From the snows of Alaska to V-E Day in Europe, this is the biography of US Army Air Forces Captain Robert Uhrig during WWII. Told in his own words from extensive diary entries and letters to his wife, "Toots," the story starts in the late 1930s at Patterson Field OH and follows Bob through the war as an aircraft mechanic and then Engineering Officer for the 36th Troop Carrier Squadron and their Douglas C-47s. Bob's wartime career took him from the jump school at Ft Benning to supplying British units in North Africa to the Sicily and Normandy invasions and all the other airborne operations in Europe. Invasion Stripes is also a deeply personal story of love as Bob and Toots endure almost three years of wartime separation with only their photographs and letters to sustain them across thousands of miles. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, it is a unique and detailed first person story of the American airlift forces of WWII. 248 pages, black and white illustrations, maps.

This informative guide describes colors and markings for U.S. Army Air Force fighters in the European and Mediterranean theaters of WWII. With more than 300 illustrations and 140 photographs, the book makes an excellent reference for modelers and aviation buffs alike.

"We cursed the little dark green, high-wing aeroplanes. We knew that one of them in the area would precede a barrage and we tried our hardest to shoot them down. We dreaded those little observation aeroplanes- they were the angels of death to us." -Captured German Officer, 10th SS Panzer, after Falaise.

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere over the English Channel the plane vanished. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. To this day Miller, Baessell, and the pilot, John Robert Stuart Morgan, are classified as missing in action. Weaving together cultural and military history, Glenn Miller Declassified tells the story of the musical legend Miller and his military career as commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band during World War II. After a brief assignment to the Army Specialist Corps, Miller was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command and soon thereafter to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, in the UK. Later that year Miller and his band were to be transferred to Paris to expand the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, but Miller never made it. Miller’s disappearance resulted in numerous conspiracy theories, especially since much of the information surrounding his military service had been classified, restricted, or, in some cases, lost. Dennis M. Spragg has gained unprecedented access to the Miller family archives as well as military and government documents to lay such theories to rest and to demonstrate the lasting legacy and importance of Miller’s life, career, and service to his country.

Flying at 25,000 feet, loaded with 6000 pounds of bombs, bristling with thirteen .50 caliber machine guns, and with a highly trained and motivated flight crew, the B-17 Flying Fortress became the physical symbol of America's Mighty Eighth Air Force. Arrayed against the Eighth Air Force was Nazi Germany's veteran, battle tested air armada the Luftwaffa. But the B-17 didn't go to war alone. The Eighth Air Force also deployed some of the most famous aircraft: the rugged B-24 Liberator, the nimble P-38 Lightning, the P-47 Thunderbolt with its four pairs of deadly wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns, and the quick and high flying P-51 Mustang.

First entering service in 1941 the legendary 'all-wooden' Mosquito was one of the best twin-engined aircraft of its size to see action in World War II. The addition of radar turned the Mosquito into the RAF's premier night fighter, and it achieved great success in the defence of Britain, with some 600 raiders and 600 V1 rockets falling to its guns between 1942 and 1945. The design's superb performance, and ability to escape interception by enemy fighters also made the Mosquito the ideal choice for the RAF's photographic reconnaissance force. This wide range of roles across multiple theatres and air forces are all reflected in the variety of kits built and colour schemes shown throughout this book.

Learn how to build, modify, detail, paint and weather legendary aircraft from the experts found in FineScale Modeler magazine. The 18 projects feature classic Allied and Axis that include Gabby's Last Jug, a D-Day Spitfire, an American Mosquito, and a late-war Messerschmitt Bf 109.