Inscribed 6 (2).Pdf
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Inscribed6 CONTENTS 1 1. AVIATION 33 2. MILITARY 59 3. NAVAL 67 4. ROYALTY, POLITICIANS, AND OTHER PUBLIC FIGURES 180 5. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 195 6. HIGH LATITUDES, INCLUDING THE POLES 206 7. MOUNTAINEERING 211 8. SPACE EXPLORATION 214 9. GENERAL TRAVEL SECTION 1. AVIATION including books from the libraries of Douglas Bader and “Laddie” Lucas. 1. [AITKEN (Group Captain Sir Max)]. LARIOS (Captain José, Duke of Lerma). Combat over Spain. Memoirs of a Nationalist Fighter Pilot 1936–1939. Portrait frontispiece, illustrations. First edition. 8vo., cloth, pictorial dust jacket. London, Neville Spearman. nd (1966). £80 A presentation copy, inscribed on the half title page ‘To Group Captain Sir Max AitkenDFC. DSO. Let us pray that the high ideals we fought for, with such fervent enthusiasm and sacrifice, may never be allowed to perish or be forgotten. With my warmest regards. Pepito Lerma. May 1968’. From the dust jacket: ‘“Combat over Spain” is one of the few first-hand accounts of the Spanish Civil War, and is the only one published in England to be written from the Nationalist point of view’. Lerma was a bomber and fighter pilot for the duration of the war, flying 278 missions. Aitken, the son of Lord Beaverbrook, joined the RAFVR in 1935, and flew Blenheims and Hurricanes, shooting down 14 enemy aircraft. Dust jacket just creased at the head and tail of the spine. A formidable Vic formation – Bader, Deere, Malan. 2. [BADER (Group Captain Douglas)]. DEERE (Group Captain Alan C.) DOWDING Air Chief Marshal, Lord), foreword. Nine Lives. Portrait frontispiece, illustrations. First edition. 8vo., cloth, pictorial price-clipped dust jacket. London, Hodder & Stoughton. 1959. £750 A presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper to the limbless fighter aceDouglas Bader. ‘Douglas, I may disagree on tactics, but I am proud to have been associated with you in those hectic days. In admiration “Al” June 1959’, under neath which is an annotation from Group Captain “Sailor” Malan: ‘I concur heartily “Sailor‘’’. There are occasional pencil markings to blocks of text which may be by Bader, particularly on the pages where Deere discusses tactics, indicating his antipathy to Bader’s theory of the ‘Big Wing’, referred to in the inscription. Of the band of New Zealanders flying with the RAF during the Second World War, Deere stood out as one of the bravest and most successful who served continuously from the beginning of the war until 1943, by which time his official score was destroyed 22, probables 10, damaged 18. He survived being shot down 7 times, a collision with a German fighter, a bailing out, and being shot up on the ground while attempting to take off. Sailor Malan was a South African who joined the RAF in 1935, becoming one of the most successful aces of the Second World War, famous for his fearless aggression, and his deep thinking over tactics. He early abandoned the traditional Vic formation, Maggs Bros Ltd 020 7493 7160 [email protected] 1 favouring the looser style of the so called ‘Four Finger’ formation, copied from the Germans. He developed a set of ten simple rules for air fighting, copies of which were posted up in many an airfield. He was for a while Station Commander at Biggin Hill, one of the most famous of the fighter bases in the war, where Deere served under him. Malan eventually retired to South Africa to be a farmer, and a strong anti-apartheid campaigner. The legendary Douglas Bader was one of the top scoring fighter aces of the Second World War, a feat made doubly impressive by the loss of his legs in a flying accident in 1931, and the fact that he achieved such a high score in a short time. Having in 1941 collided with an enemy fighter over France he was taken prisoner, and made a nuisance of himself with his numerous attempts at escape, which caused him to be locked up in Colditz prison for the rest of the war. After the war he became a businessman in the oil industry, and did much work on behalf of charities for the disabled. A few pencil markings in the text, loosely inserted a scrap of paper noting the markings, spine creased, slightly stained at the head and tail, dust jacket rubbed on the folds and edges, nicked and torn at the head of the spine. 3. [BADER (Group Captain Douglas)]. [DOOLITTLE (Lt.-General James H.)]. THOMAS (Lowell). JABLONSKI (Edward). Doolittle. A Biography. Illustrations. First edition. 8vo., quarter black cloth over red boards, pictorial dust jacket. New York, Doubleday. 