Pen & Sword Aviation is one of the company's largest imprints. By teaming up with some of the worlds leading aviation experts we are able to offer an unrivalled list of aviation publications. Many of our titles include stunning colour photographs and our colour profiles are now world renowned. We cover the first flights of early aviation pioneers right through to modern day conflicts and unmanned aircraft.
“As the story progresses, the reader observes Gentile and Godfrey’s paths converge as warriors, occasional wingmen, and, later, close friends.”
The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation - Spring 2025
“As the story progresses, the reader observes Gentile and Godfrey’s paths converge as warriors, occasional wingmen, and, later, close friends.”
The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation - Spring 2025
“… for the story of the early development of US military air transport and the Liberators that were its backbone, nobody has provided anything to match this book.”
The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation - Spring 2025
“… for the story of the early development of US military air transport and the Liberators that were its backbone, nobody has provided anything to match this book.”
The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation - Spring 2025
Libya’s support for terrorism and its confrontation with the United States through particularly the first half or so of the 1980s, will be well-known to members. This support prompted US planning for potential operations against Libya, as well as freedom of navigation operations challenging Tripoli’s so-called ‘Line of Death’ in the Gulf of Sidra. The Libyan-backed terrorist bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in Berlin on 5 April 1986, killing three and wounding 229, was the catalyst for Operation ELDORADO CANYON, a joint US Air Force-US Navy operation against targets in and around Tripoli, Benina and Benghazi on 15 April 1986. In Operation Eldorado Canyon, the author seeks to provide an account of the operation itself, the strategic and operational planning involved, the conduct of the strikes themselves, and the challenges surrounding the execution of a complex, joint operation. The latter is highlighted by the author, stating: “Consider that USAF and USN/USMC aircraft based.. Read more
The Naval Review
Libya’s support for terrorism and its confrontation with the United States through particularly the first half or so of the 1980s, will be well-known to members. This support prompted US planning for potential operations against Libya, as well as freedom of navigation operations challenging Tripoli’s so-called ‘Line of Death’ in the Gulf of Sidra. The Libyan-backed terrorist bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in Berlin on 5 April 1986, killing three and wounding 229, was the catalyst for Operation ELDORADO CANYON, a joint US Air Force-US Navy operation against targets in and around Tripoli, Benina and Benghazi on 15 April 1986. In Operation Eldorado Canyon, the author seeks to provide an account of the operation itself, the strategic and operational planning involved, the conduct of the strikes themselves, and the challenges surrounding the execution of a complex, joint operation. The latter is highlighted by the author, stating: “Consider that USAF and USN/USMC aircraft based.. Read more
The Naval Review
[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars Among the very many accounts of the Second World War this book stands out and deserves to be widely read, not just because it sheds light on a little known fighting force that played a vital - if unsung - role in protecting the better known fighting formations from aerial attack, but also because of the light it sheds on an aspect of social history that reflects badly on the ‘land of the free’. It’s not the reviewer’s job to summarise the account of Samuel de Korte over the part played by the 452nd AAA, or the wider discrimination experienced by black US servicemen in WW2; the details are set out clearly in the text. However, suffice to say that this book serves to highlight the casual and destructive attitude in the discrimination exhibited by many white servicemen at all levels and in all branches of the armed services. De Korte also takes the reader on a journey through training and eventual deployment of the battalion in the ETO. If this reviewer’s.. Read more
NetGalley, Kevin Manley
[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars Among the very many accounts of the Second World War this book stands out and deserves to be widely read, not just because it sheds light on a little known fighting force that played a vital - if unsung - role in protecting the better known fighting formations from aerial attack, but also because of the light it sheds on an aspect of social history that reflects badly on the ‘land of the free’. It’s not the reviewer’s job to summarise the account of Samuel de Korte over the part played by the 452nd AAA, or the wider discrimination experienced by black US servicemen in WW2; the details are set out clearly in the text. However, suffice to say that this book serves to highlight the casual and destructive attitude in the discrimination exhibited by many white servicemen at all levels and in all branches of the armed services. De Korte also takes the reader on a journey through training and eventual deployment of the battalion in the ETO. If this reviewer’s.. Read more
NetGalley, Kevin Manley
Subtitled ‘an RAF ‘erk’s’ war from the Battle of Britian to D-Day and Operation Bodenplatte this highly readable account tells the story of ‘one of the many’ without whom ‘the Few’ would not have found immortality. Joe Roddis had enlisted in early 1939 aged 17 he trained as a flight mechanic and joined the Spitfire-equipped 234 Squadron. He recounts the unit’s activities during ‘the Battle’ but from the perspective of one of those left on the ground – and on the bonds formed with his fellow ‘erks’ and with ‘his’ pilot as well as their privations and dangers on the ground. The following year he joined the New Zealand manned 485 Squadron with which he served for the rest of the war, moving onto the Continent after D-Day and living in the field. Joe Roddis died in 2017, and this is a moving tribute to him and his many compatriots whose war service is often overlooked. This is a story not to be missed.
