David Hobbs – författare

This is a comprehensive study of every aircraft type ordered for the Royal Navy since 1908. It includes fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, rigid and non-rigid airships, unmanned aircraft and pilotless target aircraft. It also includes many designs that were ordered but not built so that the importance placed on them by the Naval Staff or their potential impact on aircraft carrier design and operations can be explained. Every type, even unsuccessful single prototypes, is described and the majority are illustrated by photographs, many of which come from the author’s own collection. The 50 most significant aircraft also have detailed 3-view drawings. The book describes over 400 different types of aircraft built by over 100 different manufacturers to offer the most detailed coverage of Royal Navy aircraft ever produced.Research for the book took over forty years and reference material included Admiralty Archives and an array of material in the public domain including manufacturer’s data, individual aircraft pilot’s notes and a wealth of published sources. David Hobbs is uniquely well placed to write this book having served as a pilot in the RN for thirty-three years and retired with the rank of Commander. He flew both fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and his log book contains 2300 flying hours with 807 day and night deck landings. He served in seven British aircraft carriers, flew over 20 of the aircraft types described in this book and spent four years in the RN Director General (Aircraft) Department where he was closely involved with Sea Harrier carrier trials, introduced new visual landing aids for night recoveries and liaised with the US Navy on carrier operating techniques. This is his eleventh book for Seaforth Publishing.

This book for teachers suggests projects which cater for a wide range of concepts and skills, and links with other curriculum subjects.

The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the 'as fitted' general arrangements, these drawings represented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, these highly detailed plans were drawn with exquisite skill in multi-coloured inks and washes that represent the acme of the draughtsman's art.Today they form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, which is using the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is one of a series based entirely on these draughts which depict famous warships in an unprecedented degree of detail-complete sets in full colour, with many close-ups and enlargements that make every aspect clear and comprehensible. Extensive captions point the reader to important features to be found in the plans, and an introduction covers the background to the design.HMS _Victorious_ was a ship with two almost separate incarnations-as built in 1941 she was one of a new type of armoured carrier which saw strenuous wartime service; post-war the ship underwent a massive reconstruction lasting nearly eight years that saw her recommission in1958 as one of the best equipped carriers in the world, ready for another decade of duty. Both these phases of the ship's life are fully documented, which allows this novel form of anatomy to cover two generations of carrier design.

This is the first book to focus on the Fleet Air Arm's contribution to naval operations in the Mediterranean after the Italian declaration of war in June 1940\. The Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft were a critical element of an unprecedented fight on, over and under the sea surface.The best-known action was the crippling of the Italian fleet at Taranto, which demonstrated how aircraft carriers and their aircraft had replaced the dominance of battleships, but every subsequent operation is covered from the perspective of naval aviation. Some of these, like Matapan or the defence of the 'Pedestal' convoy to Malta, are famous but others in support of land campaigns and in the Aegean after the Italian surrender are less well recorded. In all these, the ingenuity and innovation of the Fleet Air Arm shines through - Taranto pointed the way to what the Japanese would achieve at Pearl Harbor, while air cover for the Salerno landings demonstrated the effectiveness of carrier-borne fighters in amphibious operations, a tactic adopted by the US Navy.The author's years of archival research together with his experience as a carrier pilot allow him to describe and analyse the operations of naval aircraft in the Mediterranean with unprecedented authority. This provides the book with novel insights into many familiar facets of the Mediterranean war while for the first time doing full justice to the Fleet Air Arm's lesser known achievements.

For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital element of the Royal Navy's ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organisation, with only 406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939\. Nevertheless, its impact far outweighed its numbers -it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter 'ace' with 5 or more kills. The Fleet Air Arm's rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian Campaign, the crippling of _Bismarck_, the gallant sortie against _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled _Tirpitz_, and strikes and minelaying operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945\. By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft.This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with 'thumb-nail' descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which more often than not outnumbered them.The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs' much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. Treated as historical evidence, they offer far more detail than even the best plans or the finest marine paintings. This book features a selection of over one hundred ship models, all in full color, of the various classes of warship that fought in the First World War, from dreadnoughts to coastal motor boats, including many close-up views. These color photos are captioned in depth, and many are also annotated to note interesting or unusual features. Although pictorial in emphasis, the book weaves the pictures into an authoritative text, producing an unusual and attractive form of technical history.

