Royal Air Force (RAF) - Grande-Bretagne : livres - histoire (depuis 1945)

The Jet Age began in Britain in May 1941 when the Gloster E.28/39, the first British jet aircraft, made its first flight.
The first British jet fighter was the Gloster Meteor, which entered service with the RAF in 1944 and went on to serve with air forces all over the world, and the RAF never looked back.

This was the start of the first generation of British jet aircraft, from the Meteor and the de Havilland Vampire in the years immediately after the Second World War, through the ill-fated Comet airliner and the Hawker Sea Hawk in the 1950s to the Gloster Javelin, the start of the second generation in the 1960s.

In this book, aviation historian Guy Ellis looks at the development of this first generation of British jet aircraft.

For aviation, the 1950s was a fascinating decade. For the Royal Air Force, it witnessed the transition from propeller to jet in the fields of fighter, bomber, trainer and transport aircraft.
The 1950s saw the end of the Second World War veterans - Lancasters, Spitfires, Mosquitoes and Sunderlands. They were replaced by the first generation of jet aircraft including the Vampire, Hunter, Javelin and, at the end of the decade, the English Electric P.1 - later named the Lightning.

This photographic record of the RAF during the period illustrates the full varied and wonderful array of equipment in use and also considers the important events of the decade including Korea, the Malayan Emergency, Kenya and the Suez Crisis.
The decade also saw the beginning of the Cold War, which in turn led to significant developments in military aviation. For the RAF this included the
V-bomber force of Valiant, Victor and Vulcan. Another development was that of the nuclear weapon and this volume includes images and information from Operation Grapple, the testing of Britain's first live thermonuclear weapon - seventy times more powerful than that dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 - which was dropped from Vickers Valiant XD818 at Christmas Island on 15 May 1957.

Each chapter focuses on a specific year, relaying all the fascinating events and highlights. Lavishly illustrated from the archives of the Air Historical Branch, this is a colourful and insightful history, told with narrative flair and a clear passion for the subject matter.

This title features a wealth of rare colour photographs depicting the Gloster Meteor, Vickers Valiant and Blackburn Beverley in the 1960s - as well as some foreign visitors to Britain during this period! A history of each of the three aircraft types is also included.

The 'Swinging Sixties' was a remarkable decade. For the Royal Air Force it was a most interesting period in their history, representing a period of base closures, contraction and a significant change in equipment - especially in the level of technology operated.

In 1960, all three of the V-bombers - Valiant, Vulcan and Victor - were in service. The English Electric Lightning established a firm place in British aviation history by being the first single-seat fighter designed to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.
Within Transport Command, the Britannia C.1 was operating alongside the Comet C.2, providing an excellent strategic transport capability. The Comet C.4 would enter service in 1962, the VC-10 C.1 in July 1966 and the Belfast C.1 by the end of 1966.

During the decade, the RAF celebrated its 50th Anniversary, having been formed on 1 April 1918. They also came to be embroiled in a number of conflicts, while still playing their part (alongside the British Army and the Royal Navy) in policing a number of territories and theaters including Malaya, Indonesia, Cyprus, Kenya, Rhodesia, Aden, Libya, Bermuda and Anguilla in the West Indies.

Here, Keith Wilson takes us on a richly illustrated journey through the decade, with each chapter focusing on a specific year and relaying all the fascinating events and highlights that characterized it. This is a colourful and insightful history, told with narrative flair and a clear passion for the subject matter at hand.

The 1970s were an event-filled and action packed decade for the Royal Air Force. Many events are worthy of note and all are recorded here, in words and images. Keith Wilson takes up from where he left off with RAF In Camera 1960s in order to take us on a journey through a particularly significant decade.

The start of the 1970s saw the retirement of the Dakota from service, followed shortly after by the formation of the first Buccaneer NATO Squadron.
In 1972, the landmark RAF Museum at Hendon was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth.
The midpoint of the decade was particularly notable due to the fact that it saw the ending of the Vietnam War and, in the dying hours of the conflict in March 1975, RAF Hercules were used to evacuate civilians from Cambodia.
The Queen's Silver Jubilee Review at RAF Finningley occurred in 1977 and there are plenty of photographs of the event on display here.

