The Golden Era of Naval Aviation PDF Download

Author: Lieutenant Commander A.M. Granat United States Navy
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1412247853
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
The Golden Era of Naval Aviation: An Aviator's Journey, 1939-1959 is a personalized account of an aviator's journey through twenty years of Naval Aviation. Author Lieutenant Commander A.M. "Mike" Granat, United States Navy (Retired) takes you into a world little-known or experienced by the average individual. Those early days of flight training will carry you along on apprehensive days of reaching for those coveted "Wings of Gold". Laced with humor, suspense and a bit of romance, the years span oceans and continents, East and West, North and South. From the vast expanse of the South Pacific flying Patrol Bombers during World War II, to the Far East in Military Transports; Alaska operations as an Air/Sea Rescue pilot, to carrier duty in a Fighter Squadron. Duties as a Flight Deck Officer will have you shivering on icy decks off the coast of Greenland while sweltering in the steamy Mediterranean and Caribbean. Reliving the days as a Flight Instructor leaves one with the taste of the interaction between student aviator and the instructor. The author depicts an age in Naval History that will never be repeated - the story of the early propellor aircraft to the coming of the jets. A transition, fueled by WWII that was remarkable. No time in Naval Aviation saw such extraordinary changes in so short a period. He relives it all in his own words and shares with the reader a saga of progress and achievement unmatched in aviation history.

Author: E. T. Wooldridge
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This book presents the reminiscences of legendary pilots, engineers, and innovators including Vice Admiral Alfred M. Pride, Captain Tommy Tomlinson, and Admirals Jimmy Thach and Thomas Moorer. These luminaries and others recount, in their own words, the naval aviation tactics and technological improvements that helped secure victory in World War II.

Author: Gerald Astor
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0345472527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
From critically acclaimed military historian Gerald Astor comes Wings of Gold, the first account of how the airplane transformed the U.S. Navy and paved the way to victory in the Pacific in World War II. Astor tracks that fateful journey from its humble beginnings in 1910 when Eugene Ely flew the very first plane off the deck of a U.S. Navy ship to the unprecedented air combat missions that helped defeat the Japanese. Few naval aviators in World War II realized that when they earned their wings of gold they were about to become test pilots for a whole new kind of combat. In their own words, these courageous fliers describe the life-and-death air battles that defined the revolution in naval strategy that rose from the ashes of Pearl Harbor, when fighter pilots watched in horror as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft bombed their planes and airfields into smoking rubble. While following the pilots’ firsthand reports of air strikes and blazing dogfights across the islands and atolls of the Pacific, Astor explores the ways the U.S. Navy began its momentous transformation before the war. Later, the critical role of aircraft carriers in the stunning U.S. victory at Midway sounded the death knell for conventional naval warfare, yet the public, the press, the Army, and even the president’s advisors refused to recognize the new reality. In fact, only a few in the Navy understood that a new era had begun that would change the face of war forever. The young Americans who fought the deadly duels against Imperial Japanese forces high over the Pacific gave everything they had to the war effort, and many made the supreme sacrifice. Wings of Gold pays tribute to their courage, daring, and selfless dedication. Vividly told, thoroughly researched, and filled with stirring accounts of the Pacific War’s greatest air battles, Wings of Gold is an important addition to the annals of World War II aerial combat.

Author: Peter Freeman
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 9781904644354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book covers the relatively little-documented period in US Navy and Marine Corps aviation 'between the wars' from 1919-1941', which is widely regarded as the 'Golden Era', when US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft carried some of the most striking schemes and markings ever seen. Over 550 different aircraft model designations appeared during this period, many numbering only a handful of aircraft, but of those which went in to full scale production, many were significant aircraft which contributed to the development of naval aviation worldwide. With scores of full color profile and 4-view illustrations, and some well selected representative contemporary photos, the book covers aircraft development, color schemes and markings, in a chronological format, presenting each aircraft type from its first entry into service until obsolescence, with a cutoff date of 7 December 1941 - the date that the United States of America entered World War Two - allowing the reader to appreciate the gradual evolution of the many color schemes and markings, both service and unit applied.

Author: Douglas V Smith
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612514235
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Published to coincide with the centennial celebration of U.S. Navy Aviation, this book chronicles Navy aviation from its earliest days, before the Navy’s first aircraft carrier joined the fleet, through the modern jet era marked by the introduction of the F-18 Hornet. It tells how naval aviation got its start, profiles its pioneers, and explains the early bureaucracy that fostered and sometimes inhibited its growth. The book then turns to the refinement of carrier aviation doctrine and tactics and the rapid development of aircraft and carriers, highlighting the transition from propeller-driven aircraft to swept wing jets in the period after WW II. Land-based Navy aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft and rigid airships, and balloons are also considered in this sweeping tribute.

Author: George van Deurs
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1682471438
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
The men who ventured into the air in the Navy’s first frail aircraft were not only daring—they had vision, persistence, and a nearly unlimited determination to convince the skeptics that their frail kite-like structures could someday possess military value. This is the story of their trials, tragedies, and triumphs. They patched cooling systems with chewing gum, they lived by “crash, repair, and fly again,” but they succeeded in developing this new service into an effective arm of the fleet. Wings for the Fleet, first published in 1966, covers the fascinating details of those pioneering days from 1910 to the entry of the United States into World War I. All of the heroic “early birds” are here with full accounts of their exploits. Admiral van Deurs, himself a naval aviator since the early 1920s, has rendered a significant service by his careful preparation of this well-balanced, thoroughly illustrated historical account, which comes complete with appendixes listing early naval aviators and the planes they flew. Over one hundred photographs were selected from official and private sources to illustrate this book.

