Airfield Histories

First published in the 1970s, Military Aircraft Markings has become an indispensable annual publication for aircraft enthusiasts, historians and students of military aviation. At the heart of Military Aircraft Markings is the most complete listing of all the aircraft of the UK Armed Forces; the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Army and associated units. For each entry the military serial, aircraft type, unit/operator and usual base are given.

During the Falklands war Jerry Pook, a pilot in No. 1(F) Squadron RAF, flew air interdiction, armed recce, close-air-support and airfield attack as well as pure photo-recce missions.

Now remarkably in its 28th edition, ever since it was first published in the 1960s every edition of Wrecks & Relics has been eagerly sought after by aviation enthusiasts, restorers and curators alike. It is renowned as the go-to source charting the highlights, changes and trends in the preservation of the aviation heritage of the British Isles. With in-depth coverage of more than 700 locations across the UK and Ireland, it charts over 5,000 aircraft including their potted histories, build and arrival dates.

The new 2022 edition of this best-selling annual publication builds on the long history and heritage of the title. First published in 1950, this will be, remarkably, the 73rd edition of Civil Aircraft Markings. When it appeared all those years ago, the book quickly achieved the status it still retains as the go-to source for up-to-date information on the rapidly changing world of civil aviation.

Using recently released primary source material, John Shields, a RAF officer who served in the Falklands as an air defence navigator, has taken an impartial look at the Falklands air campaign. He provides detailed analysis of the operational level of the air war, and offers lessons learned from 1982 that do have important and continued relevance today.

As British and American forces closed in from the west, the Russians pushed in hard from the east, and the RAF and USAAF bombed Germany every night and day, the beleaguered Luftwaffe went all-out in a last effort to defend the Fatherland during the last months of the Second World War.

From Richard Pike, author of Grub Street's bestselling Lightning Boys series, comes Hunter Boys, a fascinating insight into the experiences of those who flew the iconic Hawker Hunter, an aircraft known affectionately to many as 'Queen of the Skies'. 

Originally intended as a trainer, the Anglo-French Sepecat jet, equipped with the very latest in weapon-aiming and navigational equipment, eventually became the backbone of the RAF's tactical strike-attack and recce forces for a decade from the mid-1970s.

The landing of Allied forces on the shores of Normandy on 6 June 1944 was the greatest amphibious invasion in history.

They came to fight for freedom and their country, they came to fight Germans. Men of the Polish Air Force, who had escaped first to France and then to Britain, to fly alongside the Royal Air Force just as Fighter Command faced its greatest challenge – the Battle of Britain.

The heroics of the airmen who served in the United States Eighth Air Force and fought in the embattled skies of Europe during World War II are legendary.