The Pathfinders were the corps d'elite of Bomber Command, the command that had been leading the fight back against Germany even before the fall of France in 1940. Formed in July 1942, the Pathfinder force was tasked with marking targets and leading bomber formations to the right place at the right time in order to cause maximum devastation to the enemy. Pathfinder crews consisted of members who had flown a minimum of 45 operational sorties and while they were no doubt the best of the best, the force was made up of individuals from all ranks and backgrounds. Even amongst these elite there were gods, and these took the form of the master bombers.The Master Bomber, as the name suggests, was the aircraft in charge of the whole attack, it was the Master Bomber who determined the accuracy of the target indicators dropped by the primary visual markers, and what further marking or illumination was required. It was the Master Bomber that would transmit instructions over VHF radio to the main force telling them what coloured markers to ignore and what to bomb, exhorting them on to greater consistency.

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 156 x 234 x 28 mm

Publication Date: 30-05-2008

Formed in July 1942, the Pathfinder force was the corps d'elite of Bomber Command, tasked with marking targets and leading bomber formations to the right place at the right time. And the best of the force formed the crews of the master bombers, the aircraft in charge of the whole attack. It took nerves of steel for the crew to linger long high over the target area, often for hours, in constant fear of attack from fighters or flak. Here Sean Feast gives a detailed and comprehensive exploration of the exploits of one typical squadron in the heat of battle.

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 153 x 234 x 23 mm

Publication Date: 01-07-2010

In some ways, Alfie Fripp's war ended when he was shot down on a reconaissance sortie over Germany in October 1939. In many others, it was only just beginning.
Squadron Leader Alfie Fripp (RAF Retd) was the oldest surviving and longest-serving British prisoner of war (POW) until his death in 2013 - the last of the so-called '39-ers0. Held in a succession of Nazi POW camps during World War II he was a prominent figure and as Red Cross representative, and always a welcome sight. Held in the infamous Stalag Luft III in Sagan, his own skipper - Mike Casey - was shot as one of the '50' who took part in the real Great Escape.
But Alfie's story begins well before the outbreak of the Second World War. One of Trenchard's 'Brats', Alfie trained as a wireless operator before spending more than five years in various flying boat squadrons in the Far East. He was again one of the last survivors from the days of the mighty Southampton, Scapa and Singapore flying boats that ruled both the skies and the waves, and helped ensure the safety of the Empire.
Told to Sean Feast with striking honesty and simplicity, written with pace and insight, Alfie's story has been brought alive. Accompanied by a superb collection of photographs, this long-overdue account is an excellent chance to discover the story of one of these legendary men.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 156 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 25-10-2013

By any measure, Andy Wiseman (born Weizman) is a lucky man. The only son of a Polish father and an American mother, Andy was born and grew up in Berlin, just as Adolf Hitler was coming to power. As a Jew educated at the famous Werner Siemens Real Gymnasium in Schoneberg, he left only months before his school was closed down and fled with his family to Poland, one step ahead of the Nazi persecution that was to follow and later take the life of his father. From Poland he again fled to England, this time without his parents, arriving as a 16-year old with little or no grasp of English. After a crash course in the language, he avoided being called up into the Polish army in exile thanks to the timely intervention of no less a man than General Sikorski himself, to enlist in the RAF to train initially as a pilot and then as an air bomber in South Africa. On his return to the UK he was posted to an all-Australian Squadron (466 Squadron) equipped with the Handley Page Halifax. After his first operation in which he was nearly shot down, Andy survived a handful of eventful trips before falling victim to one of the Luftwaffe's top night fighter pilots and landing in France.Briefly on the run he was betrayed and captured, spending the next 12 months as a prisoner of war, using his knowledge of Russian, Polish and German to act as one of the principal camp interpreters, and working as a 'scrounger' for the 'X' committee of escapers. Moved from camp to camp, he was one of those forced into the 'Long March' by the Germans attempting to escape the Russian advance, and afterwards played a key role in avoiding the potential bloodshed that threatened when the Russians refused to allow the British and Norwegian prisoners to return home - a role for which he was later recognised by the King of Norway. Upon his release, Andy used his language skills to work with the BBC monitoring service and later, BBC Television as a producer, sharing many adventures with the great broadcasters of their time, including David Dimbleby and Raymond Baxter.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 156 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 22-06-2015

This is the story of Halton told through and by the boys who were there and who are still proud to be called ‘Trenchard Brats’. The RAF Halton Apprenticeship Scheme has a deserved reputation for excellence. The brainchild of MRAF Hugh Trenchard, the founder of the Royal Air Force, it took the ‘traditional’ idea of an apprenticeship and interpreted it in a novel way. It allowed teenage boys from any social background or geography to learn a technical trade that would equip them for their future lives, within and beyond the RAF. It also gave the best an opportunity to become pilots and break into the once public-school-dominated officer class. Of the 50,000 boys trained as apprentices, seventeen won the Sword of Honour at Cranwell, and more than 1,200 were commissioned with 110 achieving Air Rank. Eighteen have been knighted, with well over 1,000 others being honoured at various levels of state. More than a hundred Halton Boys served as pilots in the Battle of Britain (and many more as airframe/engine fitters and armourers), including the mercurial Don Finlay, the former Olympic hurdler. Others like Gerry Blacklock and Pat Connolly flew bombers on perilous missions over Western Europe or took part in the famous ‘Dams’ Raid. Then there were the three men murdered for their part in the Great Escape, and those who battled and survived years as prisoners of the Japanese in the Far East. In the jet era, ex-apprentice Graham Hulse became an ‘ace’ in Korea, serving with an American fighter squadron, and Mike Hines went on to become OC 617 Squadron after having first flown operations during the Suez crisis. Others like Charles Owen became a pioneer commercial jet pilot, and Peter Goodwin had the misfortune of being captured in the first Gulf War and used as a human shield. Some forged successful careers beyond the RAF, like Lawrie Haynes, who was on the main board at Rolls-Royce and is now chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, and Eugene Borysuik – one of the many Polish apprentices trained at Halton, who enjoyed a successful career at GEC. And there were many others beyond air and ground crew including policemen, government officials and even bishops whose careers started with the Halton family.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 156 x 234 mm

Publication Date: 24-09-2020