In 1978, the Sea King replaced the Whirlwind and the Wessex in the Air Sea Rescue role and, in 1979, the British Aerospace Hawk replaced the last Hawker Siddeley Gnats in RAF service when it became the mount of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows.

All of these landmark events are referenced in this thorough, well-researched and image-packed publication. Each chapter focuses on a specific year, relaying all of the highlights that characterized it.

The 1970s were a decade of great change for Britain's military air arms. The RAF handed over the role of operating Britain's nuclear deterrent to the Royal Navy in 1969. Its primary role once again became that of providing battlefield and tactical support. For this, new aircraft in the form of Jaguars and Harriers joined the ranks of the RAF.

Nimrods replaced Shackletons in guarding Britain's seaways. Several older types were phased out of service including the Belfast, Britannia and Comet. Many other aircraft, however, which were in service in the 1960s lingered on throughout the following decades. The world of the RAF also grew smaller with the withdrawal of the forces east of Suez.

The Royal Navy also had its wings clipped in the 1970s with the retirement of its last large aircraft carrier for fixed wing aircraft. In its place the vertical take-off and landing Sea Harrier was delivered to the Fleet Air Arm. Helicopters now had a more dominant role. Sea Kings and Wasps operated from nearly all the Royal Navy's warships.

Unlike the other two air arms, the Army Air Corps saw its role expanded in the 1970s. It changed from purely providing support to a role of an offensive nature. Large numbers of new helicopters equipped in squadrons in the form of the Lynx and Gazelle which were capable of being armed. A small number of fixed wing aircraft were also on strength.

The Americans who first established air bases in Britain in the Second World War still retained a large number of combat aircraft in the country. Phantoms and the larger F-111 countered a potential Russian threat when the Cold War was at its height.

In this book, Malcolm Fife uses his wonderful collection of photographs to display many of the military aircraft types that could be seen in British skies during the 1970s.

From its beginnings as a curiosity with little operational use, Britain's armed forces soon embraced the helicopter with the Whirlwind for the Royal Navy and RAF and the Skeeter for the Army Air Corps.
Finding these helicopters limited, it was the advent of the turboshaft that revolutionised the helicopter, with the Belvedere, Wessex, Wasp and Scout bringing new capabilities.
The next generation, the Puma, Lynx, Sea King and Chinook, all designed for turboshaft power, made the helicopter an essential machine for all the armed forces and have proven their worth to Britain's forces since the 1970s.

In "Britain's Military Helicopters", Chris Gibson describes the evolution of the helicopter in British service, from their beginnings with the Sikorsky R-4B test flown by Fleet Air Arm pilots in the USA to the latest Wildcat and Apache Guardian.
Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book includes original photographs and images from archives, many of which are previously unpublished.

RAF Coastal Command was founded in 1936 when the Royal Air Force restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands. The Command played a key role in the Allied Victory during the Second World War, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic. From a modest beginning, the Command blossomed into a powerful anti-submarine force when protecting Allied convoys from the German submarine force, while also protecting that shipping from attacks by the Luftwaffe.
Equipped with legendary aircraft such as the Sunderland, Wellington, Catalina and Liberator, along with advances in radar technology such as the new Mark III ASV (Air-to-surface vessel), it was able to locate, attack and destroy an increasing number of U-boats that had fast become the scourge of the convoys.

By the end of the Second World War, Coastal Command had flown more than a million flying hours, completed 240,000 operations and destroyed 212 U-boats - but suffered an ever higher loss rate than Bomber Command with 2,060 aircraft lost, along with the lives of 5,866 personnel.
Post-war, Coastal Command saw a significant rundown but still made a contribution to the Berlin Airlift. When equipped with the new Shackleton aircraft, their activities shifted to anti-submarine patrols against the Soviet Navy and other fleets of the Warsaw Pact, particularly in the Atlantic.
In 1969, Coastal Command was absorbed into the newly formed Strike Command.

This book is illustrated with images from the Air Historical Branch - many of which have never previously been published.

