The RAF did not come of age until the Second World War. The role of its forerunners in the Great War, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, although important, was peripheral to that of the ground forces. The founding father of the RAF, Lord Trenchard, was determined that it should become a fully-fledged third service, equal in status to the Royal Navy and British Army, and this he succeeded in doing between the wars, firstly by setting up the RAF College at Cranwell, and Staff College at Andover, and secondly by providing a cost-effective policeman of the more rebellious parts of the British Empire. By 1939 the RAF had grown substantially, but, of the three best aircraft of the coming War, only the Supermarine Spitfire was in service, as neither the Avro Lancaster nor the De Havilland Mosquito would be available until early 1942. Aircraft, however, were not enough. It was the leaders of the RAF, the subjects of this book, who would take the battle to the enemy and who, after six long years, would prevail.
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Product Details
Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
Publication Date: 04 Apr 2024
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Publication City/Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781036104139
About Richard Mead
RICHARD MEAD was born in 1947. Educated at Marlborough College and Pembroke College Cambridge Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant and was successively an investment banker a partner in a Big Four accountancy firm and an independent adviser to and non-executive chairman or director of a large number of public and private companies. He retired in 2014. Richard has always been interested in military history and biography. His first book _Churchills Lions A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II_ was published in 2007. He has subsequently built himself a reputation as a biographer with _General Boy: The Life of Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning The Last Great Cavalryman: The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery Commando General: The Life of Major General Sir Robert Laycock_ and _Sam: Marshal of the Royal Air Force The Lord Elworthy _and _Dambuster-in-Chief: The Life of Air Chief Marshal Sir Ralph Cochrane_. These five books and _The Men Behind Monty_ which was shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year 2016 are all in print with Pen & Sword.