Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs

Air Vice-Marshal ‘Johnnie’ Johnson was a character literally from the pages of Boys’ Own: an individual who became the RAF’s top-scoring fighter pilot and wing leader par excellence of the Second World War. A one-time household name synonymous with the superlative Spitfire, Johnnie’s aerial combat successes inspired schoolboys for generations.

Walter Tull would have been a remarkable individual no matter when he had been born, but to achieve what he did, during the time that he did, makes him even more remarkable.

If there was ever a man who was born to fly, it is John M. Billings. He took his first plane ride in 1926, began taking piloting lessons in 1938, and joined the US Army Air Force in July 1942. After training he was assigned to fly Consolidated B-24 Liberator long-range bombers.

One Second World War pilot’s own account of his part in the Battle of the Atlantic and the campaigns in the Mediterranean and Pacific.

In 1913 Julius Koettgen, a pacifist and a socialist, was drafted into the ranks of sapper battalion No. 30. He dutifully fought in the ranks of the Kaisers armies during 1914 and 1915 and saw action...

The events of Sunday, 18 June, stand as the defining moment of the year 1815, if not of an entire era.

From Rifleman to Air Marshal, Sir Brian Baker excelled in every role. Having transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and learning to fly in record time on a Maurice Farman Longhorn, he progressed to a...

The Wars of the Roses were fought in England from the mid-fifteenth century, as the supporters of Lancaster and York wrestled over control of the crown. Books have analyzed the politics, battles and...