Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
By the Skin of My Teeth - Flying RAF Spitfires and Mustangs in World War II and USAF Sabre Jets in the Korean War - cover

By the Skin of My Teeth - Flying RAF Spitfires and Mustangs in World War II and USAF Sabre Jets in the Korean War

Colin Downes

Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

A career pilot’s memoir of flying fighter jets through two wars and through the evolution of aviation technology.   This is Colin Downes’s firsthand account of flying with the Royal Air Force in war and peace during a career in military and civil aviation covering a half century. The text is filled with his personal experiences, reminiscences and impressions and is written in four parts. Part One covers the years leading to Downes’s graduation and the winning of his RAF Wings. This is followed by action-packed stories of flying propeller-driven fighters, Spitfires and Mustangs, during and just after the Second World War. Downes then tells of his unique experiences of front-line fighter operations when he flew jets with the United States Air Force during the Korean War. The final chapter covers the remainder of his RAF Service flying until retirement.  By the Skin of My Teeth offers a cockpit view of some of the most pivotal battles of the 20th century and covers decades of technological advancements in aircraft development.
Available since: 01/19/2006.
Print length: 224 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Kitchen Counter Cooking School - How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks - cover

    The Kitchen Counter Cooking...

    Kathleen Flinn

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, writer Kathleen Flinn returned with no idea what to do next, until one day at a supermarket she watched a woman loading her cart with ultraprocessed foods. Flinn's "chefternal" instinct kicked in: she persuaded the stranger to reload with fresh foods, offering her simple recipes for healthy, easy meals.The Kitchen Counter Cooking School includes practical, healthy tips that boost listeners' culinary self-confidence, strategies to get the most from their grocery dollars, and simple recipes that get listeners cooking.
    Show book
  • Blues for Cannibals - The Notes from Underground - cover

    Blues for Cannibals - The Notes...

    Charles Bowden

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The author of Murder City and Down by the River reflects on the destructive nature of American culture.Cultivated from the fierce ideas seeded in Blood Orchid, Blues for Cannibals is an elegiac reflection on death, pain, and a wavering confidence in humanity’s own abilities for self-preservation. After years of reporting on border violence, sex crimes, and the devastation of the land, Bowden struggles to make sense of the many ways in which we destroy ourselves and whether there is any way to survive. Here he confronts a murderer facing execution, sex offenders of the most heinous crimes, a suicidal artist, a prisoner obsessed with painting portraits of presidents, and other people and places that constitute our worst impulses and our worst truths. Painful, heartbreaking, and forewarning, Bowden at once tears us apart and yearns for us to find ourselves back together again.“A thrillingly good writer whose grandness of vision is only heightened by the bleak originality of his voice.” —Ron Hansen, The New York Times Book Review “A major literary work of profound social consciousness . . . [Bowden] writes with the intensity of Joan Didion, the voracious hunger of Henry Miller, the feral intelligence and irony of Hunter Thompson, and the wit and outrage of Edward Abbey . . . This is gutsy, soulful, pyrotechnic, significant. And transformative writing.” —Donna Seaman, Chicago Tribune “A vivid, lyrical journey through the American Southwest . . . [but] this book is no travelogue. Rather, it is a visceral exploration of a much darker landscape, that of the human psyche.” —Debra Ginsberg, The San Diego Union-Tribune“A book of absolutely furious beauty . . . At the height of [Bowden’s] rapturous indignation, with majestic lamentations stretching out almost to the snapping point, he sounds like Walt Whitman in a very bad mood . . . Sweet bloody Jerusalem, when he’s cooking, who can touch him?” —David Kipen, San Francisco Chronicle
    Show book
  • My Name'5 Doddie - The Autobiography - cover

    My Name'5 Doddie - The...

