Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

Let other members know of a good book that you are reading in this section
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Pelican
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Harrier 809 – Book Review
£15.39 (Hardback) £9.99 (Kindle)


This month Harrier 809, by respected aviation author Rowland White, is published by Bantam Press. Written in his trademark gripping narrative style, White illuminates some of the lesser-known aspects of the air war during the Falklands conflict.

Make no mistake, this is a great read for anyone but would not be the ideal choice for a newcomer to the history of the Falklands war. White has successfully gathered up many of the stories that have been overlooked and were peripheral to the main narrative. The book is primarily about the third, hastily formed Sea Harrier Squadron (809), the third ‘aircraft carrier’ (MV Atlantic Conveyor), clandestine RAF efforts to support the task force from Chile and the Argentinian aviators perspective.
Continues at:
https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/harrie ... 9BzO2XakuU
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Pelican
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Neptune and the Pollywogs: Documenting the Royal Navy's Traditional Crossing the Line Ceremony

Paperback – 22 Mar. 2019

Neptune and the Pollywogs is an in-depth study of the most traditional of seafaring initiation ceremonies, Crossing of the Line, which is performed when one of Her Majesty’s Ships crosses the equator.

Neptune and the Pollywogs examine the rites historical roots, follows its chronological evolution, formalities and observances, the parts and origin of the characters used in the ceremonies historic and modern-day practice.

Furthermore, this book reveals the Admiralties pamphlet, issued in September 1946, which outline the ceremonies procedure and its conduct following H.M.S. Renown's crossing, when the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, was a willing Pollywog.

The crossings of HMS Deer Sound and HMS Perseus are recorded using original documentation.
Included, primarily for entertainment, is the anecdotal story of the SS Warrimoo.Published in conjunction with the Royal Navy Research Archives.com
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Pelican
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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F.A.A. BOYS 2 & 3 ~ UPDATE

Dear all,

Herewith the image that will appear on the cover of 'Fleet Air Arm Boys' volume 2. We hope you approve of what both we and Grub Street think is a really powerful and dramatic image which quite rightly, highlights the fact that aircraft handlers are as important a part of the story as the aircrew, engineers and all the other supporting roles. It also includes one of the two types which have the longest chapters in the book, the other being the Buccaneer. The photo selection for the book will be completed by the middle of next week and then it will be down to Grub Street to assemble the page proofs prior to one last proof-read.

Much work is going on behind the scenes between Navy Wings and Grub Street to arrange a launch event for Vol.2 when it is published in July, in the expectation that we will all be able to travel and attend gatherings by then. The venue is likely to be a location very close to the Fleet Air Arm's heart and it is hoped that more details will be sent out soon.

Meanwhile, contributions continue to arrive at Bond Towers, for both fixed and rotary-wing. We will start putting Vol.3 together in late summer, so we are looking forward to the current trickle of new helicopter 'dits' becoming a flood well in advance of the 30 June deadline - please! I must add another reminder that anyone planning to contribute who is still serving, should advise me of that fact now please, as the Navy Media organisation, who have to rubber stamp such entries are not the quickest movers.

Finally, as if all this was not enough, I am finishing off a major article for the summer edition of 'Aviation World' commemorating the 50 years since HMS Goldcrest, RNAS Brawdy was de-commissioned. The article includes brief histories of all six Royal Naval Air Stations/associated stations in Pembrokeshire. How many can you name? - no reply required.

Best regards to you and yours - continue to stay safe, we are nearly there....

Steve and Heather

Dr Steve Bond PhD CEng FRAeS

Walnut Cottage

4 Pant Glas

Oswestry

Shropshire

SY10 7HS



Tel: 01691 661564

Email:by.meteor@outlook.com
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Navy Lookout

Children’s book “Arctic Star”, about three young naval recruits braving the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War out now.
By Tom Palmer
See - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Star-Co ... TE1_QDlgf4
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Dear all,

Rear Admiral (Ret'd) Tom Cunningham has sent me this message via Jon Parkinson and asked that it be passed onto the contributors:

“The launch of Steve Bond’s book ‘Fleet Air Arm Boys Vol 2’ at the Fleet Air Arm Museum last Saturday was a huge success. Despite the facemasks, it was possible to spot and meet many old friends and it seemed ages since so many of us have been able to gather together and swap stories in what was a wonderful atmosphere of fond recollection inspired by the book and enhanced by the Museum surroundings.

“Many thanks to Steve and Heather for the inspiration and for mobilising the contributors so effectively. Thanks also to the numerous contributors for their great stories, to the Museum for hosting the event and to the team at Navy Wings for putting it all together on the day. And, of course, a huge thank you too to all who attended. We all hope for an even larger, and facemask free, event to celebrate the launch of Vol 3 which Steve already has in hand.”


