Spreading My Wings
One of Britain's Top Women Pilots Tells Her Remarkable Story from Pre-War Flying to Breaking the Sound Barrier
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Spreading My Wings
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Narrated by:
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Lucy Rayner
About this listen
The remarkable autobiography of a pioneering female aviator who left a privileged life to serve in World War II.
Her father was a millionaire race car driver who became chairman of Bentley Motors, and her grandfather cofounded the De Beers mining company. But by the late 1930s, debutante Diana Barnato had enough of her affluent, chaperoned existence and sought excitement in flying - soloing at Brooklands after only six hours' training.
Joining the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941 to help ferry aircraft to squadrons and bases throughout the country, she flew scores of different aircraft - fighters, bombers, and trainers - in all kinds of conditions and without a radio. By 1945, Barnato had lost many friends, a fiance, and a husband - but she continued to fly.
In 1962, she was awarded the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy for notable achievement in aviation, but her greatest moment was yet to come, when in 1963 she flew a Lightning through the sound barrier, becoming "the fastest woman in the world". Spreading My Wings is her remarkable memoir, brimming with history and adventure.
©2003 Diana Barnato Walker (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Norman Hanson
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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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A Race to Freedom
- The Mira Slovak Story
- By: David Williams
- Narrated by: Brian Callanan
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story5 out of 5 stars 28
Mira Slovak was born in Czechoslovakia and endured both the Nazi occupation and the brutal Russian liberation. He joined the Czech Air Force, rising to captain by the age of 21. When he could no longer tolerate life under the Communists, he hijacked an airliner and flew across the Iron Curtain to freedom. He outlasted communism, and when it collapsed in 1990, he returned to his home, only to realize his true home was and always would be the US.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Free to live as an American.
- By cosmitron on 06-08-18
By: David Williams
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A Thousand Shall Fall
- The True Story of a Canadian Bomber Pilot in World War Two
- By: Murray Peden
- Narrated by: Anthony Haden Salerno
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
During World War II, Canada trained tens of thousands of airmen under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Those selected for Bomber Command operations went on to rain devastation upon the Third Reich in the great air battles over Europe, but their losses were high. German fighters and anti-aircraft guns took a terrifying toll. The chances of surviving a tour of duty as a bomber crew were almost nil.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant account of WW2 flying
- By John on 06-14-17
By: Murray Peden
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The Wrong Stuff
- The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator
- By: Truman Smith
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,105
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 984
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 993
Between April and July 1944, Truman Smith flew 35 bombing missions over France and Germany. He was only 20 years old. Although barely adults, Smith and his peers worried about cramming a lifetime's worth of experience into every free night, each knowing he probably would not survive the next bombing mission. Written with blunt honesty, wry humor, and insight, The Wrong Stuff is Smith's gripping memoir of that time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Why I got it...and glad I did.
- By Marie on 11-27-14
By: Truman Smith
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Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle
- By: Robert Morgan, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story5 out of 5 stars 36
As a young man growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Robert Morgan was a fast-driving party boy - a hell-raiser. But when his mother committed suicide upon learning she had inoperable brain cancer, Morgan's life changed dramatically. He was no longer a carefree playboy; he was a man searching for meaning. He found that meaning at the controls of an airplane, and in the flak-and fighter-filled skies over Occupied France and Nazi Germany.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Abridged Version = Butchered
- By Kyle on 01-03-17
By: Robert Morgan, and others
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 614
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 565
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 564
In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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1 out of 5 stars
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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Malta Spitfire
- The Diary of a Fighter Pilot
- By: George Beurling
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story5 out of 5 stars 27
25,000 feet above Malta -- that is where the Spitfires intercepted the Messerschmitts, Macchis and Reggianes as they swept eastwards in their droves, screening the big Junkers with their bomb loads as they pummeled the island beneath -- the most bombed patch of ground in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story!
- By MStewart on 02-01-24
By: George Beurling
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Tail-End Charley
- Stories from an American Fighter Pilot in World War II
- By: James E. Brown
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 246
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
On his 19th birthday, James E. Brown tries to fake to his flight instructor that he has flown before. On his 21st birthday, Brown is on his way home after logging 85 missions in a P-47 fighter over Italy, France, and Germany. Brown's stories surrounding his training and combat experiences in World War II reveal brushes with death, continuous peril and, ultimately, a coming of age for a young man whose freshman year in college becomes instead a heroic engagement with one of the fiercest enemies his country has ever encountered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good read !
- By kevin on 06-19-18
By: James E. Brown
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The Wild Blue
- The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 877
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 780
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 780
The very young men who flew the B24s over Germany in World War II against terrible odds were an exemplary band of brothers. In The Wild Blue, Stephen Ambrose recounts their extraordinary brand of heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship. Stephen Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and chose those few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Required Reading
- By Lyle on 11-22-11
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Pathfinder Pioneer
- The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II
- By: Raymond E. Brim
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
In this engaging audiobook, we see how an 18-year-old miner shoveling ore from deep in the ground in Utah suddenly found himself, only two years later, 30,000 feet in the air over Nazi Germany, piloting a Flying Fortress in the first wave of America's air counteroffensive in Europe. Pathfinder Pioneer gives us vivid insights into the genesis of the American air campaign, told with the humor, attention to detail, and humility that captures the heart and soul of our Greatest Generation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Good Recounting of WW2 Bomber Missions
- By Sean on 07-25-17
By: Raymond E. Brim
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Hornet Flight
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,078
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,130
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,128
It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Outstanding Spy Novel
- By C. McCoy on 03-13-05
By: Ken Follett
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Pastoral
- By: Nevil Shute
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 159
She was from the hills of Yorkshire, country born and bred. He was a city boy. By the stream where they fished they were two young people falling in love. Overhead, the bombers roared, threatening to blow their idyllic world, so young, so fresh, to smithereens.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Historical romance set in WWII England.
- By Stan on 06-19-12
By: Nevil Shute
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Dadland
- By: Keggie Carew
- Narrated by: Pippa Haywood, Robert Bathurst, Tom Golding, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. As his memory begins to fail, she embarks on a quest to unravel his story and get to know who her father really was.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb. Best memoir/history book
- By Readerwith opinions on 11-25-22
By: Keggie Carew
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The First Heroes
- The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
Immediately after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of vengeance: a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo itself. In those early days of World War II, America was ill-prepared for any sort of warfare. But FDR was not to be dissuaded, and at his bidding a squadron of scarcely trained army fliers, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, set forth on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Heroic Attempt
- By William on 07-20-04
By: Craig Nelson
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Fighter Pilot
- The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds
- By: Robin Olds, Christina Olds, Ed Rasimus
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,075
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,615
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,610
A larger-than-life hero with a towering personality, Robin Olds was a graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army. In World War II, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—a double ace with twelve aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Top Notch Audiobook
- By R. A. Frank on 10-08-10
By: Robin Olds, and others
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Damn Lucky
- One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
- By: Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, John Luckadoo
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 278
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 249
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Story5 out of 5 stars 247
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.
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5 out of 5 stars
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must read
- By td godfrey on 10-06-22
By: Kevin Maurer