Flying Start
A Fighter Pilot's War Years
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Flying Start
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Narrated by:
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Elliot Fitzpatrick
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By:
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Hugh Dundas
About this listen
"A personal and vivid view of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) engagement of the Luftwaffe in World War II . . . Exciting, valuable, and good reading." -Library Journal
This is the autobiography of Group Captain Sir Hugh Dundas CBE, DSO, DFC, who was one of the most distinguished fighter pilots of World War II. He writes of his wartime experiences, and particularly of his period as Squadron Leader and Wing Commander and his involvement in the Battle of Britain.
"It stands out from many other accounts of war-time air operations because of its very clear coverage of events both at the fighting and at the operational levels . . . It is a gripping tale well told, and one that easily holds the reader's attention throughout." -the Bulletin (Military Historical Society)
"This is an important book for historians and enthusiasts, but it is also an important social history of a period that is rapidly passing into history as those who were there and survived now approach the end of their life." -Firetrench
©1988, 1990, 2011 Hugh Dundas (P)2023 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Aviators
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4 out of 5 stars
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,161
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,950
With more than half a million copies sold, Robert Mason's Chickenhawk is one of the best-selling books ever written about the Vietnam War. Fascinated with flying from a young age, Mason earned his private pilot's license even before graduating high school. He enlisted in the army in 1964 and endured an extremely challenging "weeding out" process in an effort to fly helicopters. Sent to Vietnam, he survived more than 1,000 air combat missions despite the violence and brutality exploding all around him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book!
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Luck of the Draw
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story5 out of 5 stars 52
Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Personal Accounting that the Narrator Destroyed
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War's End
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story5 out of 5 stars 34
On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a 25-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion.... The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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the history of the details.
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No Parachute
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story5 out of 5 stars 88
From the young airmen who took their frail machines high above the trenches of World War I and fought their foes in single combat, there emerged a renowned company of brilliant aces - among them Ball, Bishop, McCudden, Collishaw, and Mannock - whose legendary feats have echoed down half a century. But behind the elite pilots in the Royal Flying Corps, there were many hundreds of airmen who flew their hazardous daily sorties in outdated planes without ever achieving fame.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the most interesting reads I've ever had.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story5 out of 5 stars 40
Firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense and the dropping of the atomic bomb. Includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story5 out of 5 stars 34
The gripping saga of the plane that carried Britain through the Second World War. In June 1940, the German army had brought the rest of Europe to its knees. 'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world will move forward into broad, sunlit uplands,' said Churchill. The future of Europe depended on Britain.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fills in the gaps.
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Related to this topic
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Aces Falling
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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At the beginning of 1918, the great aces seemed invincible. Flying above the battlefields of the Western Front, they cut a deadly swathe through the ranks of their enemies, as each side struggled to keep control of the air. This audiobook charts the rise and fall of the WWI aces in the context of the vast battles that were taking place in 1918. It shows the vital importance of reconnaissance, and how large formations of aircraft became the norm - bringing an end to the era of the old, heroic 'lone wolves'.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST READ for students of military aviation
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I Flew for the Führer
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Heinz Knoke was one of the outstanding German fighter pilots of the Second World War. This vivid firsthand record of his experiences has become a classic among aviation memoirs and is a fascinating counterbalance to the numerous accounts written by Allied pilots.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very interesting wish it had a bit more detail
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Fighter Group
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 415
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
Jay A. Stout breaks new ground in World War II history with this gripping account of one of the war’s most highly decorated American fighter groups. Stout combines the storytelling gifts and careful research for a seasoned historian with the combat experience of a former fighter pilot to tell the remarkable story of the 352nd Fighter Group. This isn’t just the story of a single fighter group; it’s the story of how the United States won the air war over Europe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a fantastic, through, in depth, and personal history of the 352nd fighter group.
- By S. H. Moore on 02-23-21
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Dead Reckoning
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Half Soap Opera, target audience 20 something male
- By Donald L. Hogan on 03-20-21
By: Dick Lehr
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Race of Aces
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- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,423
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,265
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,260
In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Hawkeye
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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For more than 30 years, Giora Even-Epstein flew fighters for the Israel Air Force, achieving recognition as a highly skilled military aviator and the highest-scoring jet-mounted ace with the most number of confirmed victories in the French Mirage. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators' tally in the entire world. This fast-moving autobiography details his experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of 1967, the Six Day War, and 1973, the Yom Kippur War.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not a writer
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Aces Falling
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
At the beginning of 1918, the great aces seemed invincible. Flying above the battlefields of the Western Front, they cut a deadly swathe through the ranks of their enemies, as each side struggled to keep control of the air. This audiobook charts the rise and fall of the WWI aces in the context of the vast battles that were taking place in 1918. It shows the vital importance of reconnaissance, and how large formations of aircraft became the norm - bringing an end to the era of the old, heroic 'lone wolves'.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST READ for students of military aviation
- By B Taub on 03-03-20
By: Peter Hart
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I Flew for the Führer
- The Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Fighter Pilot
- By: Heinz Knoke, Richard Overy - introduction
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
Heinz Knoke was one of the outstanding German fighter pilots of the Second World War. This vivid firsthand record of his experiences has become a classic among aviation memoirs and is a fascinating counterbalance to the numerous accounts written by Allied pilots.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very interesting wish it had a bit more detail
- By Quinn Richter on 05-21-21
By: Heinz Knoke, and others
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Fighter Group
- The 352nd “Blue-Nosed Bastards” in World War II
- By: Lt. Col. Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 415
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
Jay A. Stout breaks new ground in World War II history with this gripping account of one of the war’s most highly decorated American fighter groups. Stout combines the storytelling gifts and careful research for a seasoned historian with the combat experience of a former fighter pilot to tell the remarkable story of the 352nd Fighter Group. This isn’t just the story of a single fighter group; it’s the story of how the United States won the air war over Europe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a fantastic, through, in depth, and personal history of the 352nd fighter group.