This book adopts a new and accessible approach to helping readers understand how management accounting contributes to decisions in a variety of organisational contexts. It sets out clear explanations of practical management accounting techniques in the context of the application of these techniques to decisions. It recognizes practice through case studies and summarises published research. Uniquely, it examines the analytical and critical issues that often influence decision makers operating within private and public sector organisations. Key features include:

- Case studies of varying complexity that will allow students to work at their own level

- Summaries of important research articles

- Key learning objectives and end of chapter questions.

Englishman David Hobbs – `Hobbo’ to his friends and fans – is one of motor racing’s most remarkable all-rounders. In a 41-year driving career he raced in almost every imaginable category: endurance sports racers, touring cars, Formula 1, Formula 5000, Indycars, IMSA, Trans-Am, Can-Am and even NASCAR – he has done the lot. And on top of that he has been a television commentator in America for nearly 40 years, bringing wit and wisdom to the screen, presently as part of NBC’s Formula 1 team. Now, at last, he has put down all his experiences in this highly readable memoir that will be welcomed by racing enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic.Early racing years: from his mum’s Morris Oxford in 1959 to Jaguars and a Lotus Elite – and coming to the notice of the racing world. Sports car speciality: Le Mans in 1963 with the Lola Mk6 GT followed by Lola T70 drives and finally the big break; two Ford GT40 seasons with John Wyer’s mighty Gulf-sponsored team bring a win at Monza in 1968 and third place at Le Mans in 1969 – and then a Porsche 917 Le Mans drive in 1970. Single-seaters: coming close to a Formula 1 breakthrough with Honda in 1968, but Formula 5000 in America is where success comes, as 1971 champion.Westward bound: the USA becomes his focus, with early highlights including fifth place in the 1974 Indianapolis 500 with a McLaren and leading the Daytona 500 NASCAR classic in 1976. Criss-crossing the Atlantic: returning to old haunts to take up opportunities, including racing Jaguar’s famously fragile XJ coupé in 1976 and many more Le Mans outings, topped with another third place in 1984 driving a Porsche 956.Another championship title: ever versatile, he becomes Trans-Am Champion in 1983 driving a Chevrolet Camaro and winning four races. Sports cars galore: racing all the way to 1990, in all sorts of machinery but majoring on those all-conquering Porsches of the period – 935s, 956s and 962s.

This book adopts a new and accessible approach to helping readers understand how management accounting contributes to decisions in a variety of organisational contexts. It sets out clear explanations of practical management accounting techniques in the context of the application of these techniques to decisions. It recognizes practice through case studies and summarises published research. Uniquely, it examines the analytical and critical issues that often influence decision makers operating within private and public sector organisations. Key features include:

- Case studies of varying complexity that will allow students to work at their own level

- Summaries of important research articles

- Key learning objectives and end of chapter questions.

Among all the celebrations of the RAF's centenary, it was largely forgotten that the establishment of an independent air force came at a cost - and it was the Royal Navy that paid the price. In 1918 it had been pre-eminent in the technology and tactics of employing aircraft at sea, but once it lost control of its own air power, it struggled to make the RAF prioritise naval interests, in the process losing ground to the rival naval air forces of Japan and the United States.This book documents that struggle through the cash-strapped 1920s and '30s, culminating in the Navy regaining control of its aviation in 1937, but too late to properly prepare for the impending war. However, despite the lack of resources, British naval flying had made progress, especially in the advancement of carrier strike doctrine. These developments are neatly illustrated by the experiences of Lieutenant William Lucy, who was to become Britain's first accredited air 'ace' of the war and to lead the world's first successful dive-bombing of a major warship. Making extensive use of the family archive, this book also reproduces many previously unseen photographs from Lucy's album, showing many aspects of life in the Fleet Air Arm up to the end of the Norway campaign.Although it is beyond the scope of this book, in November 1940 the inter-war concentration on carrier strike was to be spectacularly vindicated by the air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto - it inspired the Japanese to a far larger effort at Pearl Harbor the following year, but the Royal Navy had shown the way.

This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold.Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.