The Birth of the RAF, 1918
The Birth of the RAF, 1918

Author: Richard Overy

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0241274222

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A short, brilliant account of the birth of the RAF for the centenary of its founding The dizzying pace of technological change in the early 20th century meant that it took only a little over ten years from the first flight by the Wright Brothers to the clash of fighter planes in the Great War. A period of terrible, rapid experiment followed to gain a brief technological edge. By the end of the war the British had lost an extraordinary 36,000 aircraft and 16,600 airmen. The RAF was created in 1918 as a revolutionary response to this new form of warfare - a highly contentious decision (resisted fiercely by both the army and navy, who had until then controlled all aircraft) but one which had the most profound impact, for good and ill, on the future of warfare. Richard Overy's superb new book shows how this happened, against the backdrop of the first bombing raids against London and the constant emergency of the Western Front. The RAF's origins were as much political as military and throughout the 1920s still provoked bitter criticism. Published to mark the centenary of its founding this is an invaluable book, filled with new and surprising material on this unique organization.

Gone to Russia to Fight
Gone to Russia to Fight

Author: John T. Smith

Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1445620340

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A remarkable period in the early history of the RAF covered in print for the very first time.

RAF: The Birth of the World's First Air Force
RAF: The Birth of the World's First Air Force

Author: Richard Overy

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 0393652300

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“Packed with drama, both military and political.… It will surely prove definitive.” —Lewis Jones, Daily Telegraph This compact, masterful work by an outstanding historian marks a pivotal moment in military history: the birth of Britain’s Royal Air Force. Writing with great clarity, Richard Overy shows how the RAF emerged from the deadly stalemate of trench warfare during World War I. With German bombers attacking British cities by 1917, Prime Minister David Lloyd George and his minister of munitions, Winston Churchill, navigated the organizational breakthrough that made the RAF an independent force in spring 1918. The RAF would prove highly influential in the development of air power around the world.

The Royal Flying Corps, the Western Front and the Control of the Air, 1914–1918
The Royal Flying Corps, the Western Front and the Control of the Air, 1914–1918

Author: James Pugh

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-05-12

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1317016890

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By the middle of 1918 the British Army had successfully mastered the concept of ’all arms’ warfare on the Western Front. This doctrine, integrating infantry, artillery, armoured vehicles and - crucially - air power, was to prove highly effective and formed the basis of major military operations for the next hundred years. Yet, whilst much has been written on the utilisation of ground forces, the air element still tends to be studied in isolation from the army as a whole. In order to move beyond the usual 'aircraft and aces' approach, this book explores the conceptual origins of the control of the air and the role of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) within the British army. In so doing it addresses four key themes. First, it explores and defines the most fundamental air power concept - the control of the air - by examining its conceptual origins before and during the First World War. Second, it moves beyond the popular history of air power during the First World War to reveal the complexity of the topic. Third, it reintegrates the study of air power during the First World War, specifically that of the RFC, into the strategic, operational, organisational, and intellectual contexts of the era, as well as embedding the study within the respective scholarly literatures of these contexts. Fourth, the book reinvigorates an entrenched historiography by challenging the usually critical interpretation of the RFC’s approach to the control of the air, providing new perspectives on air power during the First World War. This includes an exploration of the creation of the RAF and its impact on the development of air power concepts.

The RNAS and the Birth of the Aircraft Carrier 1914-1918
The RNAS and the Birth of the Aircraft Carrier 1914-1918

Author: Ian M. Burns

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781781553657

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The Royal Naval Air Service's origins were as the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps in April 1912, but did not become a separate service until 1 July 1914. On the outbreak of war in 1914, the service expanded to include service on land, providing support of the Royal Naval Division in Belgium, to the RFC and as one of the early practitioners of strategic bombing. Yet, from its early days, the RNAS had set out to create a force operating aircraft in support of and in association with the Fleet. The RNAS and the Birth of the Aircraft Carrier 1914-1918 traces the development and operational use of aircraft serving with the fleet. It follows the training of personnel and the struggle to produce suitable aircraft and weapons, including the evolution of the aircraft carrier. Nonetheless, the constant thread throughout is the operational history of the RNAS over the North Sea with both the Grand Fleet and Harwich Force. Commencing over Cuxhaven on Christmas Day 1914 and ending with two pivotal operations which determined the future of naval aviation.

