Our hero returns home expecting peace only to face his worst nightmare An old enemy has returned & will stop at nothing in his quest for power. But when he kidnaps Decimus parents & captures his friends Decimus is forced to go & face his only undefeated enemy yet. Is Decimus really the hero that everyone says or has his luck finally run out.. . ...

It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943.. . April 1982. Argentine forces had invaded the Falkland Islands. Britain needed an answer. & fast. The idea was simple: to destroy the vital landing strip at Port Stanley. The reality was more complicated. The only aircraft that could possibly do the job was three months from being scrapped & the distance it had to travel was four thousand miles beyond its maximum range. It would take fifteen Victor tankers & seventeen separate in-flight refuellings to get one Avro Vulcan B2 over the target & give its crew any chance of coming back alive. Yet less than a month later a formation of elderly British jets launched from a remote island airbase to carry out the longest-range air attack in history. At its head was a single aircraft six men & twenty-one thous&-pound bombs facing the hornet's nest of modern weaponry defending the Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands. There would be no second chances.. . ...

An RAF iconic delta wing cold war leviathan the Vulcan is an enduing image. A cornerstone of Britains nuclear deterrent it later worked as a conventional bomber & saw active service in the Falklands conflict. This illustrated book written with the help of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust continues the Vulcan story with the development of the B2 to the final operational use as a tanker platform. The book follows the final service flight of the Vulcan to the newly restored with the help of Heritage Lottery Funding only airworthy Vulcan B2 XH558 which in many ways fills the gap left by Concordes retirement. As WWII finally came to an end military minds were already looking to the future designing weaponry that would prevent such a conflict again. This DVD looks at the design development & production of what was to become the Vulcan Mk 1. From early conception to test flights the DVD examines how this instantly recognisable plane went form drawing board to RAF service. ...

In 2007 a restored Avro Vulcan Mark 2
- XH558
- took to the skies to help commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands

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The best of the three RAF jet bombers in the early years of the Cold War the Vulcan was designed as the Avro 698 & possessed fighter-like manoeuvrability at low level despite its size. First flown in August 1952 the Vulcan entered service in February 1957. Most were equipped to carry the Blue Steel st&-off missile but in 1966 around 50 Vulcans were re-deployed in a tactical low-level bombing role. Three flew during the Falklands War & the last Vulcans in service were used as aerial tankers until April 1984. This book examines the design of the Vulcan exploring the improvements made to its engine & its evolving combat role. The illustrations include many in-flight photographs & detailed colour profiles. This is a timely examination of a distinctive & ground-breaking aircraft. ...

Nobody knows Bangkok like Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep & there is no one quite like Sonchai: a police officer who has kept his Buddhist soul intact
- more or less
- despite the fact that his job shoves him face-to-face with some of the most vile & outrageous crimes & criminals in Bangkok. But for his newest assignment everything he knows about his city
- & himself
- will be a mere starting point. Hes put in charge of the highest-profile criminal case in Thailand
- an attempt to bring an end to trafficking in human organs. He sets in motion a massive sting operation & stays at its center traveling to Phuket Hong Kong Dubai Shanghai & Monte Carlo. He draws in a host of unwitting players that

Includes:: an aging rock star wearing out his second liver & the mysterious diabolical albeit gorgeous co-queenpins of the international body-parts trade: the Chinese twins known as the Vultures. & yet its closer to home that Sonchai will discover things getting really dicey: rumors will reach him suggesting that his ex-prostitute wife Chanya is having an affair. Will Sonchai be enlightened enough-forget Buddha think jealous husb&-to cope with his very own compromised & compromising world? All will be revealed here in John Burdetts most mordantly funny propulsive fiendishly entertaining novel yet. Praise for John Burdett & his Bangkok novels: Cracking East meets West thriller introducing a half-Thai half-American cop whose Buddhist beliefs are as important as his forensic skills. Terrific". (" Observer"). "A fantastic new thriller with an avenging Buddhist cop as its central character". (" Mail on Sunday"). " Read this book savour the language
- its the last & most compelling word in thrillers". (James Ellroy). " Impeccably researched this is sometimes poetic often exotic & totally hardcore". (" Daily Mirror"). " Burdetts fever-dream mysteries set in Bangkok recast the police procedural as psychedelic peep show". (" The New Yorker"). " Burdett is purely & simply a wonderful writer". (The Washington Post Book World)."







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The bestselling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" offers a globetrotting Sam Spade-style investigation that blows the lid off the oil industry the banking industry & the governmental agencies that arent regulating either. This is the story of the corporate vultures that feed on the weak & ruin our planet in the process
- a story that spans the globe & decades. For " Vultures Picnic" investigative journalist Greg Palast has spent his career uncovering the connection between the world of energy (read: oil) & finance. Hes built a team that reads like a casting call for a Hollywood thriller
- a Swiss multilingual investigator a punk journalist & a gonzo cameraman
- to reveal how environmental disasters like the Gulf oil spill the Exxon Valdez & lesser-known tragedies such as Tatitlek & Torrey Canyon are caused by corporate corruption failed legislation & most interestingly veiled connections between the financial industry & energy titans. Palast shows how the International Monetary Fund World Bank World Trade Organization & Central Banks act as puppets for Big Oil. With Palast at the center of an investigation that takes us from the Arctic to Africa to the Amazon " Vultures Picnic" shows how the big powers in the money & oil game slip the bonds of regulation over & over again & simply destroy the rules that they themselves cant write
- & take advantage of nations & everyday people in the process."



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Since its introduction in 1950 the Volkswagen Transporter has become legendary for its versatility & adaptability to many commercial uses. Known originally as Sonderausfuhrungen abbreviated to SO these Special Models were usually converted by specialists companies & coachbuilders approved by VW. ...

One of the main attractions of the VW Bus apart from its iconic looks & rugged reliability is the way owners take the bus to heart & into their family & set about personalizing them through both exterior & interior design & styling. Over the years most campers have seen extensive use & unless you are lucky to find a complete original-condition camper then some work will need to be done to bring the interior to the standard you want. ...

It was invented immediately after the war in the factory a far-sighted English military man had set up to turn the German economy from making machines of warfare to more pacific products. By the seventies that dream had been amply fulfilled as the VW Campervan became the conveyance of choice for West Coast hippies Australian surf bums & Europeans taking the overland route to find enlightenment & good karma in India. It had also become
- indeed still is
- the first choice for any couple or family seeking a cheap camping holiday with wheels attached. So never mind the oddly off-centre driving wheel the vagaries of the aircooled rear engine
- the VW Campervan had become more than a vehicle
- it had truly become a way of life. Mike Harding's first ride in a Volkswagen Camper Van was back in 1961 when it was the carrying around the gear & bandmembers of his rock band the Manchester Rainmakers. Finally in 2009 he could wait no longer & bought his own a 2001 Type 2 bay window Brazilian import Danbury conversion in hot orange & off white. Add in the endless curiosity of the author of eight monographs on church architecture & the hilarious sense of humour of one of Britain's best st&-up comics & you have a wonderful social history of the postwar years through the prism of a single transport icon.



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