The recent 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain combined with the threat of significant cuts to the current RAF have highlighted the importance of Fighter Command in the early days of World War II once more. The role of the few as described by Churchill during the Battle of Britain has been the subject of much mythologizing both at the time & in the years since. This title will put Fighter Command in context; describing the lack of funding & attention which it received during the interwar period until it was almost too late. The myth of the fighter pilot will be humanized with first-hand accounts"ed which put nervous but brave human beings from all walks of life in the cockpit. Although the Battle of Britain may not have in itself been the decisive encounter that it has historically been portrayed as the moral victory won by the RAF the victory that proved that Germany could be defeated was just as important as a military-strategic victory. ...

In 1968 a decision was made to combine the RAF Commands that had become famous in World War Two. Thus Fighter Bomber Coastal Air Support & Signals Commands were combined into the single Strike Comm&. This amalgamation was to see service throughout the remaining years of the Cold War & action in the Falklands & the Middle East in Operations Desert Shield Desert Storm & Granby. This book looks at the origins of the World War Two Commands & their outline histories until 1968. The organisational change caused re-equipment base changes & increasing economic constraints
- an all-too familiar story. The Royal Navy was now responsible for the UKs nuclear deterrent in the form of their Polaris submarines so the RAFs V-Bomber Force were now relegated to tanker operations with the exception of the lone Vulcan that was sent to the Falklands conflict. The Commands fleet of fast jets became more adaptable with single types able to assume the roles of fighter bomber reconnaissance & maritime attack. The aircraft also become multi-national in their design & manufacture as Britains post-war lead in aircraft design had been frittered away by years of thoughtless government & our aircraft manufacturing devolved into a single company. Apart from the brilliant Harrier which the US continues to develop & build other aircraft flown by the Command were from European syndicates the Tornado & Jaguar being examples. The US supplied the transports in the form of the faithful Hercules & Europe most of the helicopter fleet. This book looks at the operations that took place during Strike Commands existence the aircraft they flew & the men who flew them. It is a tribute to the fast-dwindling strike power of the Royal Air Force.
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Designed by illusionist Jasper Maskelyne RAF Tempsford was constructed to give overflying enemy aircraft the impression it was disused. Nothing could be further from the truth
- just after dusk on moonlit nights either side of the full moon planes from the 138 & 161 Squadrons would take off on top secret missions to the heart of the war-torn Continent. They had to fly low & without lights in order to identify drop zones & deliver the supplies & secret agents that would help the resistance forces liberate Europe. But despite the attention of Churchill & George VI the airfields secrets have long remained an untold chapter in the story of the war. Based on over a decades extensive research RAF Tempsford: Churchills Most Secret Airfield is filled with intrigue suspense heartbreak & humour. It is a fascinating account of a deadly serious business.
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The uprising in Libya in the spring of 2011 took the world by surprise. The Gaddafi regimes brutal attempts at suppressing the uprising however soon prompted the international community to respond. NATO agreed to impose a no-fly zone across Libya which was led by Britain France & the USA. For the British Prime Minister David Cameron the deployment of RAF & Royal Navy assets in support of UN Resolution 1973 came at a time when severe cuts to the UKs defence spending were in the process of being enacted. With the Royal Navy aircraft carriers & their Harrier jets no longer available would the UK be able to mount operations 3 000 miles away? In this the first book to analyse the Libyan campaign David Sloggett details the causes of the uprising & examines each stage of the war through to its termination with the death of Colonel Gaddafi. In conclusion Dr Sloggett considers the future prospects for a post-Gaddafi Libya & more significantly how NATO in general & Britain in particular will respond to similar events in the future. ...

