First published in Great Britain in 1993 by Osprey Publishing,
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© 1993 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.
Transferred to digital print on demand 2007
First published 1993
4th impression 2005
Printed and bound by PrintOnDemand-Worldwide.com, Peterborough, UK
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library
Print ISBN: 978 1 85532 295 0
PDF e-book ISBN: 978 1 84603 736 8
ePub e-book ISBN: 978 1 78200 053 2
Editorial by Martin Windrow
Index by Barrie MacKay
Acknowledgements
A special thanks goes to Michael V. Eckels of the Arkansas Air Museum, Fayetteville, Ark.; the staff of the US Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Ala.; Robert G. Borrell, Sr.; David A. Neighbors; John S. Ross; Jim Thomas; Ron Volstad; and Charles ‘Red’ Wilson. I wish also to thank my wife, Enriqueta, for her assistance with the material related terminology. All photographs are period USAAF images.
Abbreviations
| AAF | Army Air Forces |
| AF | Air Force (numbered or named) |
| AN | Army-Navy (standardisation programme) |
| GHQAF | General Headquarters Air Force |
| OD | Olive Drab |
| QAC | Quick Attachable Chest (parachute) |
| QMC | Quartermaster Corps |
| QRB | Quick Release Box (parachute harness fitting) |
| WASP | Women’s Airforce Service Pilots |
Artist’s note
Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the color plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the publisher. All enquiries should be addressed to:
Francis Chin
615 Cricket Court
Edmonton
Alberta
Canada
T5T 2B2
The publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter.
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