Author: Colin Yorke
Narrator: Joanna Swan
Unabridged: 8 hr 39 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 03/08/2022
In 1934, after five years travelling the world as a Merchant Seaman, my father, aged 21, enlisted in the British Royal Air Force to escape the Depression. Entering the Marine Branch, he swapped big ships for small fast boats - Seaplane Tenders, Armoured Target Boats and High Speed Launches.
In 1940, when the Air Sea Rescue service was formed, he joined the crew of High Speed Launch 102 (now fully restored and based at Portsmouth) as a Coxswain, stationed at Blyth. Three busy years on the "Spitfires of the Sea" followed, before his leg was "smashed" in heavy seas.
On recovery, he spent time in the Faroe Islands and in the English Channel, after "D-Day", and before being commissioned. The war's end found him in West Africa. After VJ Day he was demobbed, then recalled and posted to Egypt.
After a brief unhappy spell in "Civvy Street", he re-enlisted in the RAF as an acting corporal. First on the scene when HSL 2555 blew up, he was commended and subsequently carried the RAF ensign at the 1950 Battle of Britain celebrations in Paris, France. On return to the UK he was once again commissioned.
In Malta, during the Suez Crisis, he supervised a flying boat airlift of families and service personnel through Malta as the Canal Zone was evacuated. Later, serving in Cold War Germany, he skippered German boats with mixed German/British crews and was present when the Unit was handed back to the Germans.
In 1961, aged just 48, injuries forced his retirement from the RAF.
Now, fittingly narrated by my actor daughter, this book reveals a great deal of the little known story of the RAF Marine Branch, its boats and the life of a British serviceman's family in war and peace.
Mitsuo Fuchida was a Captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service who is perhaps best known for leading the first air wave attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack wor...
These amazing accounts of airmen recorded during the war include stories of air combat, music of the time, and recordings made on bomb runs over Europe and Japan. Eagles over Europe: (1) Introduction; (2) AAF Intro; (3) Bomb run over Germany, A-2...
A true story about real people, espionage, and combat including the "Green Beret Affair" that shocked the nation in 1969. From working with a double agent who betrays his friendship and exposes a top secret cross border operation, Terry McIntosh wre...
Discover the story of Australia in the Great War through the eyes and stories of John Murray – a would-be journalist, aspiring artist and young soldier. John’s dairies capture the history, events and experiences of Australians, as each i...
THIS GUT-WRENCHING FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE WAR IS A CLASSIC IN THE ANNALS OF VIETNAM LITERATURE."Guns up!" was the battle cry that sent machine gunners racing forward with their M60s to mow down the enemy, hoping that this wasn't the day...
New York Times bestseller The life story of Chris Kyle, the American Sniper Journalist Michael J. Mooney reveals the life story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, from his Texas childhood up through his death in February 2013.A brutal wa...
Gunsmiths in early 19th century America were helped along by noted artisans from Germany, Switzerland, and other European powers, but despite advances made in the European and American musket, the requirement of an exterior spark and percussion to ...
Napoleon is one of the giants of modern history. From the last days of the French Revolution to the epochal battle of Waterloo he bestrode the political landscape of Europe like a colossus, and the age to which he gave his name remains one of the mo...
China Marine is the sequel to E. B. Sledge's critically acclaimed memoir, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Picking up where his previous memoir leaves off, Sledge, a young marine in the First Division, traces his company's movements and ...