{"title":"Tim Hillier-Graves","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the captivating worlds created by Tim Hillier-Graves. Expect thrilling adventures, compelling characters, and plots that keep you guessing. Perfect for fans of action and suspenseful storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"heaven-high-ocean-deep-book-tim-hillier-graves-9781612007557","title":"Heaven High, Ocean Deep","description":"In 1944, with the invasion of Europe underway and Battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean all but won, the Royal Navy`s strength could be focussed on the Far East and the Pacific where the Japanese were still a long way from defeat. Since the Battle of Midway, in June 1942, the United States had been slowly forcing the Japanese back, but it was a long, bloody process. The Allies needed to combine their forces more effectively if they were to bring the war to an end quickly. In response the Royal Navy massed its ships to add weight to the US Navy. With an attack force of four fleet carriers, and two more on the way, the RN`s role would be significant, but would take time to work up to the state of preparedness of their American cousins. And so a fleet was born for use in the Indian Ocean and, later, the Pacific.  From April 1944 to August 1945 they would successfully fight many long, intensive battles. In this time each carrier would contribute greatly to victory, none more so than HMS Indomitable with her 5th Fighter Wing.  They would be in thick of the fighting, achieve success and live perilously for a prolonged period, losing many men along the way. It was a war of attrition, which allowed little room for compassion or benevolence.  The story told in this book is about the exceptional group of young men, from Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Holland and South Africa who joined the Fleet Air Arm as pilots. With their American-built Hellcats they were in the thick of the action, providing a hard, professional core to this fighting fleet that few would equal. Although its operational history is second to none, this was only achieved by the sacrifice and endurance of the men who flew many dangerous missions and daily lived with the spectre of a searing death. And so the book is about them, with war providing a back drop that broods and eviscerates in turn. How did these men come to be fighting as pilots with the Fleet Air Arm, how were they trained, how did they live, how did they prepare themselves to kill or be killed, what sustained them and what did they feel about their extremely dangerous experiences? Luckily some survived to record their thoughts and others left poignant memories for the curious to follow and explore. And here the author was lucky to meet or correspond with nearly all the survivors and be privileged to hear their stories. He follows the young pilots lives from selection, through training to operations. The 5th Wing went to sea in 1944 and were in continuous action, in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from then until the last days of the war. They participated in strikes on Sumatra with the aim of destroying its highly important oil refineries, then they joined in the battles for Leyte and Okinawa, before moving with the British Fleet to begin the invasion Japan itself.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49510282330385,"sku":"GOR009753291","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53575506100497,"sku":"GOR011359662","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1612007554.jpg?v=1751277108"},{"product_id":"southern-railway-lord-nelson-class-4-6-0s-book-tim-hillier-graves-9781526744739","title":"Southern Railway, Lord Nelson Class 4-6-0s","description":"The Lord Nelson Class has come to be viewed as an  also ran' amongst express locomotives and is largely overlooked for that reason. It had the misfortune to be sandwiched on Southern metals between the classic and much revered King Arthurs and Schools and by Bullied's controversial Pacifics. In such company any design might suffer by comparison. And yet when first appearing they attracted plaudits from railway professionals, including the footplate crew, and the public alike. But with only 16 being built their impact was muted and any faults in their design were magnified beyond their actual impact. In truth they deserved far better than this and were, in fact sturdy, reliable performers that served the company well on the heavy boat trains for which they were designed and across their other passenger services for 30 years and more in peace and war.  Much has been written about these locomotives but no story is ever complete, with new information and photographs emerging to deepen our understanding of them. 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It was the brainchild of two of the most influential engineers of the twentieth century  - William Stanier of the LMS and Henry Guy of Metropolitan Vickers. They hoped that turbine power, which had already revolutionised ships propulsion and power stations, would do the same for the railways.  When Turbomotive appeared in 1935, she became a PR phenomenon at a time when commercial rivalry between the LMS and the LNER was reaching its height. Its launch at Euston in June was accompanied by a great fanfare and much publicity. Such was the interest in this 'revolutionary' idea that the engine would attract attention all her life. Although producing good but not remarkable performances, she remained in service, plying her trade between London and Liverpool for longer than anyone predicted. 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He was in office from 1941-1946, when he retired, after a long career as a mechanical engineer, working for several railway companies, including the North Eastern, Great Northern and after the grouping the London \u0026amp; North Eastern Railway.  He was a very contraversial figure, often maligned by railway historians for his reconstruction of several classes of steam locomotive, including the Gresley prototype pacific Great Northern, which many people still feel was unnessasery.  However there is more to Edward Thompson then his period as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London \u0026amp; North Eastern Railway, in that he had a complex side to him, which might of originated from his experiances in the First World War, during which he served with distinction in France.  This book for the first time, sets out to explain both the man and his philosophy, looking at the complex reasoning behind the way he came to his decisions over locomotive design and why he decided to reconstruct a number of Sir Nigel Gresleys locomotives.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49644997869841,"sku":"GOR013622183","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738429890833,"sku":"NGR9781526731166","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49879328391441,"sku":"GOR013805415","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526731169.jpg?v=1751150099"},{"product_id":"gresley-and-his-locomotives-book-tim-hillier-graves-9781526729934","title":"Gresley and his Locomotives","description":"The story of Gresley and his locomotives is a well-trodden path. 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Their time out of service, due to breakdowns, was also increasing to an unacceptable level, and some of Bulleid's innovations were believed to be more hindrance than help. Rightly or wrongly BR were faced with a costly scrap and build programme or seek to make the engines more reliable. To Ron Jarvis, an engineer of note, fell the job of saving Bulleid's enigmatic locomotives in a bid to satisfy the demands of the service. And he displayed a master's touch in the programme that followed, saving the best of Bulleid's work and adopting other established design principles. What emerged was described by Bert Spencer, Gresley's talented assistant, as taking  a swan and creating a soaring eagle'. This book explores all the elements of the lives of these Pacifics and their two designers. 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This book takes this compelling story from the early years of the war up to their demise in the 1960s  After four years of service pulling the LNER's most prestigious trains the A4s took on a more utilitarian role and for six years worked hard to support Britain's war effort. From this they emerged bowed, but unbeaten, although in an extremely jaded condition. Once restored they took up where they had left off in 1939 and did exceptional service for the rest of their days.  With the help of previously unpublished material the authors analyse the second phase of the A4s careers, first as LNER engines, then, from 1948, under British Railways management. Without a diesel or electric fleet of engines to replace them they entered a second golden age of fast running in the  50s. Then in the  Swinging Sixties' they faced, as some thought, a premature end as part of a much delayed modernisation programme. 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