There is no bitter snarl nor self-pity in this classic novel about the air war of 1914-1918 based very largely on the authors experiences. Combat loneliness fatigue fear comradeship women excitement--all are built into a vigorous & authentic structure by one of the most valiant pilots of the then Royal Flying Corps. ...

Winged Warriors is an open & honest account of one mans perceptions & fears his actions & mistakes from a career that spanned four decades. The author spent fourteen years overseas & at the height of the Cold War served on two Tornado tactical nuclear squadrons in West Germany only fifteen minutes from responding in full measure to an anticipated Soviet onslaught. Earlier he had flown reconnaissance aircraft on NATOs vulnerable southern flank. He was decorated for gallantry in 1980 & appointed OBE in 1995. Later as the senior RAF adviser in Kuwait he witnessed the air war against Iraq in 1998. Winged Warriors touches on many aspects of military service but it is not about war or war-fighting; it is about real people & their highs & lows ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. & it is about the training & tragedy that affected a generation of aircrew many of whom gave their lives in preserving peace. It is those crews who stand out in Winged Warriors: true warriors in every sense of the word blessed with an irrepressible sense of humour regardless of circumstance a humour that was typically British & very typically RAF. Paul Mc Donald is a retired RAF group captain & a former fast-jet pilot & flying instructor. In his youth he was an Air Cadet & he is a current Air Cadet Gliding Instructor. ...

. .. It is remarkable that one man should have been involved in so much action in so few years...I commend his biography to the reader.. .by any standard he was a hero & he tells his life's story with modesty & humour. Extract from the Foreword by Admiral Lord Boyce Captain Mervyn Wingfield was one of the last of his generation of submariners who made their reputation in the Second World War. Pre-war he had served on the China station & lived the riotous life of a young officer; in the war he commanded three submarines Umpire Sturgeon & Taurus survived a collision in the North Sea spent a winter in the Arctic penetrated the Norwegian fjords submerged through a minefield surfaced off St Nazaire in view of German guns to act as a navigation marker for the raiding force fought cavalry in the northern Aegean & later off Penang was the first British submariner to sink a Japanese submarine
- & barely survived the subsequent vicious counterattack after Taurus was severely damaged & became stuck in the mud at the bottom. Any one of these incidents would have merited a place for Wingfield in the history of naval warfare & the pantheon of submarine heroes. The Royal Navy's most senior submariner Admiral Lord Boyce notes in his Foreword that the diesel-powered submarines in which both men served were not so different but the risks which Wingfield took in wartime were greater & Lord Boyce admired the way in which Wingfield led his crew & was loved by them. Many men were burned-out by the war but in the postwar years Wingfield enjoyed a successful peacetime career in the Royal Navy where finally his personal qualities & his diplomacy were put to the test as a naval attache. In retirement Wingfield was well-known for hosting lively beef & Stilton lunches at the London Boat Show! He was also one of the last of the generations of Anglo-Irish families who served the Crown & provided officers & men for the Army & the Navy & his story in addition gives some insights into his early days especially with regard to being a young officer in the Royal Navy in the 1930s.
...

Zoe Sorensson yearns to come into her powers as the only female dragon shifter. But being part of two worlds is more complicated than she expected. Its bad enough that shes the target of the Mages plan to eliminate all shifters
- she also has to hide her true nature from her best friend Meagan a human. For her sixteenth birthday all Zoe wants is one normal day including a tattoo & a chance to see hot rocker Jared. Instead the Pyr throw her a birthday party but ban Meagan from attendance putting Zoe in a tight spot. Things get even worse when Zoe is invited to the popular kids Halloween party & Meagans left out. Zoe knows the party is a trap laid by the host an apprentice Mage. When Meagan gets a last-minute invite Zoe must save the day
- & her best friend
- without revealing her fire-breathing secrets -


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An extraordinary faerie tale of magic & mystery romance & danger described by Stephenie Meyer as a remarkable debut. Laurel is an ordinary fifteen-year-old high school girl. But something incredible is happening to her. She is changing. Now Laurel is about to discover that a deep & powerful magic holds the key to her destiny. ...

The Royal Air Force is synonymous with its heroic achievements in the summer of 1940 when Winston Churchills famous few
- the Hurricane
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Scarborough 1938. When Jane & Nell are brought together by a chance encounter Jane unhappy at home sees an opportunity to escape when Nell invites her to visit her family in Lowestoft. However they have no idea that their friendship will be tested through the trials of love hardship & war. Nell's friends Simon & Ewan accept Jane as one of their own & welcome her into their world. But the threat of war soon brings changes for all four of them. Simon & his ship are involved in mine sweeping Ewan joins the RAF & feeling frustrated at their helplessness Nell & Jane join the Land Army so that they can do something positive for the war effort while remaining together. But it is only when both girls fall for the same man that the strength of their friendship is truly challenged... ...

As seen on TV: now a major BBC4 television series. Things are not going well for Inspector Montalbano. His long-distance relationship with Livia is on the rocks he feels himself getting even older & hes growing tired of the violence in his job. Then the dead body of a young woman is found in an illegal dump with half her face missing. Her identity at first unknown; a tattoo of a sphinx moth on her left shoulder links her with three other girls bearing the same mark all recent Russian immigrants to Italy. Victims of an underworld sex trade these girls have been rescued from the Mafia night-club circuit by a Catholic charity organization. The problem is the other girls cant help Montalbano with his enquiries. They are all missing. As his investigations progresses it seems that not everyone wants Montalbano to discover what really lies behind the organisations charitable facade. & not only does Montalbano have a case to solve he has a demanding stomach to feed & he must save his foundering relationship with Livia.. . ...

In a world where the price of magic is life itself a group of seemingly immortal sorcerers appear to have cheated the system. & now Kamala has breached their secrets she seeks to join their ranks as the first female Magister. But they would rather see her dead forcing her to flee to the frozen north. There Kamala will find an evil far greater than a sorcerers enmity & will hear a dire prediction of a future war. In a past age an ancient bloodline was cultivated to stand in the path of darkness. Now its warriors must unearth the truth at the heart of the legends & stand firm against an enemy that brought mankind to the very edge of destruction. & Kamala must join their battle. ...

Eric Brown was on a University of Edinburgh exchange course in Germany in 1939 & the first he knew of the war was when the Gestapo came to arrest him. They released him not realizing he was a pilot in the RAF volunteer reserve: & the rest is history. Eric Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm & went on to be the greatest test pilot in history flying more different aircraft types than anyone else. He is the only man alive who has flown every major (and most minor) combat aircraft of the Second World War as well as all the early jets. Speaking perfect German he went to Germany in 1945 to test the Nazi jets interviewing (among others) Hermann Goering & Hanna Reitsch. He flew the suicidally dangerous Me 163 rocket plane & tested the first British jets. He would have been the first man to break the sound barrier except that the British government cancelled the programme & gave the technology to America. His naval career continues to this day as he advises on the new aircraft carrier design for the Royal Navy. A living legend among aviation enthusiasts his amazing life story deserves to be told in full -- from crashing in front of Winston Churchill to unmasking a Neo-Nazi ring in the 1950s to his terrifying flights in primitive jets & rockets. ...