The Royal Air Force's 11 Group played a leading role in the Battle of Britain. It included the airfields at Tangmere, Westhampnett, Kenley, Croydon, Biggin Hill, West Malling, Horchurch, Hawkinge, Gravesend, Manston, Rochford, North Weald, Martlesham Heath, Stapleford Tawney, Debden and Northolt. The most famous of 'The Few' saw action in this vital airspace over southern England, London and the Home Counties. The book will give an overview of the Battle and then go on to describe the part played by the squadrons and pilots from each base between the dangerous period between 10 July and 31 October 1940. It will include a map of each airfield as it was then and a guide to what remains and places of significance nearby that can be visited today.
In this unprecedented series exploring the big story of the Battle of Britain, renowned historian Dilip Sarkar investigates the wider context and intimate details of the epic aerial conflict in the summer of 1940 from all sides. In so doing, he gives due acknowledgement to the roles of Bomber and Coastal Commands in addition to the fabled Few of Fighter Command. This unique narrative draws upon a lifetime of research, the author having enjoyed a long relationship with survivors and the relatives of casualties; his innumerable interviews and first-hand accounts collated, in addition to privileged access to personal papers, providing essential human interest to this inspirational story. In this the fourth volume, Battle of Britain: Airfields Under Attack, Dilip continues to examine the fighting on a day-by-day, combat-by-combat basis from 19 August until 6 September 1940. It is a period in which we saw the Luftwaffe’s bombing of the all-important 11 Group airfields intensify, culminating in ‘The Hardest Day’ of 18 August 1940, which saw both sides lose more aircraft than any other day throughout the whole Battle of Britain. The tensions and problems between Fighter Command’s 11 and 12 Groups also intensified. It was a situation that eventually led to Squadron Leader Douglas Bader criticising Fighter Command tactics, proposing the use of ‘Big Wings’, contrary to the System of Air defense and strategy involved, gaining the support of his 12 Group commander, Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory. Given its later significance, this is investigated in depth. Through diligent research, combined with crucial official primary sources and personal papers, Dilip unravels many myths, often challenging the accepted narrative. This is not simply another dull record of combat losses and claims – far from it. Drawing upon unique first-hand accounts from a wide-range of combatants and eyewitnesses, along with Daily Home Intelligence Reports and numerous other primary sources, this book forms part of what is likely to be the first and last such comprehensively woven account of this epic air battle.
The Battle of Britain has held an enchanted place in British popular history and memory throughout the modern era. Its transition from history to heritage since 1965 confirms that the 1940 narrative shaped by the State has been sustained by historians, the media, popular culture, and through non-governmental heritage sites, often with financing from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. Garry Campion evaluates the Battle’s revered place in British society and its influence on national identity, considering its historiography and revisionism; the postwar lives of the Few, their leaders and memorialization; its depictions on screen and in commercial products; the RAF Museum’s Battle of Britain Hall; third-sector heritage attractions; and finally, fighter airfields, including RAF Hawkinge as a case study. A follow-up to Campion’s The Battle of Britain, 1945–1965 (Palgrave, 2015), this book offers an engaging, accessible study of the Battle’s afterlives in scholarship, memorialization, and popular culture.
The Royal Air Force's 11 Group played a leading role in the Battle of Britain. It included the airfields at Tangmere, Westhampnett, Kenley, Croydon, Biggin Hill, West Malling, Horchurch, Hawkinge, Gravesend, Manston, Rochford, North Weald, Martlesham Heath, Stapleford Tawney, Debden and Northolt. The most famous of 'The Few' saw action in this vital airspace over southern England, London and the Home Counties. The book will give an overview of the Battle and then go on to describe the part played by the squadrons and pilots from each base between the dangerous period between 10 July and 31 October 1940. It will include a map of each airfield as it was then and a guide to what remains and places of significance nearby that can be visited today.
The book begins by providing an excellent background to the Battle of Britain airfields in Britain, describing everything from the range of people working on a typical airfield, including station commanders, pilots, ground crew, and civilians, to descriptions of operations and plans of the buildings on an airfield. There is also airfield-by-airfield coverage of the Battle of Britain, with the layout of each airfield shown alongside its role in the overall battle. This information is complemented by over 150 contemporary photographs, maps, and airfield plans. Written by an accomplished military aviation author, this new study is the fruit of many years of research, and will be essential reading for all historians and keen aviation enthusiasts.
