New Member: Let Me introduce myself.

[Mark Beaumont]

I'm 24 and ever since I can remember I have been an avid fan of WW2 history, particularly aviation history. My grandfather flew with Fleet Air Arm 812 Squadron in WW2 as a TAG (Telegraphist Air Gunner) and flew in aircraft such as the Swordfish, Barracuda and the Grumman Avenger, amonst others. I actually have a few great photos from his collection that I can guarentee no one will have ever seen before.

Compared to some of you I am probably a novice in terms of Aviation knowledge yet I have read many of the Osprey 'Aircraft of the Aces' books, Patrick Bishop's 'Fighter Boys', Pierre Clostermann's excellent 'Big Show', Battle of Britain Books by Parker and Bungay, 'For your Freedom and Ours' about 303 Polish Squadron, 'First Light' by Geoffrey Wellum of 92 Squadron, got half way through 'Duel of Eagles' by 85 Squadron Leader Peter Townsend before leaving it on a train. At present I am reading 'Fighter Pilot' by Paul Richey, which is truely amazing and 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor (although not pure Aviation I have been interested in the Battle of Britain and Western Front up until now and since playing IL-2 Sturmovik computer game I am eager to learn about the Eastern Front). In the pipleline I will be reading 'Tail End Charlies' about the Allied bombing offensive of the 3rd Reich 1943-1945 and a book about JG 26 that I bought off Ebay after reading Clostermann's fascinating account about how he was outclassed by one their many aces.

Can anyone recommend any more polemic books (I am interested in ANYTHING WW2 Aviation )?

Thats me introduced- who are the main posters on this site (I have seen someone called Frank everywhere!)?

Regards,

Mark Beaumont.
P.S. Would anyone be interested in seeing my grandad's war photo's?

[JackoGZ]

Mark

The 'bible' for anything to do with the BoB has to be 'The Battle of Britain - Then and Now' (After the Battle Publications). It's a day to day account, well-researched and with an incredible amount of information contained within on the airfields, pilots, and casualties for the entire period of the Battle. The last print was the 'MKV' version. It's a massive volume, and retails at nearly 60 pounds GB (sorry, I'm currently on vacation in America and this keyboard doesn't have a British pounds sign on it!) but any decent public library will have a copy you can order.

Regards

JackoGZ

[Flying_Dutchman]

Hi ALL,

I'm new here.

My (short) personal profile:

"Flying" IL-2 series flightsim on a very regular basis.

I'm reading this book at the moment:
Attack of the Airacobras
Still reading thisone highly recommended!!

and thisone on the shelf:
Red Star Against the Swastika
The story of a pilot flying the IL-2.

The Osprey series is one of my favorites too. A great source for my skinning activities.

Nice Forums btw.