{"title":"Alastair Goodrum","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into Alastair Goodrum's captivating worlds, filled with compelling characters and intricate plots. Perfect for fans of character-driven narratives and immersive storytelling. Discover your next favourite read now!\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"balloons-bleriots-and-barnstormers-book-alastair-goodrum-9780752445168","title":"Balloons, Bleriots and Barnstormers","description":"Since time immemorial ordinary people have flocked to gaze upon daring feats in the hope of witnessing some death-defying or even death-inducing act. Aeronautics was turned into a public spectacle and exploited financially from its very beginning and thus it has remained ever since. The book sets out to elaborate upon those concepts in the East Midlands, and demonstrates that the region is truly representative of the progress of general aviation in this country as a whole over two centuries. The history covers balloons for shows and sports, the pre-First World War period, women aviators, Sir Alan Cobham, through to private and small air taxi flying operations, Amy Johnson, and continuing up to the present day. Balloons, Bleriots and Barnstormers enables the reader to feel the euphoria and frustrations of the flyers, and experience the same excitement as the people who actually witnessed their efforts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49551571484945,"sku":"GOR004952718","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0752445162.jpg?v=1751446625"},{"product_id":"no-place-for-chivalry-book-alastair-goodrum-9781904943228","title":"No Place for Chivalry","description":"Night fighting in the air is a devious and clandestine form of mortal combat. In the blackness of night, success goes to the resolute hunter who stalks his prey unseen, and strikes from behind, swiftly and mercilessly. A sudden burst of machine-gun or cannon fire into an opponent's belly often caught the enemy unprepared, obliterating men and machines in a hail of explosions. Chivalry had no place in the combats of the night sky. A corridor from The Wash to Birmingham was turned into a fierce battleground in two world wars. The air route from Germany and the occupied countries through this corridor, to targets right across the industrial heartland of England, became a three-dimensional combat zone that proved to be as grim a killing ground by night as anywhere else in the land. No Place for Chivalry encapsulates the story of the air defence of England against attack by night. The corridor to the Midlands was an arena for events that, in themselves, were a microcosm of the nation's air war at night. So, by taking the area covered by RAF Wittering and Digby sectors and looking at the action of night fighter squadrons operating from those stations and their satellite airfields, the way the battle developed, its time-line of events, the events themselves and the organisation of those involved, a coherent picture of how the night air defence of Britain evolved is formed. What is important, too, is that the narrative is pitched at a level of detail and with such human interest content that it enables readers not only to grasp what is happening and why but also to feel the tensions, frustrations and euphoria of success that the aircrews felt at the time. The reader gets a view from the cockpit or gun turret, to 'meet' and 'fly' with the men of both sides who fought in the air at night - men whose moral standards on the ground were above reproach but, when fighting in the night sky, gave no quarter. There was no room for chivalry.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560677941521,"sku":"GOR003133999","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53074511495441,"sku":"GOR003636233","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53339976761617,"sku":"GOR014859974","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1904943225.jpg?v=1751314693"},{"product_id":"they-spread-their-wings-book-alastair-goodrum-9780752487588","title":"They Spread Their Wings","description":"What turns an ordinary man into an extraordinary one? The answer lies in the stories of six teenage volunteers for Second World War aircrew who exchanged school uniform for Air Force Blue and took a giant step into the unknown. Based on original research from flying log books, diaries and family archives, this collection of true tales describes the men’s training for those coveted ‘Wings’; the nervous excitement of that first sortie over enemy territory; and flying into the hell of an enemy flak barrage and fighters. From the skies over Europe to jungles and deserts, all endured hardship, adventure and danger. They experienced action under enemy fire, wounds, burns and crash-landings, escape and evasion in occupied territory, and the privations of life as a POW. Seventy years on and these brushes with death are by any measure hair-raising encounters that turned adolescents into men – some of whom survived the war, while others paid the ultimate price.