Peter Cornwell tells the story of the greatest air battle of the Second World War when six nations were locked in combat over north-western Europe for a traumatic six weeks in 1940. He describes the day-to-day events as the battle unfolds, and details the losses suffered by all six nations involved: Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and, rather belatedly, Italy. As far as RAF fighter squadrons in France were concerned, it was an all-Hurricane show, yet it was the Blenheim and Batt...

With humble beginnings as an RAF apprentice, Johnny Wells progressed to pilot and rose to the higher echelons of command at the Air Ministry. From idyllic pre-war training, he would fly bombers against rebels over Iraq, combat Fw190s over England in the newly introduced and equally dangerous Typhoon; he would undertake hazardous low-level anti-shipping strikes in the English Channel, as well as train-busting sorties over occupied territory at night and close-support ground-attack operation...

Chronicles the air war above Britain from March 1942 to June 1943 and includes in-the-cockpit accounts from German and British pilotsAssesses offensive and defensive tacticsIncorporates hundreds of rarely seen photosAs the Battle of Britain came to a close, the Luftwaffe began arming its single-engine fighters with bombs and using them instead of bombers for many daylight raids against shipping and coastal installations, railways, fuel depots, and other military and ...

"This is the book that puts the flesh on the bones of its reputation as one of the best aircraft of the Second World War." — Pennant MagazineThe flak started about four or five minutes before the target and immediately it was apparent that it was intense and extremely accurate. Oboe entailed the pilot flying dead straight and level for ten minutes on the attack run. Suddenly a tremendous flash lit up the sky about 50 yards ahea...

A detailed history of the American World War II bombing mission over Nazi Germany, by the author of The First Day on the Somme.On August 17, 1943, the entire strength of the American heavy bomber forces in England set out to raid two major industrial complexes deep in southern Germany: the Messerschmitt aircraft factory and the KGF ball bearing plant. For American commanders, it was the culmination of years of planning, the day when their self-defending for...

The formation of the Pathfinder Force in August 1942 produced a steady but certain change in the fortunes of Bomber Command. During the early years of the war, aerial photographs showed that less than one third of the aircraft were successfully placing their bombs with accuracy. There was a basic lack of navigational skills, as well as what came to be known in the RAF as the will to 'Press On'. These shortcomings were addressed, and the special force of elite aircrew, the Pathfinder squadr...

The story of the everyday heroism of British bomber crews in 1944 - the turning point year in Bomber Command's war against Germany.There were many ways for a combat crew to die during Bomber Command's war of 1944. Over German territory, bursts of heavy flak could tear the wings from their planes in a split second. Flaming bullets from German fighter planes could explode their fuel tanks, cut their oxygen supplies, destroy their engines. In the spring of that year, ...

'A brilliant insight into life in the air and on the ground' ObserverIn February 1945, British and American bombers rained down thousands of tons of incendiaries on the city of Dresden, killing an estimated 25,000 people and destroying one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The controversy that erupted shortly afterwards, and which continues to this day, has long overshadowed the other events of the bomber war, and blighted the memory of the young men...

6 Group was born out of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), which, among other things called for the formation of 25 Canadian Squadrons in Britain. This figure was later downsized. The Canadian vision was of a Canadian force operating independently alongside Bomber Command in the manner of the American 8th, but skillfull negotiating by the British resulted in Canadian Bomber squadrons operating within the RAF under RAF control but funded by Canada. On the 1st of January 194...

The author of The First Day on the Somme recounts Operation Hydra, the British bombing on a Nazi army research center during World War II.On the night of August 17-18, 1943, RAF Bomber Command attacked a remote research establishment on the German Baltic coast. The site was Peenemunde, where Hitler's scientists were developing both the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket whose destructive powers could have swung the course of the war. The raid was meticulous...

In the summer of 1940, the most important battle in the history of air warfare was fought between the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe in the skies over southern Britain. Only after a tightly-fought series of aerial battles did the RAF secure a narrow victory – or did it? Although glamourised by the press and cinema alike over the past 60 years, the battle was an intense war of attrition in which luck, skill, judgement and bravery all played a role. The Battle of Britain ex...

This is the story of the fighter aces who flew throughout the war in many different operational theatres. The book opens with the first Polish Aces during the German invasion and continues with Finlands pilots in the Winter War against the Soviets. There follows the battle for France with the experiences of RAF, Luftwaffe and French Aces and then the legendary Battle of Britain. North Africa became a critical area, together with the heroic defense of Malta and air battles over Greece and t...