Synopsis
Combat gliders were called by some as Death Crates, Purple Heart Boxes, Flying Coffins and Tow Targets . They were not pretty and had no graceful lines. Viewed from the front, they had a pug nose and a sloping Neanderthal forehead. Their wings looked like the heavily starched ears of a jackrabbit placed at right angles on a canvas-covered frame. Twice the length of the body, these wings were eighty-four feet in length, 70 per cent as long as the Wright Brothers first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. They could not become airborne, let alone fly, unless assisted by an engine-powered tow plane. And for those riding in the back, it was like flying through the gates of hell . The men who were trained and assigned to guide gliders into battle were said to be the only pilots who had no motors, armament, parachutes and no second chances. Like the aircraft they commanded, they were called inglorious names such as The Bastards Nobody Wanted, Glider Gladiators in Wooden Chariots; Hybrid Jackasses and Glory Boys. Beautifully written, profoundly illustrated and researched, Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War is a work that is dedicated to those brave men under impossible odds from the British and American servicemen on D-Day, the doomed Operation Market Garden in Holland and Hitler s radical commando raid to rescue Mussolini."
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About the Author
GARY A. BEST earned a PhD from the University of Minnesota and holds rank as Professor Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, is the recipient of the Outstanding Professor award of his university and has been named a distinguished alumnus from two colleges. His first book of the Second World War, Belle of the Brawl: Letters Home from a B-17 Bombardier, was a medallist of the Military Writers Society of America. Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War is his first book for Fonthill Media.
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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
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hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. VG black boards with gilt lettering along spine. Binding and hinges tight and square; contents clean and unmarked. VG dust jacket not price clipped; light rubbing along edges. 232pp. Index. Seller Inventory # 037974
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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Hardback. 8vo. (2014). Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. Minor wear to top edge of dust jacket. Top fore edge corners bumped. 232pp with index and bibliography. Illustrated. No names, marks or highlighting. Seller Inventory # 009029
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SILENT INVADERS : COMBAT GLIDERS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Hardback; a new (unread) copy in scratched dustjacket. ; The men and machines; wartime role and accounts of their use in operations including Eben Emael, in Crete, Burma, on D-Day, and Operation Market Garden. Illustrated. ; 232 pages. Seller Inventory # 78492