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49575711736081,"sku":"GOR007347780","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640950563089,"sku":"GOR011499272","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0752487582.jpg?v=1766658574"},{"product_id":"school-of-aces-book-alastair-goodrum-9781445686172","title":"School of Aces","description":"This is the fascinating true story behind one of the key reasons that RAF Fighter Command saw such success in the Second World War and emerged victorious from the Battle of Britain - the incredible training school that transformed young men from inexperienced pilots into some of the finest airmen in the world.From peacetime Armament Practice Camp, to fighter Operational Training Unit, to Central Gunnery School, this is the story of how, between 1926 and 1946, the RAF developed and implemented a world-beating training system. This allowed the RAF to have total faith in the men tasked with combatting the Nazi threat from the air, and School of Aces tells the astonishing story of the station through a wealth of individual stories - with famous names, drama, courage and pathos a-plenty - recalling how pilots, air gunners and ground crew came to be at RAF Sutton Bridge, what life was like for them there and what happened to them afterwards.Prior to and during the Battles of France and Britain, RAF Sutton Bridge played a vital role in the British success by creating, in a remarkably short time, an effective training programme for potential fighter pilots. 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This allowed the RAF to have total faith in the men tasked with combatting the Nazi threat from the air, and School of Aces tells the astonishing story of the station through a wealth of individual stories - with famous names, drama, courage and pathos a-plenty - recalling how pilots, air gunners and ground crew came to be at RAF Sutton Bridge, what life was like for them there and what happened to them afterwards.Prior to and during the Battles of France and Britain, RAF Sutton Bridge played a vital role in the British success by creating, in a remarkably short time, an effective training programme for potential fighter pilots. 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The flying lives of these three pilots combine across the years to illustrate how it happened.Trained on Bristol Boxkites in 1912, Major Leonard Dawes helped shape the RFC in its infancy. Posted to France with BE2s, he saw action at the birth of battlefield reconnaissance and air fighting, then activated many new squadrons during the First World War. Joining the RAF in 1923, Group Captain Dickie Barwell became a fighter pilot and respected leader of men. As a Hurricane squadron commander, he routed the first major Luftwaffe air attack of the Second World War and flew with Bader's Wing in the Battle of Britain. While commanding RAF Biggin Hill, he flew combat operations over France before his death in a friendly-fire incident in 1942. Squadron Leader Brian Fern learned to fly at Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1942, then trained hundreds of RAF bomber pilots during the Second World War. Post-war tours on Canberra bombers and spy flights in Chipmunks were followed by selection to the elite Valiant bomber force, where he became a leading exponent of in-flight refuelling, which finally gave the RAF its global reach.Combining these three stories into a narrative that explores the rise of the RAF through an era of dazzling technological breakthroughs and ever-changing operational requirements, Alastair Goodrum tells the story of a journey through adversity to the stars.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49619405308177,"sku":"GOR010510904","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49733688459537,"sku":"NGR9781445695457","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1445695456.jpg?v=1761645957"},{"product_id":"combat-ready-book-alastair-goodrum-9781870384605","title":"Combat Ready!","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50241600127249,"sku":"GOR002757744","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51844898095377,"sku":"GOR006452199","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1870384601.jpg?v=1751346742"},{"product_id":"flying-adventures-of-charles-green-book-alastair-goodrum-9781036113308","title":"The Flying Adventures of Charles Green","description":"The action-packed flying career of aeronaut Charles Green (1785-1870), a working-class Londoner in the infancy of aviation, who defied death in a career of 35 years and over 500 balloon flights to make a unique contribution to world aeronautical history. 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From First World War biplanes to twenty-first-century fast jets, mid-air collisions and many other crashes, hundreds of airmen from all corners of the world left their mark - quite literally - on the landscape and collective memory of the east of England. Featuring a wealth of previously unpublished photographs and with original research and crew correspondence, Dying to Fly ensures these airmen cease simply to be names carved in cold memorial stone or entries in some dusty, long-forgotten documents, and pays tribute to their passing by bringing their courage and human-interest stories into light of day to be remembered with respect.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52464767336721,"sku":"GOR004034804","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53143075946769,"sku":"GOR012061622","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780752453026.jpg?v=1759583576"},{"product_id":"fatal-flights-of-the-rich-and-famous-book-alastair-goodrum-9781036138080","title":"Fatal Flights of the Rich and Famous","description":"Everyone loves adventure, mystery and the notion of celebrity and this book combines all of these with new unpublished material, supported by high quality previously unpublished images. 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