About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPen & Sword Books The Limited

ISBN-101399036939

ISBN-139781399036931

eBay Product ID (ePID)16063291283

Product Key Features

Book TitleCombat in the Stratosphere : Extreme Altitude Aircraft in Action During Ww2

Number of Pages256 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicMilitary / World War II, Modern / 20th Century, Military / Aviation, World

Publication Year2024

IllustratorYes

GenreHistory

AuthorSteven Taylor

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

ReviewsTaylor provides short vignettes of actual flights and combat interactions revealing performance and flight procedures used to shoot and avoid being shot down. He draws on a wide range of sources including com-bat reports, British files and documents, and first-hand ac-counts of engineers and the pilots who flew these aircraft.

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal940.544

Synopsis"Taylor provides short vignettes of actual flights and combat interactions revealing performance and flight procedures used to shoot and avoid being shot down. He draws on a wide range of sources including com-bat reports, British files and documents, and first-hand ac-counts of engineers and the pilots who flew these aircraft." - The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation In the summer of 1940, a new German aircraft began appearing in the skies over the British Isles. Unlike the rest of the Luftwaffe's fleet in the Battle of Britain, these aircraft were flying at a height of 40,000 feet and higher - way beyond the reach of the RAF's defending fighters.These virtually untouchable intruders were examples of the Junkers Ju 86P. The world's first operational combat aeroplane equipped with a pressurized cabin, they were able to reach a maximum altitude of 42,000 feet. The Ju 86P's introduction ushered in a new era of aerial warfare, where combat would take place at previously unimaginable heights.The Ju 86P was just one of many high-altitude aircraft projects developed by both the Axis and Allied powers during the Second World War. Others included the Vickers Wellington Mk.VI, Vickers Windsor, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Junkers Ju 388, Heinkel He 274 and Henschel Hs 130. With pressurized cabins, such aircraft offered obvious tactical advantages: bombers and reconnaissance aircraft could operate safely above the maximum ceiling of the opposing side's fighters, prompting intense development - especially by the British and Germans - of pressurized interceptors to meet the threat they posed. Combat in the Stratosphere is the first book devoted exclusively to exploring the fascinating story of the development and operational history of aircraft designed specifically for high-altitude operations during the Second World War.But this is not a book solely about the machines themselves. It also focuses on the men who flew these revolutionary aircraft, both in the testing phase and in combat, and the physical challenges these courageous airmen faced, as they pushed themselves to the very edge of physical endurance in this desperate race to reach ever higher altitudes.Drawing on a wide range of sources, including air combat reports, British Cabinet files and Air Ministry documents, as well as first-hand accounts of aeronautical engineers and the pilots who flew these aircraft, Combat in the Stratosphere reveals the full story of this largely overlooked aspect of Second World War air warfare, high above the skies of Europe, North Africa, the Soviet Union and Japan., The first book devoted exclusively to exploring the development and use of aircraft designed specifically for high-altitude operations in WW2.

LC Classification NumberD785.T3 2024