This book addresses the social, political and economic turbulence in which the UK is embroiled. Drawing on Cultural Studies, it explores proliferating crises and conflicts, from the multiplying varieties of social dissent through the stagnation of rentier capitalism to the looming climate catastrophe. Examining arguments about Brexit, class and ‘race’, and the changing character of the state, the book is underpinned by a transnational and relational conception of the UK. It traces the entangled dynamics of time and space that have shaped the current conjuncture. Questioning whether increasingly anti-democratic and authoritarian strategies can provide a resolution to these troubles, it explores how the accumulating crises and conflicts have produced a deepening ‘crisis of authority’ that forms the terrain of the Battle for Britain.
This title describes the airfields of Sussex during the last war, the planes and the pilots who flew them, and the local civilians who worked alongside them. It is fully illustrated.
“Affectingly written . . . a bittersweet memorial to the unheralded casualties of 1940 and their loved ones.” —Michigan War Studies Review The summer of 1940 remains a pivotal moment in modern British history that still inspires immense national pride and a global fascination. The Fall of France was catastrophic. Britain stood alone and within range of German air attack. America, with its vast resources, was neutral, Hitler’s forces unbeaten, the outlook for Britain bleak. As Winston Churchill rightly predicted, “The Battle of Britain is about to begin.” Famously, Churchill mobilized the English language, emboldening the nation with rousing rhetoric. In this darkest of hours, Churchill told the people that this was, in fact, their “Finest Hour,” a time of unprecedented courage and defiance. Connecting the crucial battle with Shakespeare’s heroic Henry V and Agincourt, Churchill also immortalized Fighter Command’s young aircrew as the “Few”—to whom so many owed everything. The Few comprised nearly 3,000 aircrew, 544 of which gave their lives during the Battle of Britain’s sixteen weeks of high drama. Arguably, however, the fighting went on both before and after the official dates of the battle, and many, including civilians, seamen, and ground staff, gave their lives whose names are not included among the Few, a fact not overlooked in this groundbreaking book. In this unique study, veteran historian Dilip Sarkar explores the individual stories of a wide selection of those lost during the “Finest Hour,” examining their all-too-brief lives and sharing their tragic stories, told here in full for the first time. Also included is the story of a German fighter pilot, indicating the breadth of investigation involved. Researched with the full cooperation of the families concerned, this work is a crucial contribution to the Battle of Britain’s bibliography.
As part of the Aviation Heritage Trail series, the accomplished military author and former RAF Officer Peter Jacobs takes us to the county of Yorkshire and to its many bomber airfields of the Second World War.From the opening day of hostilities, RAF Bomber Command took the offensive to Nazi Germany and played a leading role in the liberation of Europe. Yorkshires airfields played a key part throughout, initially as home to the Whitley squadrons of No 4 Group and then to the four-engine Halifax heavy bombers; indeed, Bomber Commands first night operation of the war was flown from one of the countys many bomber airfields. Then, as the bombing offensive gathered pace, Yorkshire welcomed the new all-Canadian No 6 (RCAF) Group, after which all of Bomber Commands major efforts during the hardest years of 1943/44 against the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin involved the Yorkshire-based squadrons.Most of Yorkshires wartime bomber airfields have long gone, but many have managed to retain the flying link with their wartime past. For example, the former RAF airfields of Finningley and Middleton St George, and the factory airfield of Yeadon, are now the sites of international airports, while Breighton, Burn, Full Sutton, Pocklington and Rufforth are still used for light aircraft flying or gliding and Elvington is home to the magnificent Yorkshire Air Museum.From airfields such as these came countless acts of personal courage and self-sacrifice, with two men being awarded the Victoria Cross, Britains highest award for gallantry. Stories of both men are included, as are tales of other personalities who brought these airfields to life. The stories of thirty-three airfields are told in total, with a brief history of each accompanied by details of how to find them and what remains of them today. Whatever your interest, be it aviation history or more local, the county of Yorkshire has rightly taken its place in the history of Bomber Command.
