A long-overdue biography of the dedicated commander from New Zealand who helped ward off the Luftwaffe and save Britain from a Nazi invasion.The Battle of Britain from July to September 1940 is one of the finest moments in Britain's history. While credit rightly goes to "The Few," victory could never have happened without the inspirational command and leadership of New Zealander Keith Park.He and Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding ensured that Fighter Command...

The first book written about Britain's premier army base in the First World War.The book contains and explores the following: The first published record of the troops in Aldershot on 4 August 1914. The first published list of officers and men from Aldershot killed in the war. Lists the dead from WWI in Aldershot Cemetery. Outlines the activities of crucial figures in the War such as Smith-Dorrien, Haig and French in Aldershot in the period before the War. Traces the growth development of a...

Hampshire at War 1939-45 looks at the pivotal role Hampshire played during the Second World War, including principal details of the genesis for D-Day and how the Battle for Britain happened on a day by day basis. The author highlights the peoples experience of total war from the blitz in Portsmouth, Gosport and Southampton, along with raids throughout the county, not to mention the role played by the Royal Navy at sea and in the dockyards. As well as saluting the role of civilians who crea...

In 2018 the RAF is one hundred years old. In his new book, destined to be a classic, Patrick Bishop examines the high point of its existence – the Second World War, when the Air Force saved the nation from defeat then led the advance to victory.A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERAir warfare was a terrible novelty of the modern age, requiring a new military outlook. From the beginning, the RAF’s identity set it apart from the traditional services. It was inno...

"A fine biography of one of the war's greatest unsung heroes," Royal Air Force Commander Keith Park ( The Daily Telegraph)."If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don't believe it is realized how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world." So wrote Marshal of the RAF Lord Tedder of Keith Park in 1947.As commander of No. 11 Group, RAF Fighter Command r...

September 1940: defeated in the Battle of Britain, despite their superior numbers and better equipped aircraft, the Luftwaffe launched a new campaign of attack, their target this time the civilian population. For eight months, with hardly a night's break, Luftwaffe bombers pounded industrial cities and seaports in a concentrated attempt to smash Britain's war economy and destroy civilian morale. It was the first time a civilian population had been subject to mass attack, night after night,...

In 1917, David Lloyd George declared that airmen were 'the cavalry of the clouds … the knighthood of this war …' This romantic image was fostered post-war by writers of adventure stories and the stunts of Hollywood filmmakers, and yet it was far from the harsh reality of life of an airman. From their baptism of fire in 1914 carrying out reconnaissance and experiencing the first dogfights, to the breakthrough in 1918 which claimed heavy casualties,...

During the early years of WW2 it soon became apparent that the system for tracing the remains of R.A.F. aircrew deemed Missing Believed Killed was totally inadequate. The Missing Research Section (M.R.S.) of the Air Ministry was set up in 1941 to deal with this problem. It collected and collated intelligence reports from a wide variety of official, unofficial and covert sources in an attempt to establish the fate of missing aircrew, using forensic or semi-forensic work to identify personal...

The loss of British bombers over Occupied Europe began to reach alarming levels in 1941. Could it be that the Germans were using a sophisticated form of radar to direct their night fighters and anti-aircraft guns at the British bombers? British aerial reconnaissance discovered what seemed to be a rotating radar tower on a clifftop at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The truth must be revealed.The decision was taken to launch a daring raid on the Bruneval site to try and capture the technol...

The First and Second World Wars had a profound effect on all parts of Great Britain, and the comparatively isolated and rural island of Anglesey was no exception. Men were recruited and conscripted into the armed forces in large numbers and some parts of Anglesey, such as the port town of Holyhead, sprang to life. Many Anglesey men found themselves in exotic locations all across the world, while others lost their lives on the killing fields of Western Europe during the Fir...

When war broke out in 1939 over 20,000 Irishmen were serving in the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force with the greatest proportion in the Army. During the war this rose to over 120,000, suggesting that about 100,000 enlisted during the war. Nine earned the Victoria Cross; three members of the Royal Navy, including a Fleet Air Arm pilot, four soldiers, including a member of the Australian forces, and two RAF pilots. The author looks at the seven Irish regiments in campaigns across the gl...

Apart from the quiet chatter of a few mechanics, who were checking that one aircraft was too badly damaged ever to fly again, there was a shocked silence over the aerodrome as everyone there tried to understand the impossible.Twelve twin-engined bombers of 82 Squadron RAF had set out on a fi ne May morning in 1940, from Watton, Norfolk, in a brave but hopeless attempt to slow down the German armour ripping through Belgium. Sergeant Thomas 'Jock' Morrison was the pilot of the only one to co...