Eight thousand miles from home, its fate hinges on just twenty Sea Harriers against the two hundred-strong might of the Argentine Air Force. The odds against them are overwhelming. The MoD's own estimates suggest that half the Harriers will be lost in the opening days of the conflict.
Built of lightweight wood, powered by two growling Rolls Royce engines, impossibly aerodynamic, headspinningly fast, armed to the teeth, the DeHavilland Mosquito was the plane which never should have existed. Designed, built, tested and flying operations within 13 months of its original conception, it was the answer to the RAF's prayers in the Second World War- an utterly versatile plane which would leave the Luftwaffe in its wake, could fly in under the radar and delivers 2000 lbs of bombs when and where the enemy was least expecting it. It was corralled into a critical pathfinding role for the hundreds of heavy bomber raids as the tide of the war turned but its reputation was cemented by a series of daredevils raids across Europe, including on Berlin itself, where stealth, speed and precision were required. So when the Special Operations Executive needed a plane to drop a bomb on the Gestapo HQ right in the centre of Copenhagen to prevent the plans for D-Day being tortured out of Danish resistance fighters, there was only one plane for the job - the Mosquito. This is the story of this brilliant aircraft told through that one impossible mission. Like Rowland White's previous books, Mosquito is an unputdownable mix of utterly compelling storytelling, incredible human stories and fascinating technological detail, which sheds never-before-told light on a pivotal mission that helped bring the war to its bloody and brutal close.
When Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands Islands in 1982, it took the British government by surprise. They needed a fast response, and military chiefs came up with a plan of action - Operation Black Buck. This is an account of the last British bomber raid, recalling the long-range attack on Port Stanley that opened the Falklands War.
On 12th April 1981 a revolutionary new spacecraft blasted off from Florida on her maiden flight. NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia was the most advanced flying machine ever built -- the high watermark of post-war aviation development. Columbia was a winged rocket plane, the size of an airliner, capable of flying to space and back before being made ready to fly again. She was the world's first real spaceship. Yet less than an hour after Young and Crippen's spectacular departure from the Cape it was clear that all was not well. Tiles designed to protect Columbia from the blowtorch burn of re-entry were missing from the heatshield. If the damage to their ship was too great, the astronauts would be unable to return safely to Earth. But neither they nor mission control possessed any way of knowing. Instead, NASA turned to the National Reconnaissance Office, a spy agency hidden deep inside the Pentagon whose very existence was classified ... Drawing on brand new interviews with astronauts and engineers, archive material and newly declassified documents, Rowland White has pieced together the dramatic untold story of the mission for the first time.
January 1972: the tiny outpost of British Honduras is threatened with imminent invasion by battle-hardened, US-trained Guatemalan paratroops. But there is only one deterrent the government can offer: HMS Ark Royal, once the Navy's most powerful warship, now a white elephant on the verge of being scrapped.
In early 1970, the Commanding Officer of 22 SAS flew into the strategically critical Sultanate of Oman on a covert intelligence mission to monitor a Communist rebellion threatening the Arabian Peninsula. And despite confronting the largest assault force ever deployed by the SAS, many months later the enemy were still far from beaten.
Everybody dreams of flying. For as long as we've been able to look up and see the birds we've wanted to join them. But our efforts to do so have not always been as elegant or accomplished. Instead, there's been danger, excitement, courage and brilliance. The Big Book of Flight is a celebration of it all, and a lot more besides, packed with derring-do stories of aviation's pioneers as well as fascinating profiles of remarkable planes, from Spitfires to Space Shuttles (and a number of other wondrous projects that never quite got off the drawing board). Along with a unique collection of fantastic flight trivia, crucial questions are also addressed: What's so scary about the Bermuda Triangle? Why does airline food taste so bad? And how do you make the perfect paper dart? With stunning photographs and illustrations throughout, The Big Book of Flight promises to surprise, entertain and fire the imaginations of anyone with their head in the clouds.