{"title":"Books by David Hobbs","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781399089524","title":"Aircraft of the Royal Navy","description":"This is a comprehensive study of every aircraft type ordered for the Royal Navy since 1908. It includes fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, rigid and non-rigid airships, unmanned aircraft and pilotless target aircraft. It also includes many designs that were ordered but not built so that the importance placed on them by the Naval Staff or their potential impact on aircraft carrier design and operations can be explained. Every type, even unsuccessful single prototypes, is described and the majority are illustrated by photographs, many of which come from the author’s own collection. The 50 most significant aircraft also have detailed 3-view drawings. The book describes over 400 different types of aircraft built by over 100 different manufacturers to offer the most detailed coverage of Royal Navy aircraft ever produced.Research for the book took over forty years and reference material included Admiralty Archives and an array of material in the public domain including manufacturer’s data, individual aircraft pilot’s notes and a wealth of published sources. David Hobbs is uniquely well placed to write this book having served as a pilot in the RN for thirty-three years and retired with the rank of Commander. He flew both fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and his log book contains 2300 flying hours with 807 day and night deck landings. He served in seven British aircraft carriers, flew over 20 of the aircraft types described in this book and spent four years in the RN Director General (Aircraft) Department where he was closely involved with Sea Harrier carrier trials, introduced new visual landing aids for night recoveries and liaised with the US Navy on carrier operating techniques. This is his eleventh book for Seaforth Publishing.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298792812917,"sku":"9781399089524","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399089524_8ef93ac0-dee6-44e0-b3b3-f0ff9dc41660.jpg?v=1786034341"},{"product_id":"9781526737342","title":"Aircraft Carrier Victorious","description":"The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the as fitted general arrangements, these drawings represented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, these highly detailed plans were drawn with exquisite skill in multi-coloured inks and washes that represent the acme of the draughtsmans art.Today they form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, which is using the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is one of a series based entirely on these draughts which depict famous warships in an unprecedented degree of detail complete sets in full colour, with many close-ups and enlargements that make every aspect clear and comprehensible. Extensive captions point the reader to important features to be found in the plans, and an introduction covers the background to the design.HMS Victorious was a ship with two almost separate incarnations as built in 1941 she was one of a new type of armoured carrier which saw strenuous wartime service; post-war the ship underwent a massive reconstruction lasting nearly eight years that saw her recommission in1958 as one of the best equipped carriers in the world, ready for another decade of duty. Both these phases of the ships life are fully documented, which allows this novel form of anatomy to cover two generations of carrier design.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302130626933,"sku":"9781526737342","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526737342_bf6c9105-6d8b-4b32-a2f3-61411ef28edb.jpg?v=1786022362"},{"product_id":"9781526793836","title":"Taranto","description":"This is the first book to focus on the Fleet Air Arm's contribution to naval operations in the Mediterranean after the Italian declaration of war in June 1940. The Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft were a critical element of an unprecedented fight on, over and under the sea surface.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e David Hobbs's years of archival research together with his experience as a carrier pilot allow him to describe and analyze the operations of naval aircraft in the Mediterranean with unprecedented authority. This provides the book with novel insights into many familiar faces of the Mediterranean war while for the first time doing full justice to the Fleet Air Arm's lesser known achievements.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302201274741,"sku":"9781526793836","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526793836_67b14c50-eb79-461d-ae2f-bd99c77ded6a.jpg?v=1786022016"},{"product_id":"9781526799791","title":"The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe,1939–1945","description":"For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital element of the Royal Navy's ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organization, with only 406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939. Nevertheless, its impact far outweigh its numbers; it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter \"ace\" with 5 or more kills. The Fleet Air Arm's rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian Campaign, the crippling of Bismarck, the gallant sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled Tirpitz, and strikes and minelaying operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945. By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with 'thumb-nail' descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which often outnumbered them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs's much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302859354485,"sku":"9781526799791","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526799791_0d191ea4-25a9-434a-ae0b-4aa35d90526a.jpg?v=1786022075"},{"product_id":"9781910505311","title":"Hobbo: The Autobiography of David Hobbs","description":"\u003cp\u003eEnglishman David Hobbs--'Hobbo' to his friends and fans--is one of motor racing's most remarkable all-rounders. In a 31-year driving career he raced in almost every imaginable category: endurance sports racers, touring cars, Formula 1, Formula 5000, Indycars, IMSA, Trans-Am, Can-Am and even NASCAR--he has done the lot. And on top of that he has been a television commentator in America for nearly 40 years, bringing wit and wisdom to the screen, latterly as part of NBC's Formula 1 team. Now, at last, this very popular racer has put down all his experiences in this highly readable memoir that will be welcomed by racing enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308970815861,"sku":"9781910505311","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781910505311_bb34494b-2925-43ae-8837-9d74b77e4594.jpg?v=1786029271"},{"product_id":"9781526702838","title":"The British Pacific Fleet","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn August 1944 the British Pacific Fleet did not exist. Six months later it was strong enough to launch air attacks on Japanese territory, and by the end of the war it constituted the most powerful force in the history of the Royal Navy, fighting as professional equals alongside the U.S. Navy. How this was achieved by a nation nearing exhaustion after five years of conflict is a story of epic proportions in which ingenuity, diplomacy, and dogged persistence all played a part. This ground-breaking new work by David Hobbs describes the background, creation, and expansion of the British Pacific Fleet from its first tentative strikes, through operations off the coast of Japan, to its impact on the immediate post-war period. It includes the opinions of U.S. Navy liaison officers attached to the British flagships.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312555503989,"sku":"9781526702838","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526702838_4612bcf6-5db3-47ce-8165-8ee6c15701f2.jpg?v=1786022164"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-david-hobbs.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}