Andrew Thomas - Author and Historian
Subtitled ‘an RAF ‘erk’s’ war from the Battle of Britian to D-Day and Operation Bodenplatte this highly readable account tells the story of ‘one of the many’ without whom ‘the Few’ would not have found immortality. Joe Roddis had enlisted in early 1939 aged 17 he trained as a flight mechanic and joined the Spitfire-equipped 234 Squadron. He recounts the unit’s activities during ‘the Battle’ but from the perspective of one of those left on the ground – and on the bonds formed with his fellow ‘erks’ and with ‘his’ pilot as well as their privations and dangers on the ground. The following year he joined the New Zealand manned 485 Squadron with which he served for the rest of the war, moving onto the Continent after D-Day and living in the field. Joe Roddis died in 2017, and this is a moving tribute to him and his many compatriots whose war service is often overlooked. This is a story not to be missed.
Andrew Thomas - Author and Historian
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
Aircraft Wrecks: A Walker's Guide
Originally published to acclaim in 2009, this paperback re-issue aims to give readers access to the tangible remains of hundreds of historic aircraft that still lie at crash sites on the moors and mountains of the British Isles, all of which can be visited. It covers almost 500 selected sites, with emphasis placed on those located within open access… Read more...
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
617 Dambuster Squadron at War
No. 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command is world-famous for its daring raids on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams, the Dortmund-Ems Canal and the attacks on the German ship Tirpitz. This book contains rarely seen photographs of the squadron's aircraft, crews and other behind-the-scenes operations. Each image is accompanied by a lengthy caption that convey… Read more...
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
Twin Mustang: The North American F-82 at War
One of the most unusual and remarkable American fighter aircraft, the F-82 Twin Mustang was the last mass production propeller-driven fighter acquired by the U.S. Air Force. Originally intended as a very long-range fighter escort for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress during World War II, it arrived too late to see combat and evolved into a night and all-weather… Read more...
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
Daring Raids of World War Two: Heroic Land, Sea and Air Attacks
The Second World War saw a host of heroic raids enacted across the various theatres, all delivered valiantly in a variety of ways by British combatants; on land, by sea and from the air. Daring exploits such as the raid on Rommel, the endeavours of the Cockleshell Heroes and the Dam Busters have become legendary in the annals of warfare. All feature… Read more...
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
Air War Normandy
So much ink has been spilt and so many miles of film expended on the amphibious invasion of Normandy on 6 June, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, and so familiar have the images become of men leaping from their landing craft and wading ashore as shells exploded all around them, that it is all too easy to forget that none of this would have been possible… Read more...
Not able to see the embed? You need Adobe Flash Player enabled.
Secret Wings of WWII
There are many myths and legends surrounding the advanced German aeronautical technology of the Second World War. There are also facts and proven events. Yet within these stories and behind these facts lie conspiracy theories, mistaken assumptions and denials that seem to contradict the evidence. So what really happened? How far ahead were the German… Read more...
On 10 July 2018, exactly 100 years and 100 days after the formation of the world’s first independent air force, 103 aircraft of twenty-four types from twenty-five squadrons flew over London in the largest formation of military aircraft seen over the capital of the UK in nearly thirty years. Involving over 250 aircrew and operating out of fourteen… Read more...
The events of 1942 marked a pivotal year in the history of British air power. For more than two decades the theory that long-range bombing could win wars had dominated British defence policy. The vast majority of warplanes ordered for the RAF were designed either to bomb enemy cities or stop the enemy from bombing British cites. Conventional armies… Read more...
One moment the sky would be full of aircraft wheeling and positioning for the best shot at the enemy; a sky full of danger and menace. The next instant there would just be a clear blue empty sky with the sun shining down on a calm and beautiful landscape. Such was the phenomenon experienced by pilots who fought in the key battles of France and Britain… Read more...
Prior to World War Two, Wing Commander Guy Gibson joined the Royal Air Force. In 1944, he wrote down his experience of serving in the RAF. Aged just 25, Gibson had completed two full tours, each of 30 operations, with Bomber Command, and had led the now-famous Dam Busters raid against the dams of the Ruhr Valley in May 1943. He died aged 26 in 1944,… Read more...
We Seek the Highest has been the motto of the thousands of Officer Cadets who, over ten decades, have passed through the rigorous training regime at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Lincolnshire. The words embody the College ethos: to strive to reach the tough standards demanded by the RAF, in the air and on the ground. This book tells the 100-year… Read more...
This is the story of the Arado 234, an aircraft that on one day in 1944, in the skies above Normandy, heralded the beginning of a new era in aviation: the jet era... For more than a century, the aviation industry has experienced continual change and upheaval. Many individuals have contributed to this field of developmental aviation over the course… Read more...
