New Releases by Spencer Dunmore

Explore the Lusitania and who or what was behind its sinking.

It was a dangerous game - but for a resolute few the lure was irresistible. When in 1904 the Wright brothers stayed aloft for more than five minutes, nobody paid them much attention. But over the next couple of decades, beginning with flyers like Bleriot, Farman, Roe, Quimby, and Rogers, aviators began to push the limits of the possible, and their exploits caught the imagination of a public looking for sensation. In "Undaunted, " Spencer Dunmore tells the thrilling story of these dramatic and romantic characters. They were glamorous figures in an exciting new time, an astonishing era in which long-distance aviators were the crown princes and princesses of the technological age and their flights were major sporting events. A breathless public studied their every move, newspapers all over the world bore their photographs, and crowds lined the streets as they drove by. When Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris in 1927, he instantly became the most admired man in the world. Alcock and Brown, Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Howard Hughes, and a host of others, many now forgotten, grabbed a share of his glory. To make a record-breaking flight in the golden age of aviation was to gain fame and, with luck, fortune too. The risks were high few of the pioneers lived to old age but for the mavericks, eccentrics, romantics, and visionaries in this book, the adventure was worth it.

As millions have come to know from such immensely popular books and movies as The Hunt for Red October and U-571, the world of submarines is secretive and dangerous. On the ocean floor lie over a century and a half of subs, lost both in war and in peace. Now, for the first time, the individual stories of these sunken ships are woven together to create an amazing history of underwater warfare and exploration -- and the price that subs and sailors have paid.

World War II, Naval operations.

From the first skirmishes over Europe in September 1939, Canadian airmen served in almost every theatre of the Second World War, from bases in Britain and Europe, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. And in the months and years that followed, with the slaughter mounting in hostile skies around the globe, the contribution of Canadian pilots, navigators, gunners, air bombers, and flight engineers grew out of all proportion to their country''s population. In the early days of the conflict, great numbers of Canadians served in units of Britain''s RAF and Fleet Air Arm. As the war progressed, however, the Royal Canadian Air Force came into its own, and by Germany''s surrender, forty-eight RCAF squadrons were overseas, almost completely manned by Canadian officers and men. Among the Canadians were Johnny Fauquier and Reg Lane, Canada''s leading bomber pilots; Stan Turner, perhaps the country''s greatest fighter leader; Len Birchall, the gallant "Saviour of Ceylon"; the redoubtable ace Buzz Beurling; the great naval hero Hammy Gray; Roly Dibnah, Bert Houle, and many others. These brash young men from the Empire''s senior dominion had little time for ceremony and tradition. Countless British officers considered them dangerously independent and lacking in respect for rank. But in the air, where it counted, the Canadians more than proved their worth. Combining first person accounts of the action and his own vivid prose, Dunmore captures the high drama and gut-churning tension of dogfights and bomber raids, charts the victories and defeats of the armies and navies below, and recreates the mood abroad in wartime as the world watched the drama unfold.

Explores the controversies surrounding the sinking of the cruise ship in 1915

The proportions of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan were huge. At its peak, the plan was graduating over 3,000 aircrew a month from 107 training schools across Canada. In total, graduates numbered more than 130,000. This enormous war effort made Canada WWII''s "aerodrome of democracy." Full of personal anecdotes, "Wings For Victory is the story of the BCATP and of the politicians who negotiated it into existence, of the officers and airmen of the RCAF and the RAF, and of the many civilians who made it work day by day. Above all, it is the story of the young men who entered the scheme as clerks and farmers, students and salesmen, and graduated as pilots, navigators, air gunners, air bombers, and flight engineers. In the late 1930s, mindful of the need to play an important role in the looming war, Canadian politicians conceived of a plan that would entail a major commitment to the war effort yet keep the country''s young men at home and avoid the horrendous loss of Canadian lives experienced on the ground in WWI. The British Commonwealth Air training Plan was born, whereby young recruits from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand would join their Canadian counterparts in training schools to be set up across the country. Here they would be trained to fight the battles of the new war, in the air. Canada was the ideal location, far enough away from the threat of air raids, and with plenty of wide open space for the business of building airfields and teaching men to fly. In a huge, country-wide mobilization of personnel and resources, training facilities were hastily erected from Vancouver to Charlottetown. And when young recruits from around the globe started pouringinto the scores of towns and villages across the map selected as sites for the BCATP, communities were turned upside down. Spencer Dunmore follows these raw young recruits through the lengthy selection process and training regimen that awaited them so far from home. Many wouldn''t make it. A large number "washed out," finding themselves no longer considered pilot material. The training process would injure some and kill some more. A handful would discover that, although they had always dreamed of flying, they loathed and feared the reality of it. But masses of them were eventually successful and were shipped to Europe, where they put their Canadian training to the ultimate test, winning the war in the air.

The twelve linked stories in Squadron have the power-packed punch of a novel. Blending terror, humour, romance, and courage, they demonstrate anew why Spencer Dunmore ranks among the world''s best writers of aviation fiction.

A professional soldier and a gentleman-turned soldier fight a battle of will while contending with the enemy.