The Birth of Independent Air Power
The Birth of Independent Air Power

Author: Malcolm Cooper

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-03-30

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1000338975

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In forming the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Britain created the world’s first independent air service. Britain entered the First World War with less than 200 ill-assorted flying machines divided between the army and the navy, but by the end of the war the RAF mustered almost 300,000 personnel and 22, 000 aircraft. Originally published in 1986, more than 65 years after the event, the decision to form the RAF remained poorly understood and Malcolm Cooper presented the first detailed modern analysis of its creation, shedding new light on the process by which Britain entered the air age. Set against the background of the build-up of air power during the First World War, the book explains how deepening political concern at failures in home air defence, public demands for retaliatory air action against Germany, problems of mobilization and expansion in the aircraft industry, and disagreements between the existing army and navy air services combined to create the conditions for an independent air force. The author argues that the pressures of war were insufficient to give real substance to the RAF’s independence and that its failure to escape from its wartime role as an ancillary service was also of crucial significance in the evolution of British air strategy in later years. Based on an extensive study of official documents and private papers and amply illustrated with contemporary photographs, this title will prove invaluable in understanding both strategic thinking in the Great War and the early development of a form of warfare which dominated military and naval operations in the twentieth century.

The Birth of the Royal Air Force
The Birth of the Royal Air Force

Author: Ian M. Philpott

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2013-12-09

Total Pages: 1351

ISBN-13: 1473831709

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Ian Philpott presents us here with a compendium of facts, operational histories and photo illustrations, combined to create a comprehensive account of the early years of the Royal Air Force. Illustrated throughout, it features details of all military operations from 1914 to 1918 which impacted upon the organisation. Also included are operational details of the Independent Bomber Force throughout 1918, a supplementary historical strand that is sure to appeal to Aviation enthusiasts with a taste for features of niche focus. Details of the airfields, landing grounds, seaplane bases and various other landmarks of this era are given, and readers are encouraged to use the work as a reference book, being as it is a weighty tome of encyclopedic scope. Sure to make a welcome addition to any aviation enthusiasts library, this well-researched piece of work has been a long time in the making. Philpott brings his typical flare to the project, leaving no stone unturned when it comes to this dynamic, defining period of Royal Air Force history.As featured in the East Kent Mercury and Essence Magazine.

Black September 1918
Black September 1918

Author: Norman Franks

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2018-09-27

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1911621750

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The authors of Bloody April 1917 present a new volume of facts, photos, and analysis covering aerial combat in the last days of the Great War. Fifteen months after the events of April 1917, more battles had been fought, won and lost on both sides, but now the American strength was feeding in to France with both men and material. With the mighty push on the French/American Front at St. Mihiel on September 12 and then along the Meuse-Argonne Front from the 26th, once more masses of men and aircraft were put into the air. They were opposed by no less a formidable German fighter force than had the squadrons in April 1917, although the numbers were not in their favor. Nevertheless, the German fighter pilots were able to inflict an even larger toll of British, French, and American aircraft shot down, making this the worst month for the Allied flyers during the whole of World War I—and this just a mere six weeks from the war’s bloody finale. This book analyzes the daily events throughout September with the use of lists of casualties and claims from both sides. It also contains seven detailed appendices examining the victory claims of all the air forces that fought during September 1918. Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly who was fighting who high above the trenches, by poring over maps and carefully studying almost all the surviving records, the picture slowly begins to emerge with deadly accuracy. Black September 1918 is a profusely illustrated and essential reference piece to understanding one of the crucial months of war in the skies.

The Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force

Author: Michael Napier

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2018-02-22

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1472825381

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A fully illustrated history of the Royal Air Force while on operations, publishing to mark the centenary of its foundation in World War I. The world's first independent air force, the Royal Air Force celebrates its centenary in 2018. In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the service has been involved in almost continuous operations around the globe, giving the RAF the longest and most wide-ranging history of any air force in the world. But over the years this history has also become entangled with myths. The Royal Air Force: A Centenary of Operations sets the record straight, dispelling these as it uncovers – in both words and photographs – the true exploits and accomplishments of RAF personnel over the last 100 years. From its formation as an independent service in the dying days of World War I, its desperate fight against the Axis air forces in World War II, to its commitments during both the Cold War and modern times, this is the complete story of how the RAF has defended Britain for a century.