The Sunday Times bestselling autobiography from the greatest tennis player of his generation No tennis player since Andre Agassi has captivated the world like Rafael Nadal. He's a rarity in today's sporting arena
- a true sportsman who chooses to let his raw talent dedication & humility define him. Rapidly closing in on his friend & rival Roger Federer's record haul of 16 grand slam victories Nadal is an extraordinary competitor whose ferocity on court is made even more remarkable by his grace off it. This book takes us to the heart of Nadal's childhood his growth as a player & his incredible career. It

Includes:: memorable highs & lows from victory in the 2008 Wimbledon final
- a match that John Mc Enroe called the 'greatest game of tennis ever played'
- to the injury problems that have frequently threatened his dominance of the sport to becoming the youngest player of the open era to complete a career Grand Slam in 2010. It transports us from Nadal's lifelong home on the island of Majorca to the locker room of Centre Court as he describes in detail the pressures of competing in the greatest tournament in the world. It offers a glimpse behind the racquet to learn what really makes this intensely private person
- who has never before talked about his home life
- tick. & it provides us with a story that is personal revealing & every bit as exciting as Nadal himself.






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This is the first biography in decades of the Father of Singapore. Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was the charismatic & persuasive founder of Singapore & Governor of Java. An English adventurer disobedient employee of the East India Company utopian imperialist linguist zoologist & civil servant he carved an extraordinary (though brief) life for himself in South East Asia. The tropical disease-ridden settings of his story are as dramatic as his own trajectory
- an obscure young man with no advantages other than talent & obsessive drive who changed history by establishing
- without authority
- on the wretchedly unpromising island of Singapore a settlement which has become a world city. After a turbulent time in the East Indies Raffles returned to the UK & turned to his other great interests
- botany & zoology. He founded London Zoo in 1825 a year before his death. Raffles remains a controversial figure & in the first biography for over forty years Victoria Glendinning charts his prodigious rise within the social & historical contexts of his world. His domestic & personal life was vivid & shot through with tragedy. His own end was sad though his fame immortal.



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Miriam Feuer Sorger spent World War II as a fugitive in her own l&. Barely escaping the Nazi-built ghetto in her hometown of Kolomyia when she was only fifteen Miriam ran for her life through the war-torn countryside of her native Galicia after her blind grandmother was shot to death & her mother & sister carted off to the Belzer concentration camp. Adopting a new identity Miriam found employment in the home of a Ukrainian priest as nanny to his children only to realise she had gone from the frying pan to the fire when the local Gestapo commandant turned up as a dinner guest
- & something more. It wasnt until 2006 & her eightieth birthday that she could finally bring herself to recount in full the events which had so brutally ripped her from her home & loved ones & tossed her adrift & alone onto a river of fear & suffering unequalled until then in the twentieth century.
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When Millie Forester's mother abandons her one late June afternoon in 1854 the girl bursts unexpectedly into Aggie Winkowski's life. Aggie known locally as ' Raggie Aggie' for her long-established business of trading rags & old clothes knows the dangers waiting for such a strikingly pretty girl left alone in this rough & vice-ridden quarter & sees no other option but to take her in. But what begins as a compassionate solution soon leads to the development of a new deepening relationship that is to mould Millie's destiny & give new meaning to the lift of Aggie Winkowski. The Rag Nymph" is a gripping historical novel embracing the good & evil of the Victorian era." ...

Its name describes this feline. When it's picked up it relaxes completely going as limp as a ragdoll. This volume is filled with handsome full-color photos instructive line art & easy-to-read tables & charts. It provides information on all aspects of pet care for new & prospective pet owners. ...

Winner of the 2012 Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel. Vincent Naylor is a professional thief as confident as he is reckless. Just ten days out of jail & hes preparing his next robbery. But his plan is already unravelling. While investigating the murder of a crooked banker Detective Sergeant Bob Tidey gets a call from an old acquaintance Maura Coady. The retired nun believes theres something suspicious happening in the Dublin backstreet where she lives alone. Mauras call inadvertently unleashes a storm of violence that will engulf Vincent Naylor & force Tidey to make a deadly choice. The Rage is a masterpiece of suspense told against the background of a countrys shameful past & its troubled present. ...