baboon6
LE
...and perhaps 20ish miles of the most fortunately located saltwater.
Indeed!
...and perhaps 20ish miles of the most fortunately located saltwater.
I'm about a quarter of the way through Stephen Bungay's The Most Dangerous Enemy and I already think it's the best history of the Battle of Britain I've read.
Book Review: Kent Beck: Extreme Programming Explained - Embrace Change
The Spitfire was successful for many reasons, but one was that it always did what the pilot commanded with the stick, requiring only light finger pressure. In a tight turn or roll, the inner wing started to stall before the outer wing, causing a noticeable vibration, thus reliably warning the pilot. This in turn enabled every pilot to fly the plane to its limits – a life-saving feature. This wonderfully intuitive behaviour, ‘washout’, was created by a slight twist in the wing. Dependability, reliability, manoeuvrability, lethality, speed, controllability: no wonder the pilots were happy to have ‘beer, women, and Spitfires’.
The Luftwaffe never recovered from its losses in the Battle. In September, Goering went to the Pas-de-Calais to try to sort out the trouble, turning on all his undoubted charm.
Goering: What can I do for you?
Moelders: Upgraded engines for my Bf 109s.
Galland: A squadron of Spitfires.
It is said that Goering then lost his temper.
thanks for the tip, have just ordered from local libraryJungly Lynx action at the start of GW2. VG personal account going right back to E&E training as a fledgling and culminating in dashing around popping TOWs (which rather too often, malfunctioned) at Saddam's T55s and also his communications - a DFC well earned, but the author was also, clearly, very, very lucky. Space found for some vg jokes as the farce underlying all naval activity bubbles to the top, and an often amusing portrait of the RM.
VERY ARRSEworthy and I see available on Amazon for a penny plus P&P (mine from a charity shop £1.50).
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Mmm............interesting but it also repeats several canards. From the attachment:
Earlier the author had cited that the Spitfire could outmanoeuvre the Messerschmidt. Not so, their respective performances, especially in the turn were almost identical. Where there was a difference is cited in the above mentioned quote. The Spitfire gave earlier warning of an impending stall so it could be flown "closer to the edge" than the Messerschmidt.
The other canard is the "...squadron of Spitfires" comment by Galland. In his autobiography he puts the comment into context. He wanted the advantages that the Spitfire was fighting under, not the aircraft. The Messerschmidt was seriously short on fuel, especially once over London, if shot down imprisonment was a certainty unless they could get well over the Channel, and if damaged help was a long way away.
For a truely epic volume on the Battle of Britain may I recommend
It is the result of 40 years of research and is one of the few books to have been written following access to both British and German records and captured German records in Russia. A number of myths are dispelled and it provides what is probably the most accurate account of aircraft and crew losses on both sides. He is also emphatic that the victory was primarily due to the tenacity and "superb fighting spirit of the RAF fighter pilots" rather than such things as radar and German mistakes. Highly recommended.
“Fear: Trump in the White House” by Woodward. Excellent read and knocks “The West Wing” into a cocked hat. Mattis comes out as the hero so far - 28% through (so yes it is available on Kindle).
just purchased Vietnam by Max Hastings, heard about this in an interview on friday 28/09/18 on BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine's show about 1300hrs if you want to pod cast it, I'm a fan of his books, Max Hastings, not Vine, Vines an anti police leftie clinging to the illusion of his punk days. Max on the other hand was a young war correspondent who saw it for himself. This book only touches on his personal experience in the intro, then goes deeper. Only just started, it's a big book with lots of good stuff, I'll report back when I've read it next month. It was only published may 2018, So Max has done well getting it out on Radio 2 so quickly.
I ordered my copy from e bay, and it arrived 12 hours later, now that is gob smackingly fast service.I brought it yesterday. Will be getting stuck in Tuesday.