‘The most beautiful aircraft ever designed’ is how many would describe the Spitfire today. Together with the more numerous and legendary fighter of the era, the Hurricane, in tandem these aircraft were successfully used to halt the advancing German war machine. The Hurricane was often ‘the pilots choice’, being a sturdy aircraft that was also an excellent gun platform. But other aircraft too played their part in defending the British shores during the summer of 1940.

Just why was the Messerschmitt Bf 109E a better aircraft than the RAF’s defending aircraft during the early stages of the battle? Why did the Hurricane shoot down three times as many German bombers than the Spitfire? Why was the Heinkel He 111 the most successful bomber of the era? Why was the Stuka dive bomber so feared? What happened to the squadrons of Defiants that shared such mixed fortunes that summer?

This comprehensive book answers these, and many more questions that need to be asked if we are to fully understand the significance of the technology and the effectiveness of the Aircraft which fought in the Battle of Britain.

(please allow 21 days for delivery) 

Some people are blessed with extraordinary talents. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill were two such men, and each was to shape the destiny of their nations. One was to become the very symbol of evil, whilst the other, seventy years on, is still admired and respected throughout the world. Their names seem to radiate the very worst and the very best of the human spirit.

Two men, each from contrasting backgrounds, were to rise to positions of extraordinary power. The strategic battles of Churchill and Hitler explain why the Twentieth Century casts such a shadow over subsequent generations. This is an epic tale, one that is on the one hand horrifying and on the other uplifting. The names Hitler and Churchill will be forever linked; what follows will seek to explain why.

Under their respective commands, two leaders, Hermann Goering and Hugh Dowding implemented tactics and directed the world’s leading Air Forces in battles that would potentially shape the Western World for the next thousand years. Their genius at a tactical level cannot be underestimated.

This book investigates how genius can be found in both strategy and tactics, in both ‘the big picture’ and in the daily horrors of war.

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“Should, God forbid, France fall, we will need every available aircraft and every trained pilot to defend the shores of Britain from the invasion force, which most surely will come.”

These words, written by Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding to Prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1940 could not have been more true.

There remained twenty miles or so of water between Hitler and Great Britain. Unless Hitler’s Air Force had control of the skies between France and England, any attempt to send an invasion force across that narrow strip of water would be disastrous.

The stage was therefore set for an epic battle to commence for the control of the skies over the English Channel and Southern England.

Although aircraft production had been increased to a sufficient level to meet the German threat, fighter pilots took up to eighteen months to train. It was here that the RAF were in desperate need.

Unless Britain’s pilots could shoot down Luftwaffe aircraft at a rate of nearly four to one, the RAF would be shot from the skies within weeks and Europe would become a secure fortress of the cost of mainland Europe for the Third Reich

The defence of Britain and ultimately the free world therefore lay on the shoulders of a few hundred RAF pilots whose mission was to hold out at any cost . . .

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Under the progressive leadership of Hugh Dowding the RAF had the world’s first operational Integrated Defence System by the summer of 1940. This incorporated the newly developed Radio Directional Finders (later called RADAR), the Observer Corps and a comprehensive communications system between Group and Sector control stations. From here, each airfield’s fighter squadrons could be directed so that the RAF were able to place their defensive aircraft in the right place, at the right height - and in most cases if the squadrons were scrambled quickly enough, also in time.

By 1940 espionage was developing at an astonishing rate. Radio signals were being both intercepted and decoded. Often these messages were also being passed on with amendments enabling the respondent broadcaster to pass onto the enemy’s forces the message of their own choice.

While combat personnel fought battles on the land, sea and in the air, the secret wireless war was being fought across the airwaves in an attempt to try to create a strategic or tactical advantage.

This book examines both Radar, and the Secret Wireless War. New weapons in the hands of experts that could change the course of a battle before it even began . . .

(please allow 21 days for delivery)

The Spitfire was to become a legendary aircraft during its service throughout the Second World War. With the evolution of dozens of marks and variations, it became a symbol of British ingenuity, advancement and technological beauty.

Some of the greatest and most celebrated pilots of the war from many nationalities and varying backgrounds had the joy of piloting the Spitfire into battle in the knowledge that they were flying one of the most advanced aircraft of the era. These pilots included some of the most celebrated fighter aces of all time.

With the guidance of Squadron Leader C V Brown, a serving RAF officer who has the privilege of piloting historic aircraft in the 21st Century, we take a look at the Spitfire’s history and development alongside the stories of pilots who both seventy years ago and today, hail the aircraft as ‘the most beautiful aircraft ever built’ and have the privilege of bearing the title ‘Spitfire Pilot’.

A daily account of the heroic events of the summer of 1940.

When the evacuation of British and allied troops from Dunkirk had been completed, the world waited for the German onslaught to continue with Britain being the next country to fall under Adolf Hitler’s gaze. The miracle that followed enabled the free world to believe for better. Despite having vastly inferior numbers of aircraft, the Royal Air Force’s young and mostly inexperienced pilots halted Hitler’s plans for the invasion of Britain by denying the Luftwaffe control of the skies. Without this, an invasion could have been catastrophic.

This book brings a daily account of the battle that followed; The Battle of Britain. The battles, the events, the changing strategies and the tragedies while the leadership of two nations fought an epic struggle. For Hitler, it was control of the British Empire. For Britain, it was the preservation of freedom for the western world.