Author: Gerald Astor
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0307417778
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
From critically acclaimed military historian Gerald Astor comes Wings of Gold, the first account of how the airplane transformed the U.S. Navy and paved the way to victory in the Pacific in World War II. Astor tracks that fateful journey from its humble beginnings in 1910 when Eugene Ely flew the very first plane off the deck of a U.S. Navy ship to the unprecedented air combat missions that helped defeat the Japanese. Few naval aviators in World War II realized that when they earned their wings of gold they were about to become test pilots for a whole new kind of combat. In their own words, these courageous fliers describe the life-and-death air battles that defined the revolution in naval strategy that rose from the ashes of Pearl Harbor, when fighter pilots watched in horror as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft bombed their planes and airfields into smoking rubble. While following the pilots’ firsthand reports of air strikes and blazing dogfights across the islands and atolls of the Pacific, Astor explores the ways the U.S. Navy began its momentous transformation before the war. Later, the critical role of aircraft carriers in the stunning U.S. victory at Midway sounded the death knell for conventional naval warfare, yet the public, the press, the Army, and even the president’s advisors refused to recognize the new reality. In fact, only a few in the Navy understood that a new era had begun that would change the face of war forever. The young Americans who fought the deadly duels against Imperial Japanese forces high over the Pacific gave everything they had to the war effort, and many made the supreme sacrifice. Wings of Gold pays tribute to their courage, daring, and selfless dedication. Vividly told, thoroughly researched, and filled with stirring accounts of the Pacific War’s greatest air battles, Wings of Gold is an important addition to the annals of World War II aerial combat.

Author: Noel C. Shirley
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764311796
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
United States Naval Aviation 1910-1918 for the first time provides a comprehensive study of the formation and initial deployment of naval aviation in a world war. The late eminent naval historian R.D. Layman wrote that the subject of naval aviation has, never been adequately explored, had been often underestimated, ignored, or unrealized. The author of this book, based upon over thirty years of research into the subject of World War I aviation, and based upon both primary and secondary reference sources, has compiled into one source a complete history of the early development of naval aviation in the United States. He then discusses the manner and role that the naval aviation service applied to the war effort during 1917-1918. The book covers not only the subject of naval aircraft, but also describes the activities of the Navy in the field of lighter-than-air craft. Specific information is provided on each of the Naval Air Stations constructed and operated, both domestically as well as in Foreign Service during the War. Detailed discussion is also provided regarding the role of Marine Corps aviation during this time period.

Author: Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612511015
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
On 4 June 1942, three squadrons of U.S. Navy Dauntless dive bombers destroyed Japan's carrier force sent to neutralize Midway, changing the course of the war in the Pacific. As Thomas Wildenberg convincingly demonstrates in this book, the key ingredient to the navy's success at Midway was the planning and training devoted to the tactic of dive bombing over the previous seventeen years. Examining how political, economic, technical, and operational factors influenced the development of carrier airpower between 1925 and 1942, he shows why dive bombing became the navy's weapon of choice—why it was emphasized over all other methods of aerial warfare and finally brought to bear to stop the Japanese advance. He also pays tribute to the select group of naval aviators and senior leaders whose insights and determination drove the evolution of carrier tactics in this formative period. The title reflects the essence of the story: the development of carrier air power in the U.S. Navy was driven by an unwritten understanding that the years spent on experimentation, training, and innovations were ""destined"" to bring success in a future battle. As part of this work, the author introduces newly discovered information showing that the outcome at Midway was actually predicted by naval aviators years before the battle took place. The book sheds new light on the navy's preparations for war, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt the effectiveness of U.S. naval planning before Pearl Harbor. Destined for Glory is the first book to thoroughly document the development of carrier air power in the United States Navy during the interwar years. Aviation enthusiasts and naval historians alike will find a wealth of previously unpublished data on the development of carrier aircraft and their tactical doctrine. Readers will discover new material related to the evolution of the fighters, torpedo bombers, and scout planes that made up the carrier air groups in World War II. Although several excellent books have been written about the Battle of Midway, none has focused on how the U.S. Navy came to develop the one aerial weapon “dive bombing” which proved to be the decisive instrument of victory. For it was dive bombing, and only dive bombing, that turned the tide of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Introduced and developed in the interwar years, dive bombing became the corner stone in the navy's efforts to secure command of the air. Although the development of the dive bomber played an extremely important role in the advance of naval aviation during the interwar period, it is only part of a much broader story that illustrates an important lesson for historians: what comes before the battle is as important as the battle itself. It will become evident from reading the text that the aerial successes of 1942 were unequivocally rooted in the tactics and equipment developed during the previous seventeen years.

Author: Ernest M Snowden
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1682472957
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Winged Brothers recounts the service exploits of two brothers over more than forty years of naval aviation history in both peace and war. They were deeply committed to each other and to advancing their chosen profession, but due to the vast difference in their ages and the fourteen years between their respective graduations from the U.S. Naval Academy, they experienced carrier aviation from very different perspectives. The older brother, Ernest, entered naval aviation in an era of open-cockpit biplanes when the Navy’s operations from aircraft carriers were still taking form when Fleet Problems were still the primary means of determining aviation’s warfighting utility and proving its merits to the fleet. Macon’s story guides the reader through the Navy’s transition from piston-engine aircraft to jets. For the entirety of their time in uniform, the one constant was a close fraternal bond that saw Ernest as mentor and Macon as devoted admirer and protégé, only to see those roles recede as the younger brother’s achievements transcended those of the older brother. Through personal letters, official reports, first-hand accounts, and first-person interviews, their symbiotic relationship is revealed to the reader.