Try free for 30 days
-
FLAK
- Narrated by: Bolinda Publishing
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $27.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
Fly
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simultaneous release of the thrilling new volume of true stories from airmen of the Second World War, from the author of Flak (also available in audio by Bolinda). Michael Veitch's life-long obsession with the aircraft of the Second World War led him to conclude that every single person who flew, or flew in them, has at least one extraordinary story to tell. With most of these veterans in their 80's, he knew that it was a matter of urgency to find them now, before their personal stories disappear forever.
-
-
Terrific number of individual stories
- By James S. on 31-01-2023
-
Australia's Secret Army
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Established after World War I by the Royal Australian Navy, the Coast Watchers were a loose organisation of several hundred European settlers, missionaries, patrol officers and planters living in British and Australian Pacific Island territories whose job it was to observe and report on the enemy. They were mostly all unpaid volunteers whose job it was simply to observe and report on foreign shipping and aeroplane movements. It was never envisaged that the Coast Watchers would do any fighting, nor operate inside enemy-occupied territory.
-
-
Truly engaging
- By Bob Hartley on 26-02-2023
-
Turning Point
- The Battle for Milne Bay 1942 - Japan's First Land Defeat in World War II
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 1942 marked the high point of Axis conquest in World War II. In the Pacific, Japan's soldiers had seemed unstoppable. However, the tide was about to turn. On Sunday, 6 September 1942, Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat at the hands of the Allies. At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, a predominantly Australian force - including 75 Squadron (fresh from their action in 44 Days) - fought for two weeks to successfully defend a vital airstrip against a determined Japanese invasion.
-
-
brilliant and shocking in the world's denial of i
- By Mark Casswell on 21-01-2023
-
Heroes of the Skies
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is somewhere close to midnight on the clock when the men who fought the Second World War will still be with us. I have met just a few of them, sometimes goading them to reveal their experiences, at other times being simply a conduit to the river of their memories, sensing, on occasion, a kind of urgency to get it out there, just so these adventures and tragedies will not be lost to future enquiring minds. Michael Veitch has always been a keen historian and aeroplane fanatic.
-
-
Gut wrenching history that must be shared.
- By Amazon Customer on 23-11-2017
-
RAAF Black Cats
- By: John Suter-Linton, Bill Cleworth
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The secret and dangerous operations of Australia's Pacific War Catalina crews told for the first time. RAAF Black Cats chronicles a little-known, yet crucial and courageous chapter in Australia's war history. While this story involved Australia and the United States, very few people on either side of the Pacific know of the significance the RAAF Catalina Squadrons had on the outcome of the war against Japan and General Douglas MacArthur's triumphant 'return' to the Philippines.
-
-
Great Australian history.
- By Anonymous User on 19-05-2023
-
Secret and Special
- By: Will Davies
- Narrated by: Steve Shanahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Soon after the declaration of war on Japan, a secret military reconnaissance unit was established, based on the British Special Operations Executive (known as SOE) and called the Inter-allied Services Department. The unit was tasked with the role to "obtain and report information of the enemy...weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local efforts to the same end in enemy occupied territories."
-
-
Tuff buggers
- By tlcdc on 20-01-2024
-
Fly
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simultaneous release of the thrilling new volume of true stories from airmen of the Second World War, from the author of Flak (also available in audio by Bolinda). Michael Veitch's life-long obsession with the aircraft of the Second World War led him to conclude that every single person who flew, or flew in them, has at least one extraordinary story to tell. With most of these veterans in their 80's, he knew that it was a matter of urgency to find them now, before their personal stories disappear forever.
-
-
Terrific number of individual stories
- By James S. on 31-01-2023
-
Australia's Secret Army
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Established after World War I by the Royal Australian Navy, the Coast Watchers were a loose organisation of several hundred European settlers, missionaries, patrol officers and planters living in British and Australian Pacific Island territories whose job it was to observe and report on the enemy. They were mostly all unpaid volunteers whose job it was simply to observe and report on foreign shipping and aeroplane movements. It was never envisaged that the Coast Watchers would do any fighting, nor operate inside enemy-occupied territory.
-
-
Truly engaging
- By Bob Hartley on 26-02-2023
-
Turning Point
- The Battle for Milne Bay 1942 - Japan's First Land Defeat in World War II
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 1942 marked the high point of Axis conquest in World War II. In the Pacific, Japan's soldiers had seemed unstoppable. However, the tide was about to turn. On Sunday, 6 September 1942, Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat at the hands of the Allies. At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, a predominantly Australian force - including 75 Squadron (fresh from their action in 44 Days) - fought for two weeks to successfully defend a vital airstrip against a determined Japanese invasion.
-
-
brilliant and shocking in the world's denial of i
- By Mark Casswell on 21-01-2023
-
Heroes of the Skies
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is somewhere close to midnight on the clock when the men who fought the Second World War will still be with us. I have met just a few of them, sometimes goading them to reveal their experiences, at other times being simply a conduit to the river of their memories, sensing, on occasion, a kind of urgency to get it out there, just so these adventures and tragedies will not be lost to future enquiring minds. Michael Veitch has always been a keen historian and aeroplane fanatic.
