Name: Willow Run
Brand: Ralph A. Hotton
SKU: 9781467117296
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Willow Run

9781467117296

$24.99

A pictoral history of Willow Run - a relative unknown location that became the world's most famous bomber factory during World War II.

In May 1940, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the production of 50,000 military airplanes. He then drafted the president of General Motors, William Knudsen, to mobilize industry in the United States. The automotive companies were called upon to produce a massive fleet of bombers, as well as tanks, trucks, guns, and engines. By the Willow Run, a sleepy little creek near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ford Motor Company built the world's most famous bomber factory, which was the ultimate manifestation of the automotive industry's role in building armaments during World War II. By the spring of 1944, Willow Run was producing a four-engine B-24 bomber each hour on an assembly line.

Cover image for Willow Run, isbn: 9781467117296

Bunker Hill and Grissom Air Force Base

9781467115087

$24.99

As the US Navy recovered from the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, the aircraft carrier earned a place alongside the battleship, and the Navy grew its air force. Pilots were needed as fast as American industry could build airplanes, and Indiana became the home of a naval air-training center. After fascism's defeat with the end of World War II, a potentially more deadly Cold War brought the need for a deterrent force capable of surviving a nuclear attack and then completely destroying the enemy. A vital part of that force moved into the old Hoosier Navy Base in 1954. For more than three decades, Bunker Hill and Grissom airmen stood on the forward wall of America's freedom. Images of Aviation: Bunker Hill and Grissom Air Force Base tells their story through an amazing collection of declassified US Air Force photographs.

Cover image for Bunker Hill and Grissom Air Force Base, isbn: 9781467115087

Wright Field

9781467116299

$24.99

Wright Field features scores of photographs that show the airfield from its founding in 1927 through World War II, the Cold War, and beyond.

From its founding in 1927 until the establishment of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1948, Wright Field played a vital role keeping the Army Air Force positioned as the world's leader in aircraft design and development. The Second World War catapulted it into the forefront of America's war effort, as virtually every new aircraft produced for the Army Air Force was developed and tested in Dayton. Wright Field's testing program also had the fascinating task of studying captured enemy aircraft, including some powered by jet engines, which engineers at the installation were also developing. Images of Aviation: Wright Field features scores of amazing photographs that tell the story of the airfield from its founding in 1927 through World War II, the Cold War, and beyond. Readers will also see the impact the base has played in the local community by providing thousands of jobs, as well as some of the greatest air shows ever held in the United States. Finally, a collection of crash photographs reveals the often tragic consequences that inevitably come with the testing of advanced experimental aircraft.

Cover image for Wright Field, isbn: 9781467116299

The Wreck of the Naval Airship USS Shenandoah

9781467126625

$24.99

The USS Shenandoah was the pride of the American Navy in 1925 and America's first rigid dirigible. Her name is a Native American word often said to mean Daughter of the Stars. While performing a publicity tour in the Midwest, the ship was ripped to pieces by a violent storm. Fourteen men died, including Lt. Comdr. Zachary Lansdowne, who remained at his post to the very end. The citizens of Noble County, Ohio, were alarmed and amazed when this high-tech, state-of-the-art marvel came tumbling out of the sky into their rural and isolated community. While lavishing care and support on the wounded, the locals also looted the wreckage and made souvenirs of valuable equipment that remained family treasures for years. Tales of daring heroism and sacrifice by those brave sailors on that stormy night soon became the thing of legend to the residents of the valley. For nearly 100 years, people there have maintained the legacy of Shenandoah with monuments, songs, and commemorations that continue to this day.

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McConnell Air Force Base

9780738561837

$24.99

Beginning from its earliest days as an empty parcel of pasture that became a major hub airport for transcontinental air travel to its present use as the busiest refueling operation in the U.S. Air Force, the slice of land known as McConnell Air Force Base is inextricably connected to aviation to nearly the dawn of manned flight. Its military history began in 1941 with the arrival of the Air National Guard, and the base grew to a multifaceted operation that extends air power globally through intelligence and air refueling missions performed by its three partner units: the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, the 184th Intelligence Wing, and the 931st Air Refueling Group. This book offers a glimpse into the military history of McConnell Air Force Base through many rarely seen or previously unpublished images drawn primarily from the repository of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing Office of History and the Kansas Aviation Museum.

Book cover for McConnell Air Force Base featuring a vintage bomber taking off

North Dakota Air National Guard

9781467109437

$23.99

The North Dakota Air National Guard's (NDANG) 119th Wing boasts an illustrious 60-year history of flying fighters. The NDANG can trace its roots back to the 392nd Fighter Squadron, which fell under the 367th Fighter Group. Many of its charter members began their careers in the Army Air Corps during World War II and brought their expertise and experience to their home station unit in Fargo, North Dakota. People like Alexander Macdonald had a hand in nearly every success from 1950 through the F-16 years as a pilot, commander, adjutant general, and then as a civilian advocate. Duane "Pappy" Larson is credited with being the namesake for the unit nickname "The Happy Hooligans." The 119th unit's history is a story about the people who achieved unprecedented accomplishments within the Air National Guard and, sometimes, even among the active duty US Air Force.

North Dakota Air National Guard cover with a vintage fighter aircraft in flight and a smoky sky

South Dakota Air National Guard's 114th Fighter Wing

9781467107297

$23.99

The South Dakota Air National Guard's 114th Fighter Wing's history began during World War II with the 356th Fighter Group. It became a post-World War II Air Guard unit, initially flying the North American F-51D Mustang removed from storage as the active duty Air Force began transitioning to turbojet fighters. It was slowly upgraded to turbojet aircraft, first with the T-33 trainer to assist pilots into to the F-94 Starfighter. One of the most dramatic upgrades was with the F-89D Norhtrop Scorpion, which had onboard radar for all-weather interception, and the F-89J, armed with the nuclear warhead Genie rockets to shoot down Russian bombers. Its first supersonic fighter was the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger, a delta-wing fighter. The wing continued to transition through various turbojet fighters to the current General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon from 1992 to the present. The unit is fully integrated into the US Air Force's aerial defense of the United States and the Global War on Terrorism.