From the cockpit of the world’s deadliest helicopter comes the true
story of a rescue mission so dangerous they said it couldn’t be done – and
the man who dared to make it happen.
BOOK REVIEW's
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APACHE by Ed Macy
(Hardback)
Signed Edition
656
was the first A.A.C. Squadron to operationally ready with the new attack
helicopter.
They were sent to Afghanistan to put their training into
practice. This is the account of what they were tasked to perform.............
From the cockpit of the world’s deadliest helicopter comes the true
story of a rescue mission so dangerous they said it couldn’t be done – and
the man who dared to make it happen.
Ed Macy spent his childhood picking fights and sleeping rough. After a career in the Para was cut short by a brutal accident, he thought he’d never fight again. So when a friend suggested the Army Air Corps, Ed jumped at the chance to return to the front line. When the army launched its attack helicopter programme, Ed bent every rule in the book to make sure he was the first to sign up.
The Westland Apache AH Mk 1 is the deadliest, most technically advanced helicopter in the world – and the toughest to fly. Only the top two per cent of pilots make it through the gruelling 18-month training. In the cockpit of an Apache, hands, feet and even eyes need to operate independently. It’s not enough to stay one step ahead of the enemy - you’ve got to stay one step ahead of the machine, too.
In 2007, 656 Squadron A.A.C., Ed’s Apache unit, was dispatched to Afghanistan’s notorious Helmand Province. Their mission: to fight alongside and protect the men on the ground, by any means necessary. When a marine goes missing in action, Ed and his team know they are the Army’s only hope of bringing him back alive.
With a soldier strapped each side of two gunships, they must land in the heart of Jugroom Fort, a Taliban stronghold, and come face to face with hordes of their unrelenting enemy. What follows is a breathtaking rescue, unlike any the world has ever seen.
Apache is Ed’s story – an adrenalin-fuelled account of one of the most daring actions of modern wartime, and a tale of courage, danger and comradeship you wont be able to put down. To read more about the author follow the link
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APACHE by Ed Macy (Paperback)
This paperback edition of APACHE
is a new innovative, interactive, and special way to have a book.
In the margins you’ll find symbols –
these indicate that there are
free extras available to you online.
As well as all the details from the hard-back book there is further text and audio commentary from the author.
You will now be able to go on line where you can then access bonus material, from real-time footage of the events to additional images.
You can also test your own skill as an apache pilot – play the apache game.
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HELLFIRE by Ed Macy (Hardback)
Signed
Edition
Macy unleashes the first Hellfire missile and the rules are rewritten!
May 2006. Ed Macy and 656 Squadron arrive in Afghanistan along with the Apache AH Mk 1 on its first operational tour. It's an unfamiliar combat zone with a limited role for the Apache and Ed's time is spent escorting Chinooks. But one month later, during Operation Mutay, with 3 Para pinned down in Helmand, the arguments about the Apache's potential are thrown out and Ed deploys the first Hellfire missile in combat. That squeeze of the trigger changed the war for the British and the Taliban alike. The £4.2bn Apache programme was dramatically redirected to fighting the enemy head-on and turned Ed and his squadron into one of the British Army's greatest assets.
Ed recounts the intense months that followed Mutay: the steep learning curve, the new missions, the evolving enemy and the changing Rules of Engagement. He also sheds light on his early career as a young paratrooper, his operational baptism as a pilot and how both shaped his ability to fly, fight and survive during that fateful first Afghanistan tour against a cunning and ruthless enemy. It was here, in the dusty wastes of Helmand that Ed, his colleagues in 656
Squadron and the Apache found themselves on trial for their lives and for the reputation of a machine on which the British government had staked a fortune. The crucible of fire that awaited 656
Squadron in Helmand would cement the fate of man and machine forever.