-
-
Gut wrenching history that must be shared.
- By Amazon Customer on 23-11-2017
-
RAAF Black Cats
- By: John Suter-Linton, Bill Cleworth
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The secret and dangerous operations of Australia's Pacific War Catalina crews told for the first time. RAAF Black Cats chronicles a little-known, yet crucial and courageous chapter in Australia's war history. While this story involved Australia and the United States, very few people on either side of the Pacific know of the significance the RAAF Catalina Squadrons had on the outcome of the war against Japan and General Douglas MacArthur's triumphant 'return' to the Philippines.
-
-
Great Australian history.
- By Anonymous User on 19-05-2023
-
Secret and Special
- By: Will Davies
- Narrated by: Steve Shanahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Soon after the declaration of war on Japan, a secret military reconnaissance unit was established, based on the British Special Operations Executive (known as SOE) and called the Inter-allied Services Department. The unit was tasked with the role to "obtain and report information of the enemy...weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local efforts to the same end in enemy occupied territories."
-
-
Tuff buggers
- By tlcdc on 20-01-2024
-
The Scrap Iron Flotilla
- By: Mike Carlton
- Narrated by: Mike Carlton
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Waterhen were old ships, small with worn-out engines. Their crews used to joke they were held together by string and chewing gum; when the Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels heard of them, he sneered that they were a load of scrap iron.
-
-
Great book to hear from the author.
- By Kindle Customer on 17-08-2022
-
Retaking Kokoda
- The Battles for Templeton's Crossing, Eora Creek and the Oivi-Gorari Positions
- By: David W. Cameron
- Narrated by: Steve Shanahan
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Japanese Major General Horii Tomitarō, commanding the South Seas Force, had the Australians on the back foot. Australia was holding the last defendable ridge in the Owen Stanley ranges, Imita Ridge. Horii to his distress was then given orders from Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo that he was to fall back across the mountains to the Japanese beachheads at Gona, Sanananda, and Buna, leaving a force between Templeton's Crossing and Eora Creek to stop any Australian advance through the mountains.
-
-
get it right.
- By matthew brown on 27-03-2024
-
Larrikins in Khaki
- By: Tim Bowden
- Narrated by: Stephen Hunter
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Larrikins in Khaki, Tim Bowden has collected compelling and vivid stories of individual soldiers whose memoirs were mostly self-published and who told of their experiences with scant regard for literary pretensions and military niceties. NCOs and officers who were hopeless at their jobs were made aware of it - they laughed their way through the worst of it by taking the mickey out of one another and their superiors.
-
-
Blatant Plagiarism
- By Peter on 19-03-2021
-
Vietnam
- The Australian War
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti - war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefi eld, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women.
-
-
The best audio book i have ever listen to.
- By Dave on 12-03-2022
-
The Forgotten Islands
- By: Michael Veitch
- Narrated by: Michael Veitch
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The more I learned, the more I realised this was an Australia I hardly knew. This was stormy weather Australia, an Australia of shipwrecks and sealers, of brutality and extermination, of folly and heroism, of wild weather and explorers in flimsy boats, of 1,000-foot cliffs and amazing birds and strange vegetation, of places well trodden and others believed never to have felt the impact of a human foot. This was a truly gothic Australia, as real and as valid as the gold and the drovers and the deserts yet known to almost no one.
-
-
He writes such an interesting tale
- By Anonymous User on 18-02-2023
-
Australia's Dambusters
- Flying into Hell with 617 Squadron
- By: Colin Burgess
- Narrated by: Steve Shanahan
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the evening of 16 May 1943. Nineteen modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron RAF, under the command of youthful Wing Commander Guy Gibson, roared into the night sky from their Lincolnshire base. They were on a top-secret Bomber Command mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, now regarded as one of the most dangerous and audacious bombing raids of World War II - an attack on the formidable, well-defended dams of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. Slung beneath the belly of each aircraft was one of the war’s greatest secrets - a bouncing bomb.
-
-
Australia's Dambusters by Colin Burgess .
- By Loretta. on 11-07-2022
-
Tobruk
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 23 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early days of April 1941, the 14,000 Australian forces garrisoned in the Libyan town of Tobruk were told to expect reinforcements and supplies within eight weeks. Eight months later these heroic, gallant, determined "Rats of Tobruk" were rescued by the British Navy having held the fort against the might of Rommel's never-before-defeated Afrika Corps.
-
-
detailed intimate account
- By luke on 28-08-2018
-
Australia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates
- By: James Phelps
- Narrated by: Stan Pretty
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Martin Bryant, perpetrator of our country's worst massacre at Port Arthur 20 years ago, to alleged hit man and undisputed hard man 'Goldie', feared by both prisoners and guards alike, James Phelps tracks the rise of ISIS gangs, the lethal underground drug and tobacco trade and the threat of contraband phones. From the shiv fights and brawls to the white-collar criminal beat downs, this is an account like never before.
