Fought on the afternoon and night of 22 / 23 January 1879 and immortalised in the film epic Zulu, Rorkes Drift represented one of the most glorious, if subsequently controversial episodes in British military history. For twelve desperate hours, outnumbered by over 25 to 1, barely 140 British soldiers, based at the remote mission station of Rorkes Drift, South Africa, were locked in a ferocious life or death struggle with over 4,000 seasoned warriors of the hitherto victorious Zulu army - the most powerful indigenous African army of the time. Only hours earlier, in the shadow of the ominous Sphinx-like Isandlwana Crag, other elements of this same Zulu force had virtually annihilated a 1700 strong British colonial force - one of the greatest defeats of Queen Victorias reign. In the wake of this massacre, the survival of the British Empire in South Africa rested with the tiny garrison at Rorkes Drift.
Item Code : BK502
Zulu! The Battle for Rorkes Drift 1879. - Editions Available
HMS Ark Royal IV - Flagship of the Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers - a mobile airfield and a most impressive sight as she launches a Phantom from one of her catapults. She had a standard displacement of 43,000 tons, a beam of 168 feet, and was 846 feet long. Ships company numbered 2,570 and her Air Group consisted of Phantom Interceptors, Buccaneer strike and Gannet AEW aircraft together with Wessex SAR and Sea King ASW helicopters. She served her Nation and the Royal Navy for 23 years and sailed 800,000 miles of valuable service, finally being decommissioned in 1979.
HMS Ark Royal was the fourth ship in the Royal Navy to bear this memorable name. By far the most impressive, this mighty ship was built to include the angled flight deck, a revolutionary development at the time, with steam catapult. The end of fixed wing aircraft saw Ark Royal quickly become obsolete, being paid of in 1978.
Item Code : B0052
HMS Ark Royal (1970s Carrier) by Ivan Berryman - Editions Available
Robert Taylors tribute to HMS Ark Royal, Britains last conventional aircraft carrier, seen steaming with her Phantoms on deck. Launched in 1950, HMS Ark Royal entered service in 1955 and her flag flying tours over the next two decades took her to the far corners of the world.
Ark Royal by Philip E West HMS Ark Royal IV - Flagship of the Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers - a mobile airfield and a most impressive sight as she launches a Phantom from one of her catapults. She had a standard displacement of 43,000 tons, a beam of 168 feet, and was 846 feet long. Ships company numbered 2,570 and her Air Group consisted of Phantom Interceptors, Buccaneer strike and Gannet AEW aircraft together with Wessex SAR and Sea King ASW helicopters. She served her Nation and the Royal Navy for 23 years and sailed 900,000 miles of valuable service, finally being decommissioned in 1979.
HMS Ark Royal (1970s Carrier) by Ivan Berryman HMS Ark Royal was the fourth ship in the Royal Navy to bear this memorable name. By far the most impressive, this mighty ship was built to include the angled flight deck, a revolutionary development at the time, with steam catapult. The end of fixed wing aircraft saw Ark Royal quickly become obsolete, being paid of in 1978.
Buccaneer Strike Force by Philip E West. The Blackburn Buccaneer first entered service with the Royal Navy in July 1962. Designed specifically to operate from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, with the ability to fly low and fats, the Buccaneer was also able to carry nuclear weapons for use against soviet naval targets. Capable of flying 646mph at 200 feet the Buccaneer was a formidable low-level strike aircraft which quickly attracted admirers. amongst them were the RAF and the South African Air Force, both of whom adopted the Blackburn Buccaneer for their land based operations. just as the Buccaneer was facing retirement it was called into action again to play a vital role in Kuwait and Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.