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FIRE
BY ORDER by E.W. Maslen-Jones MC DFC (Hardback)
Signed Edition
Review of "Fire by Order" by E.W. Maslen-Jones MC DFC
This is the story of the first three years in the life of 656 Air Observation Post Squadron RAF/RA. In his forward General Sir Martin Farndale points out that the debt owed by the 14th Army in the reconquest of Burma to this single Squadron was immeasurable. From 1943 until the end of the War in the Far East, these three Flights of five tiny Auster Aircraft provided air observation for the whole Army. While the primary role was to Direct Artillery fire, the advantages of low flight over the Jungles of Burma were numerous, and were fully exploited. These included, finding lost patrols, delivering medical supplies, and locating water in the dry season. Many others. As one of the Pilots, the Author's memories are naturally of his Flying time, but he never loses sight of the fact that it was the commitment, skill, and endurance of the ground crews, signallers, and drivers, that kept these flimsy Aircraft in the air. He points out that the record of serviceability within the Squadron, which operated throughout the Campaign without reinforcements and often under appalling conditions, was outstanding.
The Reader will find the maps helpful in following the Squadrons movements, and the difficult place names. Also the Appendices, in understanding the make up of the unit.
This book is a hardback edition signed by the author, E.W. Maslen-Jones, MC DFC
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ARMY WINGS by Robert Jackson.
From its earliest days
in WW1, small low-flying aircraft have flown unarmed into combat.
This is the fascinating story of army fixed-wing co-operation units that were made up of specially trained volunteer army personnel. These men were trained to fly, to reconnoitre across the front line in search of enemy forces and then guide artillery gunners onto the target. From its earliest days in World War One, small low-flying aircraft have flown unarmed into combat and relayed vital information to aid accurate fall of shot and to advise front-line ground troops of enemy strength and position. They were frequently attacked by fighter aircraft and had to avoid ground fire, often flying below tree top height. They relied purely on flying skill to outwit the enemy and yet little is known of these unsung heroes of many wars. This book redresses the balance.
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DRESSED to KILL by Charlotte Madison
Signed Edition
Charlotte Madison is a typical twenty-six year-old woman. She looks forward to her weekly ration of gossip magazines, worries she's developing bingo wings and is planning her fairy tale wedding. She also flies helicopter gunships for a living.
Britain's first ever female Apache pilot, Charlotte knows exactly what it's like to be at the controls of the Army's deadliest frontline weapons platform. During the legendary Jugroom Fort rescue, she became the only British pilot since World War Two to use all her ammunition in one mission. She has mastered the complex skills required to fly and shoot from the air, and earned the respect and admiration of her male co-pilots. Whatever they can do, she can do just as well.
From her intensive training through to her three tumultuous tours of duty in Afghanistan, Charlotte shares the adrenaline rush of lethal, full-scale mid-air assault, the exhaustion of confinement in an airless cockpit for up to eleven hours at a time, and what it is like to kill - or be killed -in the name of duty.
DRESSED TO KILL is the extraordinary, gritty, exhilarating and often heartbreaking story of life at the heart of the action - from the unique perspective of a woman in what was - until recently - an exclusively male world. (headline review)
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TAILS of the FORTIES Compiled & Edited by John Havers & Peter Campbell
John Havers and I have come up with this retrospective look at the immediate post war aviation scene in Tails of the Forties. This book has been produced mainly for our visitors to G-VFWE, but hopefully it will also appeal to many of our usual earthbound readers. By now readers probably know that our books tend to cover largely the civil side of aviation, so WW2 does not feature largely in this book although, let us face it, it is not that easy – or perhaps indeed desirable – to forget.
There are still quite a lot of us around who can well remember the post war forties and the atmosphere of hope that prevailed once peace had ‘broken out’ in 1945 (an expression made famous at the time by the broadcaster Ronald ‘Gillie’ Potter). As many of our contributing authors were in fact quite young at the time (and certainly not old enough to be pilots), I hope that we may be forgiven for including more ‘spotting’ reminiscences than in previous books. If you should feel that these may afford a rather more dispassionate – although doubtless accurate - record of events current at that time, we have also included plenty of other true aviation stories and experiences of the period which have been specially written for this book, and these we trust every reader will enjoy. Peter Campbell
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If you prefer, you may pay by cheque, including the Book price
and P+P, made out to '656 Squadron Association'
and post to Sylvia
Heyes, Ty Ni, Corwen Road, Pontybodkin, MOLD, CH7 4TG
updated 29th April 2010