-
-
Lots of “filler”, quickly turned into a political opinion piece
- By Timothy on 03-10-2018
-
Girt
- The Unauthorised History of Australia, Volume 1
- By: David Hunt
- Narrated by: David Hunt
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia.... In this hilarious history, David Hunt reveals the truth of Australia's past, from megafauna to Macquarie - the cock-ups and curiosities, the forgotten eccentrics and Eureka moments that have made us who we are. Girt introduces forgotten heroes like Mary McLoghlin, transported for the crime of "felony of sock", and Trim the cat, who beat a French monkey to become the first animal to circumnavigate Australia.
-
-
A terrible performance and annoying content
- By Jen on 30-11-2016
-
The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse
- From the Australian bush to the Battle of Beersheba - an Epic Story of Courage, Resilience and Derring-Do
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Bligh
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons.
-
-
A great story of a great Australian event
- By Russell on 22-02-2024
-
Crossing the Line
- By: Nick McKenzie
- Narrated by: Stephen Phillips
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In mid-2017, whispers from Australia's most secretive and elite military unit reached Walkley Award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie. McKenzie and veteran reporter Chris Masters began an investigation that would not only reveal shocking information about Australia's most famous and revered SAS soldier but plunge the two reporters into the defamation trial of the century.
-
-
Biased journalism gets a goal in quickly
- By MCG on 06-08-2023
-
The Wolf You Feed
- By: Andrew Webster
- Narrated by: James Lugton
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wayne Bennett is the greatest rugby league coach Australia has ever had. He has won seven premierships and is the greatest man manager the game has known. He is also a living contradiction: Other coaches decry his tactics then attempt to imitate them. Players are desperate to work with him but are left feeling deceived when he cuts them loose. The media disparages him then lavishes him with praise. So who is the real Wayne Bennett? So who is the real Wayne Bennett? Celebrated sports journalist Andrew Webster has been on a mission to find out.
-
-
Good story
- By Anonymous User on 10-12-2023
Editorial reviews
Michael Veitch delivers an engaging and passionate performance of his nonfiction book FLAK. Since childhood, he had an obsession with Second World War aircraft. He believed that the men who flew these machines had incredible stories to share, but many of these narratives had not yet been recorded. Over a year, he set off to interview former bomber pilots, fighter aces, rear gunners, and bomb aimers living in Australia. These veterans were in their 80s, but their stories remained as vivid and unforgettable as the day they happened.
Publisher's Summary
Michael Veitch's life-long obsession with the aircraft of the Second World War led him to conclude that every single person who flew, or flew in them has at least one extraordinary story to tell. With most of these veterans in their 80s, he knew that it was a matter of urgency to find them now, before their personal stories disappear forever.
So, over the course of a year, Veitch interviewed over 50 former aircrew across Australia, many of whom had never spoken about their experiences before, even to their families. The result is FLAK - a collection of vivid, unforgettable stories from RAAF veterans about their experiences of combat in World War II. It is also an account of the strange, sometimes obsessive journey of the author himself, as he explores a passion held since childhood.
From bomber pilots to fighter aces, from rear gunners to bomb aimers, from stories of death and fear to tales of humor and comradeship, Michael has helped unearth the extraordinary stories of ordinary men living and fighting in extraordinary times.
More from the same
Author
What listeners say about FLAK
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce
- 22-12-2022
Terrific
Very well written & narrated. I was impressed by the courage of these men. What a generation they were. My father was in the raaf during ww2. I never knew his story, but I think I have some understanding now. Thank you
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Blair
- 28-09-2022
Fantastic
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Going to start the second book right away, cheers for recording the history
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-06-2022
Truly riveting
I found myself hooked on every airman’s story to the point where I would not leave my car until the chapter was complete. Truly riveting and wonderfully read by Mr Veitch.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jason
- 21-09-2018
Great stories
Great stories, well read by the author. Action packed and captivating for anyone interested in WWII or aviation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 15-08-2018
Marvellous
Michael Veitch has done a great service in researching and writing this marvellous piece of intense personal military history. I belly laughed often and cried almost as much, as the stories from these humble old warhorses recounting their youth unfolded.
Thank you for everything gentlemen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pierre
- 01-08-2017
Very much enjoyed
I found this audible book very enjoyable. Each chapter being a separate entity meant I could come and go without losing the thread. Great stories of the common man thrust into conflict and challenge. The author read the book clearly and at a suitable pace. I look forward to more of his books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- chris
- 19-01-2017
spectacular. a Job very well done.
I absolutely loved this book.
this book makes me very happy. its not that the stories them selves made me happy, but its the fact that the author Micheal Vietch put so much love and effort into recording these memories, and did such a great job.
these men deserve to be remembered.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!