| ID | Description | Categories | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2502 | BEKEN, Keith. The Beken File. 191p., illus. Aylesbury: Channel, 1980. ISBN: 0906781027.
An autobiography from the famous sailing photographer. Includes tales of his adventures in RAF Air-Sea Rescue Boats in WWII. |
view | |
| 2503 | BEVAN, Walter. Bluebells And Lilac: Walter's World and War. [ii], 110p. [n.p.]: Lakeside Literary Publications, [2000]. ISBN: 1599716747.
A charming autobiography. It describes growing up in wartime in a village in Kent. In mid-1944 he was called up and trained as a Sick Berth Attendant. After training he joined a flotilla of Algerines and sailed for Ceylon and on to Singapore at the end of the war. |
view | |
| 2504 | BLACKMAN, Eric. Airman at the Helm. 116p., illus. London: Mason, 1979. ISBN: 0859371670.
The sailing and wartime memoirs of the author who served with the Air-Sea Rescue service in the UK and the Indian Ocean. |
view | |
| 2505 | BOOTH, Tony. Admiralty Salvage In Peace & War 1906-2006. xv, 211p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2007. ISBN: 184415565X.
Opens up a little explored area. The salvage crews saved millions of tons of shipping, often in extreme circumstances. |
view | |
| 2506 | CARTER, George Goldsmith. Looming Lights. xxi, 167p., frontis. London: Constable, 1945.
The reminiscences of a Trinity House man. The last third records his war service, mainly on the North Sand Head lightship, in the early part of the war. |
view | |
| 2507 | COOK, Graeme. Rescue. 142p., bibliog. London: Hart Davis MacGibbon, 1978. ISBN: 0246109475.
Some old stories retold. They include the Altmark rescue and two tales of Air-Sea Rescue. |
view | |
| 2508 | COULTER, Jack L. The Royal Naval Medical Service (History of the Second World War. UK Medical Series). 2 vols., illus., index. London: HMSO, 1954–56.
Volume 1 deals with administration and volume 2 with operations. The second volume in particular is much more wide-ranging in its content than the title suggests, being virtually a history of the war at sea. It is fuller on the earlier years of the war when casualties were greater. It also includes the diary of the MO of Scylla covering almost one year. |
view | |
| 2509 | DANIELS, Stephen Brewster. Rescue from the Skies: The Story of the Airborne Lifeboat. xiv, 242p., illus., index. London: HMSO, 1994. ISBN: 011772761X.
A good history of an unglamorous service. |
view | |
| 2510 | DOCHERTY, Tom. Dinghy Drop: 279 Squadron RAF 1941-1946. xi, 259p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2007. ISBN: 1844154823.
279 was the first squadron to employ the airborne lifeboat, which was carried beneath the belly of the Hudson. In January 1942, a practical boat, fitted with oars, sails and engines was put into production. Containing first-hand accounts, this book covers the development and the operations. |
view | |
| 2511 | FERGUSON, Ion. Doctor at War. 223p., illus. London: Johnson, 1955.
He served briefly in the RN in 1939 as ship's doctor on the destroyer Mackay. Invalided out with chronic seasickness, the bulk of the book goes on to tell of his service in Greece with the RAMC, of his capture there, and of his adventures in various POW camps. |
view | |
| 2512 | FRANKS, Norman. Another Kind of Courage: Stories of the UK-Based Walrus Air-Sea Rescue Squadrons. 232p., illus., index. Sparkford: PSL, 1994. ISBN: 1852604417.
Between 1941 and 1945 these squadrons rescued or assisted over 1,300 aircrew. This is very much oral history describing operations through the memories and anecdotes of those concerned. |
view | |
| 2513 | FRANKS, Norman. Beyond Courage: Air Sea Rescue by Walrus Squadrons in the Adriatic, Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Seas 1942-1945. 192p., illus., index. London: Grub Street, 2003. ISBN: 190401030X.
Covers the adventures of 283, 284, 293 and 294 Walrus Squadrons, operating from North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Sardinia. Includes many personal reminiscences. |
view | |
| 2514 | FROOM, Jack. A Century of Valour, 1878–1978: The Story of a Hundred Years of Saving Lives by the Lifeboat Men of Clacton-on-Sea. 40, [4]p., illus. Clacton-on-Sea: Royal National Lifeboat Institution, [1978].
The Edward Z. Dresden was one of the lifeboats which took part in the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk in 1940. Its war service is briefly described. |
view | |
| 2515 | GOODMAN, Rupert. Hospital Ships. x, 170p., bibliog., illus., index. Brisbane: Boolarong, 1992. ISBN: 0864391390.
A general history followed by accounts of four Australian ships from the two world wars. |
view | |
| 2516 | GREAT BRITAIN. Ministry of Information. Air-Sea Rescue. 32p., illus. London: HMSO, 1942.
A popular guide to the growth and operation of Air-Sea rescue. |
view | |
| 2517 | HAGUE, Arnold. Convoy Rescue Ships: A History of the Rescue Service Its Ships and Their Crews 1940–1945. 80p., bibliog., illus. Gravesend: World Ship Society, 1998. ISBN: 0905617886.
Very much an operational account with summaries of the service of each vessel. |
view | |
| 2518 | HALL, James S. Sea Surgeon. 205p., illus., index. London: Kimber, 1960. The memoirs of a local doctor who worked with the Walmer lifeboat in tending to injured and sick seaman in the Downs area. Concentrates on the 1939–40 period. The book went through several editions and was finally republished in paperback by the author in 1968 as a Pain Pocket Edition. |
view | |
| 2519 | HARLAND, Kathleen. A History of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service. 169p., illus. [n.p.]: Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, 1990. ISBN: 0951490605. The only history of this dedicated group. |
view | |
| 2520 | HARVEY, W. J., & TURRELL, K. T. J. Empire Tugs. 160p., illus., index. Kendal: World Ship Society, 1989. ISBN: 0905617479. Data and histories of all 140 tugs built or borrowed in WWII. Includes details of various salvage and rescue battles. |
view | |
| 2521 | HENLEY, Francis Austin. Chasing the Golden Fleece: The Wartime Adventures of Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Francis Austin Henley RNVR. x, 58p., illus. Lewes: Book Guild, 2002. ISBN: 1857766326.
A slight but interesting memoir, some of it a contemporary diary. Just after joining up he was whisked off to Norway as a surgeon with the Royal Marines and his experiences there fill half the book. In 1940/41 he set up a blood transfusion service at Chatham, but in mid-1942 transferred to Argonaut where he survived her torpedoing. After a brief spell in Coreopsis he was based ashore in North Africa until 1944 when he came back to the UK for a shore appointment. |
view |