Schiffer Military Books

The biography of Bob Harper, a B-17 ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force who survived 35 combat missions over Germany in WWII, and was shot down twice.   At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just...

A highly detailed look into the Groom Lake test site known as Area 51, from the early years (circa 1955 to 1969) through to present day  Area 51, a top-secret military installation hidden in the desert northwest...

After occupying the Balkans early in the war, the Axis powers constantly struggled to police the region. The partisan presence was quite substantial, and while the various fractured guerrilla groups expended a great deal of energy fighting among...

The Grumman F8F was a fast, agile, carrier-borne fighter aircraft developed as the ultimate dogfighter for the Pacific theater. Although the plane did make it into production, with some examples even being delivered before the Japanese surrender, there...

Retired US Army officer and helicopter pilot Joshua Havill recounts his deployment to Afghanistan, special operations missions, experience flying a Blackhawk in combat, and life within the walls of a US military base with humility,...

With a midengined configuration, sturdy tricycle landing gear, and nose-mounted 37 mm cannon, the Bell P-39 was a thoughtful and innovative design. However, the plane lacked the all-out performance of some other key fighters available to Allied...

This is the little-known story of the 406th Fighter Group, a famous but unsung P-47 unit in the European theater of operations (ETO) in WWII.  The 406th was the first unit in the ETO to...

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is one of the most successful fighter designs of the 20th century. The type first flew in 1972, transitioning directly from the drawing board to production with remarkably few hiccups....

As of 2023, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest manned jet aircraft ever produced. It set the record in 1976 and has been retired since the late 1990s. With its unrivaled speed and stunning...

The definitive history of submarine warfare off the North American coast in the summer of 1918. When America declared war on Germany in 1917, it unleashed a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare off the North American coast....

The year was 1941, and the flames of world war were threatening America’s shores. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for an “Arsenal of Democracy” and demanded fabrication of 50,000 warplanes per year. But first, sprawling...

During WWII, Germany fielded a variety of six- and eight-wheeled armored cars, which were used in numerous ways, including reconnaissance, antitank, infantry support, and other roles.  The earliest of these vehicles, the 6-Rad, or six-wheeled...