Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom (80th Anniversary Edition)
Iain Ballantyne, Agora Books 2021 Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom is an intensely readable account of the final days of the titular battleship, centring the voices of those who were […]
Category Archives: WW2 History
Torpedo: U-235 review
Torpedo: U-235 Dir. Sven Huybrechts, released DVD/Blu-Ray/download March 2021 The premise of Torpedo: U-235 – a band of Belgian resistance fighters in a captured U-boat battling the Kriegsmarine across the […]
Blackburn Skua artwork – video
During the Second World War, many pilots flew under bridges to test their skill or alleviate the boredom of routine, second-line flying. One of these was Derrick Edwards, a Fleet […]
Dauntless: The Battle of Midway review
Today (21 October 2019) is the release date for ‘Dauntless: The Battle of Midway’ on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download/streaming, and as a rare example of a feature film about […]
Second Malta novella ‘Bastion’ published
The second of three novellas from Sharpe publishing, set during the Malta convoys in the summer of 1942, has been published. ‘Bastion’ sees the main character, Sea Hurricane pilot Edmund […]
RNAS Dale – a Fleet Air Arm ‘time capsule’
On Saturday 23 March 2019, I took a trip to Dale in Pembrokeshire with Fairey Barracuda Project volunteer Tony Jupp to see a remarkable ‘time capsule’ of life on a […]
Malta convoys novella ‘Harpoon’ published
I am pleased to announce the publication of the first of three novellas from Sharpe publishing, set during the Malta convoys in the summer of 1942, when the island was […]
Fleet Air Arm Veterans Honoured at Navy Wings event
On 21 September, twelve Fleet Air Arm veterans were honoured at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, at an event dedicated to the immortal Fairey Swordfish and the men and women […]
Hawker’s Fastest Fury – LA610
On 21 February 1945, the first Hawker Sea Fury flew, marking a new chapter in what would become an illustrious career, highly successful in combat and the pinnacle of piston-engined […]
The Fleet Air Arm in the Battle of Britain
The involvement of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm is relatively little known and while numerically small, had a significant impact on the Battle. Two squadrons of the Royal Navy’s […]
The Fleet Air Arm over Dunkirk
The involvement of the RAF in the Dunkirk evacuations is well recognised now (even if it wasn’t at the time by those on the ground) – less well known is […]
Up close and personal with the Barracuda restoration
I’m indebted to the wonderful team running the Fairey Barracuda restoration at the Fleet Air Arm Museum for allowing me to spend Yeovilton Air Day with them. Thanks to William […]
Fairey Swordfish – fluke victor?
An acquaintance who has no small knowledge of military matters put the following to me recently: ‘We all have different perspectives and experiences and mine lead me to say this: […]
Postwar Fireflies and Seafires, HMS Illustrious
I am once again indebted to Dave Bull for sharing his fantastic collection of images of HMS Illustrious with Naval Air History. These photographs date from the immediate postwar period […]
The Rarest Seabird – FAAM Grumman Martlet
During the early part of 1940, Britain and France were scrambling to acquire sources of modern fighting aircraft from wherever they could. At that time there were serious fears that […]
