| ID | Description | Categories | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2542 | STAHL, Eleanor. My Ten Happy Years in the Navy Nursing Service 1938-1948. 306p. Lower Hutt: author, 1995. ISBN: 0473034662.
She was a New Zealander member of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service. She served in the UK, South Africa and Ceylon. The volume consists of her voluminous letters home, lightly annotated. Essentially social history. |
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| 2543 | TAYLOR, Eric. Front-Line Nurse: British Nurses in World War II. 192p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Hale, 1997. ISBN: 0709058195.
A fascinating history enlivened by personal reminiscences. Nurses showed great courage under fire in convoy and in hospital ship. |
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| 2544 | VINCE, Charles. Storm on the Waters: The Story of the Lifeboat Service in the War of 1939–1945. 111p., illus. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1946.
A brief account, demonstrating some of the hazards faced by lifeboatmen in war and some of their successes, including work at Dunkirk. A second edition was published in 1948. |
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| 2545 | WHITE, J. R. S. HMS Norfolk and Other Ships 1940–46: The Wartime Diary of a Dental Officer. 104p., illus. Leeds: Fractal, 1995. ISBN: 1870735056.
A Yorkshire dentist, he volunteered in 1939 and served in Portsmouth Barracks and the Marine Depot at Lympstone. He also spent time at the Stokers training establishment and on the hospital ship Aorangi. But the core of the book is the 20 months spent on Norfolk from August 1941 to May 1943 when she saw action from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. Rather dry. |
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| 2546 | WILLIAMS, Eve. Ladies without Lamps. 178p., illus. London: Harmsworth, 1983. ISBN: 095060125X.
A light-hearted tale of a wartime VAD in the RN, who served in England, Australia, and Hong Kong. |
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| 2547 | WOOLMAN, Jack. Hospital Ship: Memories of HMHS Tjitjalengka During World War II. viii, 110p., illus. Studley: Brewin, 2001. ISBN: 1858581974.
The author was a PO Sick Bay attendant on board from her commissioning in 1942 to her service with the Eastern Fleet. An interesting mix of personal anecdote with descriptions of the routine of a hospital ship. |
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| 2548 | BARKER, Ralph. The Hurricats. xi, 207p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Pelham, 1978. ISBN: 0720709946.
More properly the story of the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, part of the RAF which operated in the Atlantic and Arctic from RN Catapult ships and Merchant Navy CAM ships. Reprinted as Hurricats: The Fighters That Could Not Return by Tempus in 2000 (ISBN: 0752420054). |
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| 2549 | BARKER, Ralph. The Ship-Busters: The Story of the RAF Torpedo-Bombers. 272p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Chatto, 1957. An early account of the anti-shipping war. Reprinted by Grub Street in 2009 (ISBN: 9781906502294). |
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| 2550 | BOITEN, Theo. Blenheim Strike. 320p., bibliog., illus., index. Walton-on-Thames: Air Research, 1995. ISBN: 1871187311.
A history of the Blenheim in RAF service 1935–1942 incorporating a case study on operations and losses over the Netherlands. A very comprehensive study including full details of anti-shipping strikes. |
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| 2551 | BOWMAN, M. W. The Men Who Flew the Mosquito. 192p., illus., index. Cambridge: PSL, 1995. ISBN: 1852604883.
Contains a chapter on anti-U-boat operations and other material on anti-shipping work. |
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| 2552 | BROWN, R. All Round the Compass: Stories from RAF Days. 136p., illus. London: Janus, 1993. ISBN: 1857560817.
An RAF Intelligence Officer in Iceland, Murmansk, and the Mediterranean. |
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| 2553 | CAMERON, Neil. In the Midst of Things. 256p., illus., index. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1986. ISBN: 0340390816.
Lord Cameron rose from Sergeant Pilot to Chief of the Defence Staff. His autobiography describes Arctic convoys and a WS convoy during his extensive war service. |
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| 2554 | COOPER, Alan W. Beyond the Dams to the Tirpitz: The Later Operations of 617 Squadron. 253p., illus., index. London: Kimber, 1983. ISBN: 0718303598.
Their major success was the sinking of the Tirpitz. |
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| 2555 | CROSS, Kenneth "Bing," & ORANGE, Vincent. Straight and Level. 306p., illus., index. London: Grub Street, 1993. ISBN: 948817720.
Cross had a distinguished career in the RAF which is recounted here. In particular he was one of the Hurricane pilots who fought in Norway, landed on Glorious and was sunk in her. |
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| 2556 | CURTIS, Des. A Most Secret Squadron: The Story of No. 618 Squadron and Its Special Detachment, Royal Air Force. 202p., illus. Wimborne: Skitten, 1995. ISBN: 0952524708.
The story of the squadron by one of its founding members. Founded within days of the better known 617, it was equipped with Mosquitos for a low-level attack on Tirpitz using Barnes Wallis' bouncing bomb. After the X-Craft attack on Tirpitz, they were switched to the Far East. One subunit remained and was fitted with 6 pounder antitank guns. They were used with some success against U-boats. |
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| 2557 | DAVIES, J., & KELLETT, J. P. A History of the RAF Servicing Commandos. [vii], 156p., illus., index. Shrewsbury: Airlife, 1989. ISBN: 185310051X.
Some 15 units were formed in 1942. They were trained as commandos and went ashore with assault forces to make captured or newly constructed airfields immediately operational. They served in all the major European landings and in India and Burma. |
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| 2558 | GARNETT, David. War in the Air: September 1939 to May 1941. xi, 200p., illus. London: Chatto & Windus; Garden City: Doubleday, 1941.
This history and description contains some information on Coastal Command and on early campaigns such as in Norway. |
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| 2559 | GREAT BRITAIN. Ministry of Information. We Speak from the Air: Broadcasts by the RAF. 72p. London: HMSO, 1942.
Transcripts of BBC talks. Many of them describe naval related actions from antishipping strikes the length of Europe to the Bismarck hunt and U-boat captures. |
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| 2560 | MURCHIE, A. T. The RAF in Galloway. 105p., illus., index. Worcester: Billings Book Plan, 1992. ISBN: 1872350402.
A geographically organised account of all of the bases and units which have served and trained there. Gives full details of each base and its use. Much of it related to flying boats. A second edition entitled The RAF in Galloway 1910-2000 was published in 2000 (ISBN: 1872350186). |
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| 2561 | O'BRIEN, Terence. Chasing after Danger. 264p., index. London: Collins, 1991. ISBN: 0002150980.
A beautifully written memoir covering 1939–1942. He joined up in 1939 and after two tours of duty in the UK, one on light bombers attacking French ports and the other in Hudsons as a sort of odd job man. In 1941 he transferred to the Far East and writes excoriatingly of the loss of Empire and the failure to use the RAF properly. |
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