Description
Book SynopsisBetween July and October 1940, in what became known as the Battle of Britain, a nation held its breath while the pilots of the Royal Air Force battled Hitler's Luftwaffe in the skies above England. A huge number of airmen lost their lives in this hard-fought episode and in the four years of air campaigns that followed, and those who survived faced terrifying risks; as Prime Minister Winston Churchill put it, 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'. In this beautifully illustrated tribute to 'The Few', Bill Howard catalogues the objects which were essential to every wartime pilot, from the superstitious good-luck charm to the parachute on which his life might have depended and a wealth of other poignant items relating to his day-to-day existence during the air war against the Nazis.
Table of ContentsFOREWORD THE RAF AT WAR RAF Motto Recruitment Ground Crew Officer’s Commission Pilot’s Wings Flight Sergeant Stripes Aircraft Identification Aids A Force of Many Nations Bomber Command Maps Type B Flying Helmet Type C Flying Helmet Flying Goggles Night Adaptation Goggles Flying Scarf RAF Shirt RAF Sweater Shaving Kit Ditch Whistle 1930 Pattern Flying Suit Irvin Parachute 1941 Pattern ‘Mae West’ Life Jacket Oxygen Mask 1933 Pattern Flying Gauntlets Type P8 Aircraft Compass Officer’s Peaked Cap Forage Caps Testament 1936 Pattern Flying Boots 1940 Pattern Flying Boots Good Luck Charms A Pilot’s Best Friend Commonwealth Air Units RAF Escape and Evasion Aids Scramble Bell Guinea Pig Club Survivor Clubs The WAAF at War Diary Letters Missing-in-Action Letters Irvin Jacket Pilot’s Flying Log Book Combat Reports Ace of Battle Prisoners of War Battle of Britain Medal Grouping In Memoriam Bibliography Index