1976. £250 A presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper ‘To Douglas Bader. In deepappreciation for his fine friendship thru the years. Jim Doolittle. Aug.10th. 79’. From the dust jacket: ‘Jim Doolittle and aviation grew up with the 20th century. He made the first transcontinental flight that took less than 24 hours; he was the first American to fly the Andes; he received one of the first PhDs in aeronautical engineering. He worked on techniques and instruments for blind flights, and for longer and faster ones. He won countless awards for his breath taking stunt flying and he was a three star Lieutenant-General by the end of World War II. Eisenhower and Churchill respected him not only for the daring Tokyo Raid, which he led, but also for his ideas on military strategy’. After the war both men worked for Shell, Doolittle in oil, and Bader at Shell Aviation. Dust jacket slightly creased at the head of the spine, a fine copy. 4. [BADER (Group Captain Douglas)]. DOUGLAS (Marshal of the RAF W. Sholto). Years of Combat. Years of Command. Two volumes. Illustrations, cartographic endpapers to volume one. First editions. 8vo., cloth, dust jackets. London, Collins. 1963, 1966. £400 The first volume, ‘Years of Combat’, inscribed on the title page ‘To Douglas Bader – with my regards Sholto Douglas’, the second volume, co-authored by Robert Wright, is inscribed on the front free endpaper ‘For Henry. With fond love and very best wishes from Hazel and Katherine Sholto’s wife and daughter 11th March 1971’, “and Katherine” being in a different hand. Loosely inserted in the second volume a substantial 2 page TLS 2 Catalogue 1482 Maggs Bros Ltd to Douglas from Robert Wright, dated 10th August 1959, going into considerable detail about the facts of a mission to drop spare artificial legs to Douglas Bader after he had been shot down over France, in particular repeating the memories of Bader’s fellow aces Johnny Kent and Johnnie Johnson and suggesting Douglas tells the story in this book. The story duly appears, including the interesting detail that the RAF and their German enemies kept a radio channel open between them, mainly to alert each other to airmen downed in the sea. Douglas says he was telephoned by Churchill about this, Churchill accusing Douglas of fraternising with the enemy, Douglas standing up for himself, pointing out that the mission shot down several Bf.109s, which was ‘not very fraternal’. Douglas was a fighter pilot in the Great War, after which for a while he worked as a test pilot for Handley Page, before joining the RAF in 1920 where he rose through the ranks. At the beginning of the Second World War there were serious disagreements between the most senior officers in the RAF over tactics, Douglas and Trafford LeighMallory wanting to confront the approaching German Air Force in large formations further away from the coast, while Keith Park and Hugh Dowding wanted to fight in smaller groups, which they reasoned were quicker to react. Douglas won the argument, Dowding and Park were dismissed, and it was Douglas who became head of Fighter Command, where he put the tactic, called the ‘Big Wing’ theory, in to immediate practice. One of the most enthusiastic proponents of the Big Wing theory was the presentee, Douglas Bader, who is credited by many as the originator of the tactic. In 1943 Douglas was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the RAF in the Middle East for a year, after which he was tasked as Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command with planning the preparations for D-Day. Both dust jackets slightly rubbed. Bader to Sholto Douglas. 5. [BADER (Group Captain Douglas)]. BRICKHILL (Paul). Reach for the Sky. Portrait frontispiece, illustrations. First edition. 8vo., cloth, pictorial dust jacket. London, Collins. 1954. £300 A presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper by Bader to his former C inC ‘To Sholto – from Douglas Bader 15/3/54’. Sholto Douglas was head of Fighter Command when Bader was flying Spitfires in the Battle of Britain, the two airmen being in complete agreement over tactics, particularly the ‘Big Wing’ theory, which favoured massing aircraft as far out as possible to confront the enemy before they could cross the coast. There was, and still is, considerable controversy over the merits or otherwise of this tactic. The most common disagreements were that the wing took too long to assemble, and reduced the capability of the RAF to defend against multiple attacks in different places, and was too easily bounced. A very successful film was made of this book, starring Kenneth More as Bader. Front hinge split but holding, dust jacket browned, slight wear to the head of the spine. 6. [BADER (Group Captain Douglas)]. LUCAS (Wing Commander Laddie). Flying Colours. The Epic Story of Douglas Bader. Maggs Bros Ltd 020 7493 7160 [email protected] 3 Illustrations. First edition. 8vo., cloth, pictorial dust jacket. London, Hutchinson. 1981. £100 Signed by subject and author on the title page ‘Douglas Bader 27/10/81’, ‘Laddie Lucas’.