Air

The Flight of Lanky Lou

Issue Number: 5409

Newly-qualified Flight Sergeant Owen Lewis was delivered to his new base inside the very plane he was about to serve in. The Lancaster was a beauty, and the crew welcomed Lewis with open arms — all except their bomb aimer, Burston, who had a chip on his shoulder bigger than the bombs he dropped over […]

On Silent Wings

Issue Number: 5398

Looping the loop in a huge glider packed full of troops might seem impossible, but it can be done if the pilot is good enough — and desperate enough to take the chance! Sergeant Hugh Miller, the co‑pilot of this glider was certainly desperate enough. His first pilot was wounded and if he didn’t do […]

The Commando and the Pilot

Issue Number: 5394

Tom Picalli’s boast was that he could fly any type of plane, so it wasn’t long before he was flying Dakotas for the American Air Force. But he wasn’t boasting now, as he flew over enemy‑held Sicily, for Tom had never been so scared in all his life. Flak was bursting all around his aircraft […]

The Jets from Nowhere!

Issue Number: 5390

The Heinkel 162 jet fighter swept in low over the RAF airstrip, strafing the parked Typhoons and anything that moved. By the time the British had recovered, the enemy machines had disappeared. Patrols were sent out, a German airfield was bombed, but still the jets survived. They had to have a base somewhere, and it […]

The Flying Emu

Issue Number: 5385

Estranged twins Teddy and Ernie Sharp followed their own paths in the Great War. Teddy took to the skies while Ernie trained hard with the Australian Imperial Force, determined to make his mark. Then, a chance meeting on the Western Front and Teddy’s untimely death changed Ernie’s life forever, as he abandoned the AIF and […]

Coventry Blitz

Issue Number: 5383

The night of 14th November, 1940, was one the industrial city of Coventry would never forget. Over 500 German bombers darkened the already inky night sky above the city before Coventry became an inferno — their bombs obliterating factories and homes alike. Among the fiery streets, Charlie Briggs of the Auxiliary Fire Service fought to […]

Convoy Patrol

Issue Number: 5374

Fairey Swordfish flew and fought from many dangerous places during the war, but the most risky of all were the tiny aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships. That’s where Lieutenant Paul Drayton of the Fleet Air Arm found himself, and as if the Focke-Wulf Kondors and the weather weren’t enough to contend with, he was […]