Tom Tullis – illustratör

The first monoplane aircraft ordered by the US Navy for carrier operations, the Douglas TBD Devastator was designed to fulfil a requirement for a new torpedo bomber.Just 129 were built, and when it entered service it was the most modern aircraft of its type anywhere in the world. Its only real taste of action came on 4 June 1942 in the pivotal Battle of Midway, when 35 were shot down in a clash with Japanese A6M Zero fighters. The aircraft was replaced by the Grumman Avenger weeks later.Barrett Tillman's detailed history of this aircraft is accompanied by period photography and illustrated profiles.

'B-29!' No other term struck such terror in the hearts of the Japanese public during World War 2 than this single, most-hated name.It was then only natural that the pilots who attempted to shoot these high-flying Boeing bombers out of the skies over Tokyo, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kobe should become known as the elite of the Japanese Army Air Force.This book details the exploits of the ‘Dragon Slayers’ who, flying the very latest single- and twin-engined fighters, exacted a heavy toll on the AAF Boeing bombers using a range of tactics including ramming.

From November 1942 through to May 1945, the backbone of the USAAF’s medium bomber force was provided by the clutch of bomb groups equipped with the B-25 Mitchell.First seeing action in North Africa in the wake of Operation Torch, and in the Battle of El Alamein, the ‘bombing twin’ proved to be one of the most successful allied combat types in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (MTO).The first of four volumes in the Combat Aircraft series on the Mitchell, this title includes first-hand accounts, 30 colour profiles and more than 100 colour and black and white photographs of the B-25 in the MTO.

A development of the successful Lockheed ‘medium twins’ of the late 1930s, the PV Ventura/Harpoon family of patrol bombers saw widespread service with both the US Navy/Marine Corps and the TAF and Commonwealth from October 1942 onwards.The USAAF also used surplus Venturas originally ordered by the RAF, designated B-34 Lexingtons, in the bomber training and coastal patrol roles. The final variant in this family was the larger PV-2 Harpoon, which was built to a US Navy requirement from March 1944 onwards. Used primarily in the Pacific, 470 Harpoons saw frontline service on anti-shipping and submarine patrols through to VJ-Day.This book covers each of these variants in complete illustrated detail.

A gripping account of the mighty F-4 Phantom II, icon of the Cold War and ultimate American fighter of the 1960s, versus the nimble, agile and abundant MiG-21, which was a communist icon of the period. Influential leaders and tacticians are profiled to provide a comparative evaluation of their contrasting skills. This book also reveals the technical specifications of each jet with an analysis of the weaponry, avionics and survival devices of the F-4 Phantom II as flown by the USAF and the MiG-21. The fighters' strengths and weaknesses are also compared, including turn radius, performance at altitude, range and structural integrity.Featuring first-person extracts reflect on the dangers of these aerial duels, as USAF pilots and their counterparts struggled to overcome each plane's shortcomings, this book draws us into the dangerous world braved by American and North Vietnamese airmen in the skies over Vietnam.

The 'Sundowners' have flown some of the most iconic naval fighters ever built, namely the Wildcat, Hellcat, Panther, Crusader, Phantom II and the Tomcat.Fighting Squadron 11 was established at San Diego in August 1943, beginning a half-century record that spanned aerial combat in three wars from the piston to the jet age. The squadron produced seven aces while fighting in World War 2, Korea and Vietnam. From Barrett Tillman, the world's most prolific US naval aviation author with over two-dozen titles on the World War 2 period alone, this detailed history shows how the 'Sundowners' established an unexcelled record 'at the tip of the spear' in naval aviation history, from World War 2 until after the Cold War.

The medium bomber 'workhorse' of the Ninth Air Force, Martin's much-maligned B-26 Marauder recovered from its poor start with the Eighth Air Force to go on and equip no less than eight bomber groups in the ETO.Although initially dubbed 'the widow maker', a change of tactics from low to medium-level bombing for the Marauder soon improved the crews' chances of survival – indeed, by war's end it boasted a lower loss-per-sortie ratio than any other twin-engined bomber in the USAAF.This volume covers all aspects of Marauder operations in Western Europe, featuring first hand accounts from surviving B-26 crews, plus an analysis of the tactics employed.

An illustrated combat history of the 'last of the gunfighters', due to its quartet of Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannons.The F-8 Crusader was numerically the most populous fighter in the US Navy at the start of America's involvement in the Vietnam conflict in 1964 – some 482 F-8C/D/Es equipped 17 frontline units. It enjoyed great success against North Vietnamese Mig-17s and Mig-21s during the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1965-68, officially downing 18 jets, which represented 53 per cent of all Mig claims lodged by Navy squadrons during this period.This book explores the history of this fighter and its pilots during the Vietnam War, alongside an array of contemporary photographs.

Unquestionably the most successful dive-bomber ever to see frontline service with any air arm, the Douglas SBD Dauntless was the scourge of the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the crucial years of the Pacific War.The revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design of the SBD exhibited airframe strength that made it an ideal dive-bomber, its broad wing, with horizontal centre section and sharply tapered outer panels with dihedral, boasting perforated split flaps that doubled as dive brakes during the steep bombing attacks.This illustrated, detailed volume explores the features of the American aircraft and the action it saw in the Pacific.

The second instalment of the history of this photo-bird aircraft type, featuring illustrations throughout.Although the Crusader was built first and foremost as a Navy interceptor, as has often been the tradition with US fighters, a photo-reconnaissance variant was also produced by Vought. The photo-bird's first operational test came in the autumn of 1962 when its overflights of Cuba alerted the world to the likely presence of medium-range ballistic missiles on the Caribbean island. The recce Crusader's next action came during the long years of the Vietnam War.This volume is the second of two in the Combat Aircraft series devoted to the Crusader, the first title (again by Peter Mersky) having covered the F-8 fighter variants, and their MiG-killing exploits, during the Vietnam War.

As its name suggests, the Avenger meted out severe retribution on the Japanese in the Pacific, participating in every major engagement through to VJ-Day.As a key weapon of war, the Avenger was so highly valued by the US Navy that its demand for the aircraft soon outstripped Grumman's production capacity, so General Motors [GM] was contracted to build the near identical TBM from September 1942 onwards. Over 1000 Avengers also saw action with the Fleet Air Arm in both the Atlantic and the Pacific through to VJ-Day, and two squadrons of RNZAF TBDs fought alongside American Avengers on Bougainville in 1944.