Aviation Articles

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Which was best? The USAAF's main European theatre fighters compared

Debate still rages about which was the US Army Air Forces’ best fighter in the European theatre of operations. But is it even possible to reach a meaningful verdict?

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What's it like to fly with California’s Condor Squadron?

An enthusiastic team of aviators keeps a quartet of classic T-6 trainers flying in California. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver went flying over his home state with the celebrated Condor Squadron

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Luftwaffe's legendary surprise raid on Asch

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver describes the remarkable 45-minute skirmish over Asch – perhaps the wildest fight for any Eighth Air Force fighter unit

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RAF Hawker Tempests in the Malayan Emergency

Following the outbreak of the Malayan Emergency in 1948, Tempest IIfighter-bombers became the backbone of the RAF’s response to the terroristsuntil they were finally displaced by jets in 1952.

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How Hawker Tempests exploded V1s before they could reach London

Within weeks of arrival on operations, the first Tempest squadrons were confronted by their greatest challenge – the V1 flying bomb. Beginning shortly after D-Day and lasting until the launch sites were captured by Allied armies in September, the Tempest pilots flew day and night in a desperate effort to explode the world’s first cruise missiles before they could reach London, which Hitler vowed to destroy with his ‘Vengeance’ weapon.

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What made the Hawker Tempest II the ultimate variant?

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver describes how the Tempest provided the fighter core of the British Occupation forces in Germany and served in India to become the initial equipment for the air forces of India and Pakistan.

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Battle of the Bulge – the Hawker Tempest’s ferocious fight back

Also known as the Ardennes Offensive, the Battle of the Bulge was the final major German campaign on the Western Front during World War Two. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver details the ferocious aerial fight back Hawker Tempest crews mounted in response

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How the Airacobra saved Guadalcanal

In this adaption from his book ‘The Cactus Air Force’, co-author Thomas McKelvey Cleaver reveals how the P-39 came to play such a pivotal role over Guadalcanal

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The birth of The Eighth Air Force

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver charts the arrival and operations of The Eighth Air Force in the European theatre of World War Two

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Legendary ace Robin Olds in Vietnam

“The most courageous leader I ever knew”: What were the qualities that caused a Vietnam War comrade of the late Brig Gen Robin Olds to say that of his former commander? The success of Operation ‘Bolo’, the momentous aerial engagement between US Air Force F-4 Phantom IIs led by Olds and North Vietnamese MiG-21s on the second day of 1967, provides ample evidence