- By S. H. Moore on 02-23-21
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Dead Reckoning
- The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: Dick Lehr
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Half Soap Opera, target audience 20 something male
- By Donald L. Hogan on 03-20-21
By: Dick Lehr
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Race of Aces
- WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,423
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,265
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,260
In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Boring, confusing storyline, some technical details wrong
- By ATM on 04-09-20
By: John R. Bruning
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Hawkeye
- The Enthralling Autobiography of the Top-Scoring Israel Air Force Ace of Aces
- By: Brigadier General Giora Even-Epstein
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
For more than 30 years, Giora Even-Epstein flew fighters for the Israel Air Force, achieving recognition as a highly skilled military aviator and the highest-scoring jet-mounted ace with the most number of confirmed victories in the French Mirage. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators' tally in the entire world. This fast-moving autobiography details his experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of 1967, the Six Day War, and 1973, the Yom Kippur War.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not a writer
- By Checco on 11-26-21
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Jayhawk
- Love, Loss, Liberation and Terror over the Pacific
- By: Jay A. Stout, George L. Cooper
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story5 out of 5 stars 57
Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper is one of the few surviving veteran pilots who saw action over such fearsome targets as Rabaul and Wewak. Not just another flag-waving story of air combat, Jayhawk describes the war as it really was - a conflict with far-reaching tentacles that gripped and tore at not only the combatants, but also their families, friends, and the way they lived their lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An absolute must for any student of the Pacific Air War
- By Ginger on 10-07-20
By: Jay A. Stout, and others
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Churchill's Shadow Raiders
- The Race to Develop Radar, World War II's Invisible Secret Weapon
- By: Damien Lewis
- Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story5 out of 5 stars 57
In the winter of 1941, as Britain faced defeat on all fronts, an RAF reconnaissance pilot photographed an alien-looking object on the French coast near Le Havre. The mysterious device - a “Wurzburg Dish” - appeared to be a new form of radar technology: ultra-compact, highly precise, and pointed directly across the English Channel.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen
- By 3D RWC on 05-13-20
By: Damien Lewis
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Vulcan 607
- By: Rowland White
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story5 out of 5 stars 46
Shoulder to shoulder with Strategic Air Command B-52s throughout the Cold War, the big delta-winged Vulcans of the Britain's V-bomber force faced down the Soviet threat to the West. In 1982, they were just months from retirement when they flew in anger for the first time. It was to be a record-breaking mission of breathtaking audacity: a single bomber launched from a remote island airbase to carry out what would be the longest-range air attack in history. An 8,000-mile round-trip.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow, incredibly gripping and entertaining
- By MortonC on 09-10-24
By: Rowland White
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War's End
- An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission
- By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, James A. Antonucci - contributor, Marion K. Antonucci - contributor
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story5 out of 5 stars 34
On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a 25-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion.... The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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the history of the details.
- By Don on 10-23-24
By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, and others
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No Parachute
- A Classic Account of War in the Air in WWI
- By: Arthur Gould Lee
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story5 out of 5 stars 88
From the young airmen who took their frail machines high above the trenches of World War I and fought their foes in single combat, there emerged a renowned company of brilliant aces - among them Ball, Bishop, McCudden, Collishaw, and Mannock - whose legendary feats have echoed down half a century. But behind the elite pilots in the Royal Flying Corps, there were many hundreds of airmen who flew their hazardous daily sorties in outdated planes without ever achieving fame.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the most interesting reads I've ever had.
- By Amazon Customer on 12-08-21
By: Arthur Gould Lee
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Operation Chastise
- The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Wish He Had Stuck to the Core Story
- By John on 06-22-20
By: Max Hastings
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Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II
- By: Philip Ardery
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
"The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account records one man's experience of World War II air warfare.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating...and true story
- By Loretta on 06-24-15
By: Philip Ardery
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The Fighting Corsairs
- The Men of Marine Fighting Squadron 215 in the Pacific during WWII
- By: Jeff Dacus
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
From historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943, when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Fighting Corsairs
- By Thomas S. Connelly on 05-10-21
By: Jeff Dacus
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The Battle of Britain
- Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 26 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 811
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 731
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 725
The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The battle up to The Battle of Britain
- By Chiefkent on 11-07-17
By: James Holland
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Sicily '43
- The First Assault on Fortress Europe
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion 11 months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, and its drama, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great writing, great narration, interesting topic
- By ItalCali on 08-02-21
By: James Holland
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Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot
- By: Starr Smith, Walter Cronkite
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II - and they were legion - Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of war, Stewart was already in uniform - as a private on guard duty south of San Francisco at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and his Oscar-winning turn in The Philadelphia Story in 1940, had enlisted several months earlier.
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3 out of 5 stars
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After-action intelligence report
- By David on 04-20-18
By: Starr Smith, and others
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Luck of the Draw
- My Story of the Air War in Europe
- By: Frank Murphy, Chloe Melas, Elizabeth Murphy
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Murphy, Jonas Moore, Chloe Melas
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story5 out of 5 stars 52
Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Personal Accounting that the Narrator Destroyed
- By David Sajben on 03-09-23
By: Frank Murphy, and others