World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer by Guy Warner

World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer by Guy Warner

Jack McCleery was born in Belfast in 1898, the son of a mill owning family. He joined the RNAS in 1916 as a Probationary Flight Officer. During the next ten months he completed his training at Crystal Palace, Eastchurch, Cranwell, Frieston, Calshot and Isle of Grain, flying more than a dozen landplanes, seaplanes and flying boats, gaining his wings as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant. In July 1917 he was posted to the newly commissioning aircraft carrier HMS Furious, which would be based at Scapa Flow and Rosyth. He served in this ship until February 1919, flying Short 184 seaplanes and then Sopwith 1i?? Strutters off the deck. He also flew a large number of other types during this time from shore stations at Turnhouse, East Fortune and Donibristle.He served with important and well-known naval airmen including Dunning, Rutland (of Jutland) and Bell Davies VC. He witnessed Dunning's first successful landing on a carrier flying a Sopwith Pup in 1917 and his tragic death a few days later. He also witnessed the Tondern raid in 1918, the world's first carrier strike mission. He took part in more than a dozen sweeps into the North Sea by elements of the Grand Fleet and Battle Cruiser Fleet. He carried out reconnaissance missions off the coast of Denmark, landing in the sea to be picked up by waiting destroyers. He witnessed the surrender of the High Seas Fleet. Promoted to Captain, he acted as temporary CO of F Squadron for a time post-war.Guy Warner has been given access to McCleery's wartime dairy, his letters home, other memorabilia and three remarkable albums with hundreds of photos taken by Jack and others of the events described above. His intention is to edit Jack's diary and letters, to provide an introduction and conclusion and to annotate the text with explanatory details of important events, people, places, ships and aircraft. Jack McCleery's son, John, is fully supportive of the proposal.

Guy Warner is a retired schoolteacher and former MOD civil servant from Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, where he attended Abbots Cross Primary School and Belfast High School before attending Leicester University and then Stranmillis College. He and his wife Lynda now live in Greenisland, Co Antrim. He also has three grandchildren and two grown daughters. He has published hundreds of articles for journals in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, and is the author of over twenty-five books and booklets about aviation's past and present. He also reviews books for a variety of magazines, provides speeches to local history societies, and has appeared on television and radio programs to discuss many parts of aviation history.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781848842557
ISBN 10	1848842554
Title	World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer
Author	Guy Warner
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Year published	2011-05-01
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.