Open Cockpit
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Narrated by:
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Roger Davis
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By:
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Arthur Gould Lee
About this listen
Thanks to a broken leg during flight school, Arthur Stanley Gould Lee gained valuable additional time flying trainers before he was posted to France during World War I. In November 1917, during low level bombing and strafing attacks, he was shot down three times by ground fire. He spent eight months at the front and accumulated 222 hours of flight time in Sopwith Pups and Camels during a staggering 118 patrols - being engaged in combat 56 times. He lived to retire from the RAF as an air vice-marshal in 1946.
Author of three books, this is by far his best. Lee puts you in the cockpit in a riveting account of life as a fighter pilot at the front. At times humorous and dramatic, this thoughtful, enlightening, true account is a classic to be ranked with Winged Victory by W. V. Yeates, also published by Grub Street.
©2013 Grub Street Ltd (P)2015 Grub Street LtdListeners also enjoyed...
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Thunderbolt is the incredible true life story of Robert S. Johnson, one of America’s leading fighter pilot aces in World War II. His memoir is an action-packed account of how a young man from Lawton, Oklahoma went on to amass 28 enemy kills, the first US Army Air Force pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I tally of 26 enemy planes destroyed.
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My favorite flying book of all time.
- By S. H. Moore on 10-07-21
By: Robert S. Johnson, and others
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Carrier Pilot
- By: Norman Hanson
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, Norman Hanson learned to fly the Royal Navy's newest fighter: the US-built Chance Vought Corsair. Fast, rugged, and demanding to fly, it was an intimidating machine. But in the hands of its young Fleet Air Arm pilots, it also proved to be a lethal weapon. Posted to the South Pacific aboard HMS Illustrious, Hanson and his squadron took the fight to the Japanese. Facing a desperate and determined enemy, Kamikaze attacks, and the ever-present dangers of flying off a pitching carrier deck, death was never far away.
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Absorbing
- By Jean on 11-26-17
By: Norman Hanson
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Life's Too Short to Cry
- The Compelling Story of a Battle of Britain Ace
- By: Tim Vigors
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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It is not often that a long-hidden gem of a manuscript is published, bringing a moment in WWII history to vivid life for today’s audiences. Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light was one example. The memoir of Timothy Vigors is another. Born in Hatfield but raised in Ireland and educated at Eton and Cranwell, Vigors found himself in France in 1940 flying Fairey Battle bombers. After the Fall he joined the fighters of 222 Squadron, with whom he saw frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and persevered through the dangerous days of the Battle of Britain, when he became an ace.
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Excellent
- By Ethan on 03-24-21
By: Tim Vigors
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Enduring Courage
- Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies—the car and airplane—took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these dangerous contraptions and pushed them to unexplored extremes became new American heroes: the race car driver and the flying ace. No individual did more to create and intensify these raw new roles than the tall, gangly Eddie Rickenbacker, who defied death over and over with such courage and pluck that a generation of Americans came to know his face better than the president's.
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A true ace, and an example for us all.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
By: John F. Ross
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Tail-End Charley
- Stories from an American Fighter Pilot in World War II
- By: James E. Brown
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On his 19th birthday, James E. Brown tries to fake to his flight instructor that he has flown before. On his 21st birthday, Brown is on his way home after logging 85 missions in a P-47 fighter over Italy, France, and Germany. Brown's stories surrounding his training and combat experiences in World War II reveal brushes with death, continuous peril and, ultimately, a coming of age for a young man whose freshman year in college becomes instead a heroic engagement with one of the fiercest enemies his country has ever encountered.
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Good read !
- By kevin on 06-19-18
By: James E. Brown
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Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
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War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II
- By: Philip Ardery
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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"The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account records one man's experience of World War II air warfare.
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Fascinating...and true story
- By Loretta on 06-24-15
By: Philip Ardery
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Angels in the Sky
- How a Band of Volunteer Airmen Saved the New State of Israel
- By: Robert Gandt
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Angels in the Sky is the gripping story of how an all-volunteer air force helped defeat five Arab nations and protect the fledgling Jewish state. It is the exhilarating account of a ragtag band of volunteer airmen from around the world who fought for Israel during the war of independence. They arrived from America, Canada, Britain, France, and South Africa. Almost all were World War II combat veterans. Many, but not all, were Jewish, and many knowingly violated their nations' embargoes on the shipment of arms and aircraft to Israel.
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Truly excellent story - highly recommended
- By Shimon on 03-21-19
By: Robert Gandt
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Apache
- Inside the Cockpit of the World’s Most Deadly Fighting Machine
- By: Ed Macy
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Ed Macy had always dreamed of a career in the army, so when the British Army Air Corps launched its attack helicopter program, Macy bent every rule in the book to make sure he was the first to sign up to fly the Apache—the deadliest, most technically advanced helicopter in the world and the toughest to fly. In 2007, Macy's Apache squadron was dispatched to Afghanistan's notorious Helmand Province with the mission to fight alongside and protect the men on the ground by any means necessary.
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Better with a British reader
- By steven c young on 06-23-22
By: Ed Macy
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The Battle of Britain
- Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 26 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.
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The battle up to The Battle of Britain
- By Chiefkent on 11-07-17
By: James Holland
What listeners say about Open Cockpit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- B Taub
- 12-21-16
Really great insights into WW1 air combat!
Loved this book! I read / listen to a lot of aviation history but I learned a ton from this one. Here were a few, random things that I liked and learned from:
1) When Lee first flies his Sopwith Pup, he describes what was in the cockpit. I always knew they carried hammers to pound on their machine guns but did you know they were carried in canvas cases? Did you know that they also carried 'POW bags' in case they were brought down in enemy territory? These kinds of details really make it feel like you're there.
2) Hearing the performance details of the Pup as compared to the German Albatross was cool. Lee thought the Albatross was a better plane but you could use the Pup's qualities (better high altitude performance & more agility) to your advantage. These facts aren't just dryly thrown out there, they come out during Lee's descriptions of numerous dogfights.
3) It makes sense but I never realized how much the pilots hated trench strafing and how air combat was considered less dangerous and less random.
4) Lee was very frank about the fact that he was scared. He credited his survival to both luck and to a rule that his first goal was to survive, not to get Huns. He, clearly, wasn't a coward but, at the same time, it was refreshing to hear someone admit his fears and describe how they shaped his approach to combat.
5) The narrator, with his English accent, was perfect for this book.
6) The book was loaded with flying and air combat. If there was any weakness it was that Lee didn't get deeply into his personal life or the emotions of his squadron mates and fellow pilots. Of course, that has been done in a lot of other books, though. He did, also, turn somber in the last chapter when he describes visiting the battlefields over which he fought some 40 or 50 years earlier.
Anyhow, if you're into flying, air combat, and/or WW1 air combat, I'd strongly recommend this book!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Harry Leyman
- 06-27-21
Fabulous first hand account
Lee's captivating account of his time in the Royal Air Corps is a must read!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 04-13-21
Enjoyed Immensity
All these events occurred over 100 years ago, I found this story engaging and gripping.
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- Player 456
- 12-22-22
another amazing tale from Lee
a must for any aviator or history buff. Air Vice Marshall Lee has an amazing way with words. His honesty of life as a WW1 aviator that lived through so much really gives you the life and times of all aviators of that war.
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