When RAF Transport Command was created in March 1943, it was formed by the renaming of Ferry Command. The delivery of aircraft from manufacturers to operational units had been ongoing since the start of the Second World War; but was significantly intensified by the supply of American machines flown across the Atlantic from 1940.

Later, Transport Command took over the role of dropping paratroops. It even undertook the ferrying of mail from the UK to troops fighting across Europe, using specially modified Spitfires and Hurricanes for the role.
After 1945 and the conclusion of the Second World War, Transport Command grew considerably in size. In 1948, it was at the forefront of the Berlin Airlift.
It would later serve the RAF particularly well during the Suez Crisis, the Malayan Emergency, and the nuclear trial on Christmas Island.

This book covers a pictorial history of Transport Command operations from 1943 through to 1967, when RAF Transport Command was renamed Support Command. Illustrated with images from the Air Historical Branch - many of which have never previously been published.

From their modest origins with BE.2c and Vickers Victoria biplanes delivering food and ammunition in the Mesopotamian deserts to the massive Globemasters delivering hardware in the same theatre a century later, transport aircraft have played a key role in Britain's wars.
It was the Cold War that saw transport aircraft become necessary war-fighting equipment. Operation Corporate in 1982 identified the need for large-capacity strategic transport aircraft, something reinforced by Operation Granby in 1990-91, and led to the acquisition of the Lockheed TriStar and Boeing C-17A Globemaster.
When the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq began, the RAF's transport fleet was ready, and with the new model Hercules, and the Airbus Voyager and Atlas, Britain's armed forces have a transport force second to none.

'First in, last out' is a concise description of the operations of the RAF's transport force. Since 1915, aircraft have supported troops on the ground, carried personnel to and from war zones, evacuated civilians and provided succour to the needy.
RAF Transport Command's motto, Ferio Ferendo, translates as 'I strike by carrying', and that is exactly what transport aircraft have done for over a century.

With over 130 photographs, this book describes the evolution of the aircraft that provided the airlift capacity for Britain's armed forces wherever they served, and as the 2021 Operation Pitting showed, transport aircraft are still last out.

In August 1945 RAF Transport Command found itself with almost 2000 C-47 Dakotas acquired under Lend-Lease that had to be returned, destroyed or paid for. This left the RAF with converted bombers such as the York and Halifax C.VIII or, in the Far East, interned Japanese aircraft including the Ki.48 Lily.

Post war, Britain's aircraft industry embarked on equipping RAF with the full range of transport aircraft which could carry troops and cargo to the Far East and Australia. On Atlas' Shoulders describes how the lessons of WW2 were absorbed and design studies and aircraft projects including the Beverley, Vickers' V.1000 and Type 799, the Argosy and HS.681 V/STOL transport or the Britannia, HP.111, VC10 and Belfast.

This book also explains how the RAF developed their transport force from the late Sixties to today's precision delivery of equipment to forward operating bases in Afghanistan and beyond. The Mounting Base strategy followed with proposals for long-range transports such as the HP.135, Jet Belfast and VC10 developments whilst at the opposite end of the scale, liaison and observation aircraft such as the Pioneer were soon overtaken by the helicopter, culminating in the Wessex, Puma and Chinook.

Illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings and specially commissioned artwork, On Atlas' Shoulders is a unique reference to the aircraft and technologies developed for logistics support of the British armed forces since 1945.

Following his first three successful books, describing his long career as a military pilot, Mike Brooke completes the story with more tales of test flying during the 1980s and '90s.
During this period his career changed to see him take control of flying at Farnborough and then at Boscombe Down, as well as off-the-cuff delivery missions to Saudi Arabia, 'bombing' in the name of science in the Arctic and the chance to fulfil a long-standing dream and fly the vintage SE.5a.

This often hilarious memoir gives a revealing insight into military and civilian test flying of a wide range of aircraft, weapons and systems.
As in his previous books, Brooke continues to use his personal experiences to give the reader a unique view of flight trials of the times, successes and failures. More Testing Times and its earlier volumes make for fascinating reading for any aviation enthusiast.