbor, sixteen US aircraft took to the skies to exact retribution. Their objective was not merely to attack Japan, but to bomb its capital. The people of Tokyo, who had been told that their city was invulnerable from the air, would be bombed and strafed—and the shock waves from the raid would extend far beyond the explosions of the bombs.

The raid had first been suggested in January 1942 as the US was still reeling from Japan’s preemptive strike against the US Pacific Fleet. The Americans were determined to fight back—as quickly as possible. The 17th Bomb Group (Medium) was chosen to provide the volunteers who would crew the sixteen specially modified North American B-25 bombers. As it was not possible to reach Tokyo from any US land bases, the bombers would have to fly from aircraft carriers, but it was impossible for such large aircraft to land on a carrier; the men had to volunteer for a one-way ticket.

Led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the seventy-one officers and 130 enlisted men embarked on the USS Hornet, which was shielded by a large naval task force—and set out on their mission, which would ultimately jolt the Japanese out of their complacency. This is the full story of this remarkable operation and the men and machines involved, told through a fascinating collection of photographic images.

Air World

Images of Aviation

The Doolittle Raid: The First Air Attack Against Japan, April 1942

Graham M. Simons

The author of Boeing 707 Group: A History delivers “a stunning study in early French aviation design with a plethora of aircraft” (IPMS/USA).
 
 France has been called the cradle of aviation by many—a fact that cannot be disputed, although some have tried. By the end of the 19th century, she led the world in lighter-than-air flight. Any concern about heavier-than-air flight was dismissed as inevitable, and France would achieve it in due course.
 
 France was also the first nation to stage air exhibitions. Unlike their counterparts in Britain, Germany and America, French designers were thoroughly entrepreneurial and tried a wide variety of adventurous styles from pusher to canard and monoplane to multiplane. In 1909 the first Air Show was held at the Grand Palais in what was to become an enduring tradition. Every year, the aircraft exhibitions were a massive success.
 
 It is not surprising that all this derring-do, all these technological achievements and all this innovation drew reporters and photographers like moths to a flame. The men, the machines, the places and the events all were recorded, reported, reproduced and then were filed away. Hundreds of images appeared in print, but thousands were printed up only as contact prints from large-format glass negatives and then disappeared into albums to be forgotten about. In the mid-1990s the author came across one such treasure-trove; a number of dust-covered albums containing around five hundred images of aircraft, airships and expositions—it is doubtful if most have appeared in print before, so this will probably be the first time the events of these French pioneers have ever been showcased.

Early French Aviation, 1905–1930

“Stuffed with great images . . . and perfectly detailed information, superbly illustrating one of the first major international crises of the Cold War.” —Vintage Airfix
 
 During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, Stalin decided to make the Allied hold on West Berlin untenable by shutting down all the overland routes used to keep the city supplied. The choice faced by the Allies was a stark one—let Berlin fall, or risk war with the Soviets by breaking the Soviet stranglehold. In a remarkably visionary move, the Allies decided that they could keep Berlin supplied by flying over the Soviet blockade, thus avoiding armed conflict with the USSR.
 
 On 26 June 1948, the Berlin Airlift began. Throughout the following thirteen months, more than 266,600 flights were undertaken by the men and aircraft from the US, France, Britain and across the Commonwealth, which delivered in excess of 2,223,000 tons of food, fuel and supplies in the greatest airlift in history.
 
 The air-bridge eventually became so effective that more supplies were delivered to Berlin than had previously been shipped overland and Stalin saw that his bid to seize control of the German capital could never succeed. At one minute after midnight on 12 May 1949, the Soviet blockade was lifted, and the Soviet advance into Western Europe was brought to a shuddering halt.
 
 “The book is packed full of fascinating photographs detailing the huge variety of aircraft involved in the airlift, each accompanied by detailed explanations and text. The book is a fitting tribute to the aircrew who lost their lives in this incredible operation.” —Army Rumour Service (ARRSE)

The Berlin Airlift: The World's Largest Ever Air Supply Operation