A MAJOR donation of books means that there will be a special sale at a Ludlow charity shop.

Following a remarkable donation of books late last year, Ludlow's Oxfam Bookshop is holding a special sale to open on Saturday, April 8.

It will feature chiefly aviation, flight and the Second World War in Europe.

The donor's lifetime collection includes histories of Imperial Airways and World War Two Air Sea Rescue services, biographies of famous combatants including Douglas Bader and books by notable aviators like 'Laddie' Lucas and Pierre Closterman.

On the ground, every aspect of Operation Overlord is covered while between earth and air are accounts of the airborne assaults preliminary to the D-Day landings and later at Arnhem.

There are histories of British squadrons and German stafel, the Eighth Army and the Afrika Corps, battles won and lost.

Memoirs of individual pilots and soldiers: signed books by John Nicol and John Peters detail their experiences in the first Iraq war.

Local hero Jimmy James is there, too, with his recollections of the RAF bombing offensive during the early years of the war, his capture after being shot down and his subsequent part in 'The Great Escape'.

Several years of Air Pictorial from the 60s and 70s are to be had and some of the wartime HMSO booklets, too.

There are books on gliding, the Royal Marines, the Gurkhas, the commandos and the SAS.