Aviation Paperbacks 1959 59/pat.1 Panther Books 964 1959 Larry Forrester, Fly For Your Life, The Story of R..R.. Stanford Tuck, D.S.O., D.F.C. and Two 59/bal.1 Ballantine Books F 514 K Bars, A Panther Book Robert S. Johnson with Martin Caidin, First published by Frederick Muller March 1956, Thunderbolt!, Ballantine Books, New York reprinted September 1956. Panther edition First printing September 1958, second printing published October 1959 by Hamilton & Co October 1958, by Rinehart & Co, New York; (Stafford) Ltd, London. This Panther edition has First Ballantine edition 1959, second printing been abridged by arrangement with the author. May 1961. pp. [iv] 5-222 [2] adverts.+ 8 plates. pp. [vi] 7-222 [223-224] list of Panther Books Printers: Printed in the United States of Printers: Hunt, Barnard & Co Ltd, at the Sign of America. the Dolphin, Aylesbury Price: 50¢ Price: 2/6 Front cover: painting of P.47 firing rockets, Front cover: col. painting, signed Derek A. unsigned. “1943-45: the story of the U.S. 56th Stewart [?], of pilots scrambling to Spitfires. Fighter Group that shot down over 1000 Nazi Review quote. Into the thundering rivers of planes.” German bombers, nerves taut and guns blazing Rear cover: [synopsis] and advert. for Boeing Rear cover: synopsis and monochrome photo of 707 by Martin Caidin Stanford Tuck [2] original edition 1956: 59/cor.1 Corgi Giant G676 London: Fredferick Muller, 1956. 19.5 x 13cm. C.F. Rawnsley and Robert Wright, Night fighter, pp. [iv] 5-367 + frontis. + 12 plates Foreword by John Cunningham, [Corgi Books [3] Panther Books 1973: logo] Transworld Publishers, London First published by Frederick Muller 1956. Originally published in England by Wm. Collins Published in 1959 by Panther Books. Reprinted & Sons 1957. Corgi edition published 1959. 1968 (twice), 1969, 1971, 1973 Corgi Giant G676. 16 x 10.5cm. pp. [xii] 13-41 Identical to above, except: [6] adverts. Price: 35p. Printers: Hunt, Barnard & Co. Ltd, Aylesbury. SBN: 586 00964 7 2 Price: 3/6d Front and rear covers: wrap-round painting Front cover: painting of Mosquito attacking [unsigned] of Spitfires and Me.110s. bomber, signed Roy Cross [??] Rear cover: synopsis Rear cover: [quotes from reviews] Notes: p.[vi] There are no fictitious characters in Reviews: [J.M.R. Flight, 19 April 1957, p.519] this book, but there are a few fictitious names. It … a book by two men who at different times seems to me that so long after the war it would served with the war’s greatest night fighter pilot, be needlessly cruel to reawaken anguished John Cunningham. They tell their story in a memories for the families of those Royal Air simple, unselfconscious style, with none of the Force men who did not die quickly or cleanly … florid passages which sometimes mar the So I have changed some names, but not the facts. writings of men of action. Humour abounds. … Now and again the reader of this book may pause 59/pen.1 Penguin 1383 to re-read a passage … which for its truth and Wing Leader, By ‘Johnnie’ Johnson (Group simplicity is probably unsurpassed in Captain J.E. Johnson, D.S.O., D.F.C.). With a aeronautical literature … Foreword by Group Captain Douglas Bader [Air Pic. June 1959, p.238. Gerald J. Pollinger] C.B.E., D.S.O., D.F.C. Penguin Books in It is two years since this book appeared in hard association with Chatto and Windus. covers … Even in soft covers it is a big book … First published by Chatto & Windus 1956; The boom in paper-back war books has not Published in Penguin Books 1959. pp. [xii] 13- abated, and whilst there are still books of quality 303 [304] + [16]pp. plates. to reprint, such as this one, there seems no Printers: Hunt, Barnard & Co.Ltd, Aylesbury; reason why it should. Gravure plates by Harrison & Sons Ltd. [2] original edition: Front cover: orange [vertical] A true and moving London: Collins, 1957. 21 x 13cm. pp. [viii] [9] epic of war in the air, by the top fighter ace of 10-382 [383] + frontis. + 3 plates. Map. 2-col. the Second World War ... illus. d.j. Rear cover: author biog. In terms of enemy aircraft destroyed, ‘Johnnie’ Douglas Bader, Wing Leader, Tangmere; Johnson was the top Allied fighter ace of the ‘Cocky’ Dundas, 616 Squadron; ‘Nip’ Hepple, last war, with thirty-eight accredited victories. 616 Squadron; High summer, 1941, ‘Cocky’ He was awarded a D.S.O. and two bars, D.F.C. Dundas and Douglas Bader after a fighter sweep; and bar, America D.F.C., Legion of Merit, Air South Yorkshire Squadron 1942, Ware (New Medal, Belgian legion of Honour, and the Croix Zealand), Bowen (Canada), J.E.J. Smithson de Guerre. After qualifying as a civil engineer, (Australia), Winter (Rohodesia); Basil Embry he tried to join the Auxiliary Air Force, but ‘it and Peter Clapham, Wittering, 1942; The was a very select service in those days - you challenge, Focke Wulf 190; The reply, Spitfire almost had to possess your own aeroplane’. He 9s; Pat Jameson, Wing Leader, Wittering; Paula; was again unlucky when trying to get into the George Keefer, R.C.A.F.; Walter Conrad, R.A.F.V.R., and despairing of ever getting into R.C.A.F.; Canadian pilots of the Kenley Wing; the R.A.F. he finally joined the Leicestershire End of a Focke Wulf 190; Wally McLeod, 443 Yeomanry as a trooper. In 1939, when the Squadron, R.C.A.F.; Danny Browne, 441 R.A.F.V.R. was expanded, he was at last Squadron, R.C.A.F.; Dal Russel, 442 Squadron, accepted as a pilot under training. After the war R.C.A.F.; Fred Varley and Sally; Our version of he served with the U.S.A.F. in Korea, and later the brewer’s dray; Winston Churchill visits 127 commanded a Sabre-jet wing in Germany. Today Wing in Normandy: Bill MacBrien, Mr he commands a V-bomber base. Churchill, Mr Churchill, Harry Broadhurst and Notes: [inside front cover]: Wing Leader is the Bill MacBrien; The Spitfire 14; Tegerdine’s story of a young civil engineer who joined the Spitfire on a Brussels roof; New Year’s Day, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1939, as a 1945, the Brussels airfield at Évère; Bob week-end flyer, and finished the war as the top- Bateson’s Mosquitos at Copenhagen; The author scoring Allied fighter pilot, with thirty-eight with the Queen of Denmark confirmed victories. ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, Reviews: [Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir mobilized at the beginning of the war, completed John C. Slessor. Flight, 19 Oct. 1956, p.639] No his flying training and joined a badly mauled one who wants to know what the air war was fighter squadron during the battle of Britain. really like … can afford not to read this book by Except for a six months’ rest, he flew with the one of the most deservedly famous flying fighter squadrons until VE day, and received five officers in the short but glorious history of the British decorations for gallantry and five foreign R.A.F. … The story, of course, is magnificent. awards. Johnson served what he describes as a … Too often these splendid stories are spoilt in ‘fighting apprenticeship’ to Douglas Bader and the telling. G/C Johnson, on the other hand, was flying alongside the legless leader when he writes nearly as well as he flies and fights – was brought down. Later the author commanded which is saying a good deal. In his modest, his own squadron, led them in the bitter fighting straightforward, often superbly graphic account over Dieppe, and was himself supremely lucky … one keeps coming across little passages which to return unscathed. Promoted to Wing could hardly be bettered - simple and unforced Commander, he led a Canadian Spitfire wing and with an economy of words … which, under his brilliant, resolute command, [2] Original edition 1956: fought the Luftwaffe over Normandy, across London: Chatto & Windus, 1956. pp. [iv] 5-320 France and to the Rhine. During the final phase + frontis. + 19 plates. d.j. illus. unsigned. of the struggle in Germany, Johnson, now a Illustrations as Penguin ed. in larger format and Group Captain, had command of a British wing 2 additional shots for each of the Brussels of the latest and most powerful Spitfires. photographs Wing Leader is a book to match the author’s [3] World Books 1956 remarkable experiences. So absorbing is his First published 1956 by Chatto & Windus Ltd. narrative, so graphic are his descriptions of This edition published by The Reprint Society battles in the air, so sympathetic are the portraits Ltd, 1958. 18.5 x 12cm. pp. [xii] [13] 14-320. 8 he draws of companions who shared his plates. Index achievement, that Wing Leader will rank with Printers: Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, the finest stories which have come out of the Aylesbury and Slough war. Covers: red cloth. Orange d.j. Illustrations: The author, Kenley Wing, 1943; Front cover: [d.j.] astrological symbols design Billy Burton, 616 Squadron; Ken Holden, 616 Rear cover: details of forthcoming titles. World Squadron; A section of Messerchmitt 109Fs; Books monthly selections are published for members by The Reprint Society Ltd. SAAF aeroplanes, and in the restoration of Notes: [inside rear d.j.] From the Author. In vintage aircraft. In 1989 he published his widely 1939 I was a member of the Royal Air Force acclaimed book ‘A Portrait of Military Aviation Volunteer Reserve and at the week-ends we in South Africa’, which contains 150 learned to fly Tiger Moths. When the war began reproductions of his paintings. it was perhaps not surprising that we all wanted to be fighter pilots. However, the law of supply SJ. 27.7.06 and demand, especially in wartime, takes little account of personal ambitions but I was lucky, for when I completed my flying training in the summer of 1940, the requirement was for fighter pilots and I was sent to a Spitfire squadron. Wing Leader is my account of those years from Volunteer Reserve days of 1939 until that spring morning, almost six years later, when we took off from our airfield in Germany to fly the last dawn patrol. [4] Hamlyn Paperbacks 1979: First published by Chatto & Windus 1956; first paperback publication 1959 by Penguin Books; Hamlyn Paperbacks edition 1979. 18 x 11cm. pp. [vi] 7-320 Printers: Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, Aylesbury Price: £1.25 ISBN: 0 600 39472 7 Front cover: col. painting [unsigned] of JE-J Spitfire and monochrome photo of Johnson. The dramatic story behind World War II’s top fighter ace Rear cover: col. photo of Johnson. [synopsis] [5] Goodall Paperbacks 1995: Wing Leader, Air Vice-Marshal ‘Johnnie’ Johnson CB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, Top-scoring Allied fighter pilot of World War Two, A Goodall paperback from Air data Publications Limited Copyright 1956 by J.E. Johnson. This paperback edition first published 1995. 19.5 x 12cm. pp. [xii] 13-320. Index Printers: [not identified] Price: £4.99 ISBN: 0 85979 090 8 Front cover: col. painting by Ron Belling of Spitfires of Johnson’s 125 Wing over Berlin April 1945 Rear cover: author photo and description of book Notes: painting for cover photo available as a limited edition print, advertised on p.[v] Ron Belling, South Africa’s foremost aviation artist, has been painting aeroplanes for more than fifty years, and in 1977 was appointed official war artist to the South African Air Force. A specialist in colour schemes, he has been involved in the development of camouflages for