Introduction by Air Vice-Marshal R.A. Mason, CB, CBE, MA. 192 pages, circa 500 illustrations, cloth, dj, very good. 9 inches by 11-1/2 inches. From the dj: In the summer of 1940 Hitler was master of Continental Europe. The Luftwaffe had been the front line instrument that had crushed German's enemies. Now, standing at the Channel coast, glimpsing through the haze the white cliffs of Dover through high-powered lenses, the leaders of Germany's air force could confidently count an end to Britain's defiance in weeks. Goring promised that the island would be crushed by air power alone. In the end it was different. With the Hurricanes and Spitfires of RAF Fighter Command as their shield, the people of Britain joined in a stupendous effort of defence, from Home Guardsmen armed with rook rifles, men of the Royal Observer Corps watching the sky in remote outposts, WAAFs determinedly vigilant at radar screens, civilians enduring nightly bombing, to the pilots themselves, facing the enemy in the air day after day and clawing them dawn. The battle had in effect begun in the mid-1930s with the development of the Spitfire and Hurricane, radar and an effective fighter control network. The Battle of Britain not only covers the great air battles, filling the clear blue skies with vapour trails and sudden death, but the whole pre-war build-up on both sides. This book is a superbly illustrated visual history of this extraordinary period. Packed with rare photographs, documents, diaries and battle maps, and with evocative text and captions it covers every aspect of the battle from both the British and the German sides and provides as vivid a picture of the embattled island as the fighting in the air itself. Derek Wood was the originator and co-author of The Narrow Margin, the story of the Battle of Britain on which the film was based and the author of Project Cancelled, Attack Warning Red, the history of Britain's Royal Observer Corps, and Jane's World Aircraft Recognition Handbook.

BATTLE BRITAIN WORLD WAR TWO MILITARYHISTORY WWII AVIATION AERONAUTICS