Rearming the RAF for the Second World War - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Rearming the RAF for the Second World War write by Adrian Phillips. This book was released on 2022-07-28. Rearming the RAF for the Second World War available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. When the RAF rearmed to meet the growing threat from Nazi Germany's remorseless expansion in the late 1930s, it faced immense challenges. It had to manage a huge increase in size as well as mastering rapid advances in aviation technology. To protect Britain from attack, the RAF's commanders had to choose the right strategy and the right balance in its forces. The choices had to be made in peacetime with no guidance from combat experience. These visions then had to be translated into practical reality. A shifting cast of government ministers, civil servants and industrialists with their own financial, political and military agendas brought further dynamics into play. The RAF's readiness for war was crucial to Britain's ability to respond to Nazi aggression before war broke out and when it did, the RAF's rearmament was put to the acid test of battle. Adrian Phillips uses the penetrating grasp of how top level decisions are made that he honed in his inside accounts of the abdication crisis and appeasement, to dissect the process which shaped the RAF of 1940. He looks beyond the familiar legends of the Battle of Britain and explores in depth the successes and failures of a vital element in British preparations for war.
The Right of the Line
The Right of the Line - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Right of the Line write by John Terraine. This book was released on 2010-04-06. The Right of the Line available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Traditionally, the right of the line is the vanguard, the place of honour and greatest danger in battle. In this history of the Royal Air Force during the European War of 1939-45, John Terraine shows how the RAF, which in 1939 was small and inadequate for the task it was called upon to perform had, by the end of the war, taken up its proper position. He describes the build-up to war, the early tests in France and at Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the RAF in North Africa and the Mediterranean, the strategic air offensive over Germany and eventual victory in Europe.His best book yet The TimesJohn Terraine is a fine historian but he also believes that history should be exciting and readable The Listener
The RAF's French Foreign Legion
The RAF's French Foreign Legion - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The RAF's French Foreign Legion write by G. H. Bennett. This book was released on 2011-04-28. The RAF's French Foreign Legion available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This book examines and analyses the relationship between the RAF, the Free French Movement and the French fighter pilots in WWII. A highly significant subject, this has been ignored by academics on both sides of the Channel. This ground-breaking study will fill a significant gap in the historiography of the War. Bennett's painstaking research has unearthed primary source material in both Britain and France including Squadron records, diaries, oral histories and memoirs. In the post-war period the idea of French pilots serving with the RAF seemed anachronistic to both sides. For the French nation the desire to draw a veil over the war years helped to obscure many aspects of the past, and for the British the idea of French pilots did not accord with the myths of "the Few" to whom so much was owed. Those French pilots who served had to make daring escapes. Classed as deserters they risked court martial and execution if caught. They would play a vital role on D-Day and the battle for control of the skies which followed.
RAF Bomber Command in World War II
RAF Bomber Command in World War II - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook RAF Bomber Command in World War II write by Denis Richards. This book was released on 2001. RAF Bomber Command in World War II available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. While Churchill acknowledged the vital contribution of RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War, it has recently come under fire from a whole generation of historians. They claim that the RAF offensive against Germany was immoral because so many civilians were killed, and wasteful because so many attacks were not on specific military targets. In this powerful book Denis Richards describes the Command's difficulties and failures, but also redresses the balance by making clear the magnitude of its achievements. His fascinating account dramatically re-creates the gruesome and protracted battle fought for almost five and half years in the night skies, in which over half the aircrew became casualties. Truly, it was 'the Hardest Victory'. Book jacket.
RAF Handbook 1939-1945
RAF Handbook 1939-1945 - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook RAF Handbook 1939-1945 write by David Wragg. This book was released on 2007-01-18. RAF Handbook 1939-1945 available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. It opens with a brief history of the service, followed by a chapter that reviews its situation on the outbreak of war. The chapters that follow look at the structure of the RAF, from the Air Ministry and Chief of the Air Staff down to squadron level, to include each of the Commands, including Transport Command (a creation of the war years). The main aircraft types used are listed, as well as a full listing of squadrons and airfields in the British Isles. The training of personnel, and such matters as uniforms, rank insignia, medals and life on a typical airfield, are also covered. The main battles or campaigns in which the service was involved are also described.
