On 30 August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, the
pilots of RAF Fighter Command's No.12 Group were requested to
reinforce 11 Group and intercept a Luftwaffe raid on an aircraft
factory at Hatfield. The events that day led the swashbuckling,
legless, fighter pilot Douglas Bader to submit a report arguing
that the more fighters he had at his disposal, the greater would be
the execution of the enemy that could be achieved. It was a concept
that received support from 12 Group's Air Officer Commanding, Air
Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory. In Bader's proposal, Leigh-Mallory saw
an opportunity for 12 Group to play a greater part in what was
clearly an historic battle. Leigh-Mallory authorised Bader to lead
three, then five, squadrons - a controversial formation that came
to be known as the 'Duxford Wing' or 'Big Wing'. For the rest of
1940, Bader and the 'Big Wing', then based at Duxford, played its
part in the defence of Britain's skies. Then, in March 1941, the
role of 'Wing Commander (Flying)' was created. This was the fighter
pilot's dream appointment because the Wing Leader's sole
responsibility was leading his wing in action, unfettered by
tedious administration and logistical matters. Needless to say,
Douglas Bader was amongst the first wing leaders. He was even given
the choice of which Wing he preferred. He chose to take command of
that based at Tangmere on the South Coast - right at the fore of
the RAF's battle against the Luftwaffe. In Bader's Spitfire Wing,
Dilip Sarkar not only explores the full story of the men and
machines of the Tangmere Wing in 1941, as well as the controversy
that surrounds their use, he also fully investigates the part that
they played in the RAF's efforts to take the offensive to the
Luftwaffe on the opposite side of the English Channel. It was in
one such sortie in August 1941 that the Tangmere Wing lost its
famous leader. Bader went on to spend the rest of the war in
captivity. AUTHOR: A prolific author, DILIP SARKAR has been
obsessed with the Second World War for a lifetime. An MBE for
'services to aviation history', and Fellow of the Royal Historical
Society, unsurprisingly, for a retired police detective with a
First in Modern History, his work has always been evidence-based -
often challenging long-accepted myths. Firmly focussed on the
'human' experience of war, his many previous works include the
authorized biographies of Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and Air
Vice-Marshal 'Johnnie' Johnson, the best-selling Spitfire Manual
and The Few. Dilip has presented at such prestigious venues as
Oxford University, the Imperial War and RAF Museums, and National
Memorial Arboretum; he works on TV documentaries, both on and off
screen. 32 b/w illustrations
General
Imprint: |
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
April 2022 |
Authors: |
Dilip Sarkar
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 29mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
272 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-399-01705-3 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-399-01705-5 |
Barcode: |
9781399017053 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!