A Day Above Leicestershire: 1 - Tapa dura

A Day Above Leicestershire illustrates a day in the life of a DLRAA Air Ambulance pilot from dawn to dusk and shows the diverse landscapes of Leicestershire from the air interspersed with relevant ground photographs. Each photograph has a detailed caption. As fellow pilot, Peter Thomas explains, 'Having flown 10,000 hours in different aircraft from Spitfires to Vulcan bombers, I am proud to say that Leicestershire can, quite rightly, claim to be Spitfire County because almost all the undercarriage units and most of the wing sets and fuselages were built in the shadow factory system in Leicestershire. Long before the Spitfire, Leicestershire saw the first newspaper deliveries by air, the fight against the Zeppelins, the development of civilian flying between the wars - including many visits by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), the massive construction of airfields for RAF Bomber Command, the B-17s of the 8th Air Force and the USAAF Troop Carrier units, the birth of the Auster series of aircraft and production of the jet engine, an engineering marvel by Sir Frank Whittle that now affects almost every person on the planet. Within these pages, Leicestershire is pictured from an Air Ambulance pilot s view, a low-level, oblique perspective which reveals and intrigues with surprising details and with the turn of every page, gives a glorious insight onto our wonderful county. Sqn Ldr Peter Thomas, RAF Rtd, VP, Vulcan-to-the-Sky Project, Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire.

John Nowell met Christine in Changi, Singapore where she introduced him to photography - something she often regrets! John joined the Royal Air Force and flew with 206, 205 and 230 Squadrons, some of the old flying boat squadrons and it was the records of their early exploration flights that formed the basis of his Now & Then series of books. John & Christine lived in Knighton, Leicester, and for four years, ran a pub called The Nags Head & Star on Oxford Street, Leicester, before moving to the Middle East. His first book, 'A Day Above Oman' has been re-printed 14 times and his discovery of a collection of 5,000-year-old, perfectly preserved tombs in Oman led to a Fellowship of the Royal Geographic Society. Christine's first book was 'Now & Then - Abu Dhabi' and they both produced 'Now & Then - Rutland'. John & Chris have six children; Marc, Kerri, Robert, Simone, Nicholas and William, three son-in-laws - Robert, Cyrus & Patrick; and four grandchildren; William, Isa, Max and Layla. John s first novel, written for a bet, was '7 Lives ... and counting' and this book, 'A Day Above Leicestershire', is his 17th photographic book. He and Christine are now working on 'A Day Above Malta', 'A Day Above The Yorkshire Dales' and 'How To Photograph Flying Machines'.