The inspiration for the major Apple TV+ series, streaming now!
The riveting history of the American Eighth Air Force in World War II and the young men who flew the bombers that helped beat the Nazis and liberate Europe, brilliantly told by historian and World War II expert Donald L. Miller. The Masters of the Air streaming series stars Austin Butler and Callum Turner, and is produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the legendary duo behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.
Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured US air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers.
The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America—white America, anyway. The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.
Masters of the Air is “a stunning achievement” (David McCullough), “a fresh new account” (Walter Boyne, former director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum) of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.
Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account that “accurately and comprehensively” (Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (Ret.) and coauthor of Cobra II) tells of the world’s first and only bomber war.
HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Freddie Ludlow. His Life on Two Wheels, by Don Emde
Back in 2020, The Speed Kings. The Rise & Fall of Motordrome Racing, by Don Emde, received the Best Book of the Year award by the Motor Press Guild. Now, you can be among the first to own a copy of his latest book, Freddie Ludlow. His Life on Two Wheels. Available now!
The seeds of the idea for this book were planted over twenty years ago when author Don Emde was entrusted with the care and ownership of a scrapbook of Freddie Ludlow, an early day motorcycle pioneer. With nearly 100 pages of the scrapbook photos organized chronologically with Ludlow’s own handwritten captions, what was obvious was that he was a man of adventure and competitive spirit, who also answered the call to serve his country.
Freddie Ludlow’s motorcycling life began as a delivery boy for Western Union on the streets of downtown Los Angeles around 1910. Local competitions followed until he enlisted in the Army and put his motorcycling experiences as a rider and mechanic to use in Europe during World War I. Upon his return home, Ludlow became one of the top motorcycle racers in the United States, rising to the level of National Champion in 1921. A few years later, his sense of service again saw him finding ways to put motorcycles to good use when he became a motor patrol officer in Pasadena, California, a job that he would have for the next thirty years.
His new “day job” didn’t mean, though, that Freddie was done raising the bar in the motorcycle sport when it came to speed and performance. Through the 1920s and ‘30s, he set numerous speed records on the hard packed sand at Daytona Beach, Florida; on the Bonneville Salt Flats, even along a stretch of public road near San Bernardino, California.
Freddie Ludlow died in 1983, but his amazing motorcycling life lives on in Freddie Ludlow. His Life on Two Wheels. It features not only his scrapbook pages but also many pages written by Don Emde filled with back stories and additional rare and historic photographs of Ludlow and many other legendary racers who were his competitors.
176 pages – Hardbound – 10 x 12 inches
Highly illustrated – 400+ photos and related images
Printed in sepia-tone throughout with retouched black & white photos from Freddie Ludlow’s scrapbook pages, plus some limited color images.
Kimi Räikkönen is the Finnish superstar Formula One driver with a reputation for being fast on the track and silent off it – until now!
In this superb and authorised portrait of Räikkönen, Kari Hotakainen gets to reveal the side of the man that few beyond his close family and friends have ever seen. Enigmatic and private, Ferrari’s former world champion driver rarely opens up to outsiders, but he granted Hotakainen exclusive access to his world and to his way of thinking. It ensures that this will be a book that will delight all fans of motorsport, who have long revered the Finn.
Including never-previously-seen photographs from his own collection, The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen takes the reader into the heart of the action at grands prix around the world, behind the scenes as race strategies are planned, and opens up the private side of his life that he normally guards so carefully.
With all the raw excitement of Formula One and the insight of the best biographies, this is a book every sports fan will want to treasure.
IN STOCK NOW!
The world’s foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain’s greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir. How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian’s unrivaled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he’s been involved. A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian’s thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form – he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna’s death during his time at Williams in 1994. Beautifully illustrated with never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian’s remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling – its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed.
The Subaru Impreza first appeared on the World Rally scene in 1993, taking a hat-trick of World Rally Manfacturers’ Championships, in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
The drivers the likes of Marku Alen, Ari Vatanen, and Colin McRae have competed in the World Rally Championship in Imprezas and all went on to winning the World Rally Drivers’ Championship in Imprezas. These cars continued to compete on the World Rally stage until the end of 2008, when the Subaru World Rally Team unfortunately withdrew from rallying.
This brand new Haynes Manual covers one of the most iconic rally cars in recent years, and does so in perfect detail. People that love the Impreza, really love the Impreza, so get the full facts and specs now!
Anyone who owns a Suzuki 4×4, and wonders what it is really capable of needs this book. Modifying Suzuki 4×4 for Serious Offroad Action illustrates in intimate detail–and with the aid of 175 color photographs and diagrams–what each model can do, and how to modify it in stages to maximize its off-road potential.
The book also covers practical factors, such as choice of tires and gearing selection and modification for various purposes. Additionally, it explores the history and evolution of the marque and sets out the skills required to carry out the various procedures.
As ever, this is presented in the well illustrated, easy-to-follow, SpeedPro style. Get the most out of your Suzuki 4×4 now!
On June 30, 1953, the first Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. It was not long afterward that the first Corvette rolled onto a racetrack starting grid. In the intervening 50 years something truly astounding took place: the Corvette, America’s sports car, became a dominating force in racing around the world. It is a fascinating story with as many twists and turns as the racetracks the Corvette has won on. It is also a story that has yet to be told the way it should be. Until now! 500 black and white and 150 color photos. 9 1/2″ x 11 1/2″. Slipcased.
“How to Draw Cars Now: Analog vs Digital Drawing Techniques
Accelerate your passion for drawing cars now! This introductory workshop to Transportation Design is designed to help train you to acquire the fundamental drawing skills taught in some of the most prominent design schools in the country. It’s the perfect solution for students seeking to increase their skill level in drawing. The package includes 2 dvds, a 20 page insert booklet, 4 ebooks, and data files.
Duration: 5 hrs
Disc 1 – Traditional Drawing and Marker Rendering
• Basic Sketching exercises
• Applying Sketching techniques
• Thumbnail Sketching
• Basics in Reflections
• Proportion
• Marker Rendering
Disc 2
Digital Drawing Techniques A step by step process on how to use a wacom tablet and Photoshop to create your digital artwork! The techniques will build on the foundation on disc
• Digital Tools Explanation
• Work space setup
• Simple Rendering
• Intro Speed Painting
• Digital painting
• Intro to Perspective
Ebooks:
• Driven Mavens Mindset – Some of our top blog posts with additional tutorials on digital painting
• Proportions with printable templates
• Value Sketching
• Intro to Perspective with printable templates
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NEW EDITION AVAILABLE NOW!
Until now an informative in-depth, fully-illustrated English-language history of
Panhard’s ingenious post-WW2 flat-twin cars has never been published.
French language books abound; many are well-written milestone works illustrated with
Panhard company archive images, studying models from 1945 to the company’s demise in July 1967.
We felt it was time this lack was addressed and so this book,
“Panhard, the flat-twin cars 1945-1967 and their origins” is the result of four years research and writing.