    Doddie Weir

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    My Name'5 Doddie is a humbling, courageous and very funny celebration of a remarkable man. The extraordinary, life-affirming autobiography of Doddie Weir is an absolute must-listen — rugby fan or not.Rugby legend and MND campaigner Doddie Weir has always lived life to the full. On the pitch, Doddie's irresistible talent took him to the heart of every team he graced, and brought him 61 caps for Scotland. He won fans all over the world with his sportsmanship, humour and boundless energy. Then, in June 2017, Doddie made the announcement that he had been diagnosed with MND. With no cure and almost no treatment of any sort available, Doddie set out to do what he could to change that, tackling the issue head on with his trademark positivity and good humour. Since then, his Foundation has raised and pledged millions towards research into this dreadful condition and his tireless campaigning has transcended the world of sport.
    Show book
  • Gladys Aylward - The Little Woman - cover

    Gladys Aylward - The Little Woman

    Christine Hunter, Gladys Aylward

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    A solitary woman. A foreign country. An unknown language. An impossible dream? No.With  no mission board to support or guide her, and less than ten dollars in her pocket, Gladys Aylward left her home in England  to answer God's call to take the message of the gospel to China. With the Sino-Japanese War waging around her, she struggled  to bring the basics of life and the fullness of God to orphaned children. Time after time, God triumphed over impossible  situations, and drew people to Himself. In Gladys Aylward: My Missionary Life in China, Gladys tells her story—a  remarkable tale of one woman's determination to serve God at any cost. A true story of a determined missionary, Gladys  Aylward: My Missionary Life in China will challenge you to bold and expectant faith.
    Show book
  • Real People - A Novel - cover

    Real People - A Novel

    Alison Lurie

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0
    An artists’ colony is a false paradise for a frustrated writer in this “witty, knowing, and perceptive” novel from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The New Yorker).   The mansion is called Illyria, but for the writers and artists who flock there each summer, it’s a Garden of Eden where every artistic curiosity is explored. Away from family, friends, and ordinary responsibilities, the creative spirit can flower, nurtured by the company of other artistic souls. Janet Belle Smith’s husband doesn’t understand why she can’t write at home—or really, for that matter, why she must write at all—but for Janet, the reason is clear: Only in Illyria can she be herself.   But as the writer mingles with her fellow artists—including a Marxist novelist, a Beat poet, and a wild-man sculptor—she begins to fear that the “real” her isn’t who she expected, and Illyria is not the peaceful kingdom it appears to be. This creative paradise is rotting from the inside out, and if Janet doesn’t move quickly, she’ll be trapped in the rubble when the walls come tumbling down.   From the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs, this humorous story “goes down pleasantly, like a glass of lemonade” (The New York Times).  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author’s collection.  
    Show book
  • Carnivore - A Memoir of a Cavalry Scout at War - cover

    Carnivore - A Memoir of a...

    Dillard Johnson, James Tarr

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Amid ferocious fighting that many times nearly took his life, Sergeant Dillard "C. J." Johnson and his crew are recognized by Pentagon reports to have accounted for astonishing enemy KIA totals while battling inside and out of the "Carnivore," the Bradley Fighting Vehicle Johnson commanded during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After miraculously beating stage-three cancer (caused by radiation exposure from firing armor-piercing depleted-uranium rounds during combat), he returned to his platoon in Baghdad for a second tour, often serving as a sniper protecting his fellow troops. Today, Johnson and his men's story is the stuff of legend—earning them a cover story in Soldier of Fortune and a display in the Fort Stewart Museum. But only now is Johnson telling his full story: reviewed and approved for publication by the Department of Defense, Carnivore is the gripping and unflinchingly honest autobiography of a remarkable American warrior."The estimated enemy KIAs for Staff Sergeant Johnson’s BIFV [Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle] during this fight [22 March, 2003] was 488. The informal estimate from the troop was that Johnson and his crew killed at least 1,000 Iraqis on 23 March. Later in the move north, Johnson engaged and destroyed 20 trucks and tallied 314 KIAs in the vicinity of An Najaf. At Objective FLOYD, Johnson’s platoon fought yet another bitter fight against what they claim was a thousand paramilitary troops. … Events were corroborated by separate interviews with the remainder of C/3-7 CAV, to include the troop commander." —On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the official study of the 2003 invasion commissioned by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff
    Show book