Thank you very much sir.

Best regards

Steve and Heather
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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50 NORTH: An Atlantic Battleground

The eBook edition of the outstanding memoir of the War in the North Atlantic by Lt. Cdr Alan Easton DSC RCNR. Last published in 1963 and now sadly lost to the passing of time. I have worked through the Covid doldrums with one of the most respected Naval historians of Canada, Michael Whitby, to republish this sterling account of life at sea in the small ships of the Canadian Navy that saved Great Britain in WWII. This is that life by a man who lived it, and recorded it all.

This new version contains additional material not in the original book, an extra chapter, and action reports previously secret, and a wealth of new photographs.

Alan Easton was from the Reserve forces of Canada, in respect to this the new eBook version it is dedicated to all those who serve their Country in the Reserves, the often unappreciated backbone of the Fighting forces.

I hope some of you will read and enjoy this exceptionally well-written account, and post reviews on the site.

This link is to Amazon but the book is also listed on all other major eBook sites.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09C4Y24H3/ ... oks&sr=1-1

Tim Lewin
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timlewin
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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50 NORTH Atlantic Battleground

First published in 1963 although written in 1945/6 this outstanding book is the memoir of Lt. Alan Easton DSC RCNR. Easton was an experienced sea-officer with service in the Canadian Pacific fleet when WWII came. He was a reservist and came almost immediately to the RCN. He was given command of the flower Class Corvette HMCS Baddeck, a ship perennially plagued with crankshaft problems in her reciprocating engine but nevertheless struggled through with convoys in those terible early times of war in the atlantic. From Baddeck he was given command of HMCS Sackville now preserved at Halifax, followed by the frigate Matane and then the destroyer, formerly HMS Fortune, Saskatchewan. This book which reads like a novel chronicles Easton's 4 years at sea in the Atlantic. I have republished this book with much new material and photos in association with Canadian Naval Historian Michael Whitby, as an eBook.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/50-North-Battl ... 574&sr=8-1

I also made 30 print copies for friends and families. During this process the printer made an error which left several of the photos too dark so he reprinted them leaving me with 30 slightly defective, only the photos, copies. I can offer these to forum members for a Fiver (£5.00) inc. UK postage if anyone prefers paper to eBook?
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ivorthediver
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Yes please Tim , count me down for one please
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
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Pelican
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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FROM STEVE BOND:

Dear all,

With the festive season upon us and, as we are almost into another year, it is time to once again say a big 'thank you' to all of you for your support of 'Fleet Air Arm Boys'. The Vol.2 launch was a great success and Heather and I are ploughing our way through the proof-read of Vol.3 (a process not helped by having been without power for several days after Storm Arwen.
Meanwhile Vol.1 is virtually sold out and Grub Street are re-printing it as a paperback.

There will be a launch and signing event for Vol.3 next summer, and as soon as I know more I will pass it on to everyone. I have to say that any lingering thoughts some people may have that helicopters are not that interesting, will be totally blown out of the water by what is in Vol.3! The stories you kind people have sent me are amazing and certainly show the rotary-wing world in a way that I don't think it has previously.

The fourth and final volume is confirmed for publication in the summer of 2023. The intention is to present the stories in a different way as there will be no chapters dedicated to specific types as before (see the attached structure). The End Piece - Thoughts, is your chance to say, in as few or as many words as you like, what your FAA service means to you when you look back on it - I have already had some quite moving and thought-provoking submission. The deadline for submissions for Vol.4 is 30 June 2022 please, so you still have plenty of time to send me that 'dit' that you always meant to.

I am sure you will recall me saying that once the boos are all written, it has been my intention to deposit the entire archive (currently almost 1.2 million words and 6,500 photos, with Navy Wings. We have been having discussions about this recently, and Jon Parkinson at NW has said:

"We want this treasure trove of information to be of benefit to as many people as possible whether they are academics, ex or current servicemen and women, folk trying to research about relations or those merely curious about aircraft, history or aviation life at sea. We are looking into how it might be possible to take your information and turn it into a cohesive archive that resides on our website and is easy for the public to interrogate. That's partly a software question and partly a data organisation question, but that is the primary direction that we are exploring at present."

I am sure you will all agree with this approach, the stories are ALL far too important to lose.

Finally, we both wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

Steve and Heather
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Pelican
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Re: Notifications of New Books, Etc.,

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Navy Lookout

How to build and aircraft carrier
New book by Chris Terrill to be published in January (by Penguin) about HMS QNLZ and the extraordinary men and women who breathed life into her.
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