BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1940) - Respecting THE FEW.

[Spitfire]

Bravo Smithy :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap - and thank you.

 

[Chas]

No debate allowed. I see.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

I've been researching local Yorkshire pilots role in the BoB for about 15 years and to this day new info turns up!

Christ, the English civil war was over 400 years ago but they still find new things to write about.


On a lighter note, I like the slug balancing act!

K

 

[Spitfire]

No debate allowed. I see.

C'mon Chas, there is nothing to debate here.
You've said very clearly what you think about new books on Battle of Britain -and the people who buy and read them.

You've also stated that you think Battle of Britain was nothing to write (home) about.

We are some who feels differently.

What do you want - a trenchwar?

 

[Spitfire]

Ken Wynns book

Smithy - do you happen to know when the new edition of Ken Wynn: "The men of the Battle of Britain" will be released?

 

[Smithy]

Smithy - do you happen to know when the new edition of Ken Wynn: "The men of the Battle of Britain" will be released?

Søren, you've reminded me it's high time I gave Ken a bell about it!

Last I spoke with him, he was looking at a release date for September but he acknowledged that this was dependent upon the publisher.

I'll give him a ring this week and see if he's got a firm date now.

 

[Jabos]

I love this thread. I'm not well read on the BoB and I certainly appreciate the discussion and book suggestions.

 

[Chas]

Now, I WILL be reading this. Anybody who examines and questions the myths sorrounding the event does deserve my attention, if not my hard earned $$.

BoB - Richard Overy


To the library!

 

[Smithy]

Now, I WILL be reading this. Anybody who examines and questions the myths sorrounding the event does deserve my attention, if not my hard earned $$.

BoB - Richard Overy


To the library!

One of the better more succinct treatises on the BoB to come out over the last few years. It's not what you would call the definitive narrative of the Battle but it does go some way to questioning the mythology and a number of popular misconceptions about the BoB, and is an amalgam of ideas which have been bandied around over the the last decade or so.

So there you go Chas, even you might have found a newish book about the BoB which has some new things to add to about the BoB.

 

[Spitfire]

Now, I WILL be reading this. Anybody who examines and questions the myths sorrounding the event does deserve my attention, if not my hard earned $$.

BoB - Richard Overy


To the library!

Read it last year. As far as I remember, it was a good read. Allthough it wasn't as revealing as I thought/hoped it would be.
Enjoy!

And while I am here: I have just strated up on Matthew Parkers The battle of Britain. I think I am going to like it, being a sucker for personal stories and testimonials. It looks like Parker is going to follow the route of Cornelius Ryan (The longest day) and introduce the reader to more and more people as the battle evolves and then follw them through to the end...it looks very promising!!!!

 

[Smithy]

Read it last year. As far as I remember, it was a good read. Allthough it wasn't as revealing as I thought/hoped it would be.
Enjoy!

And while I am here: I have just strated up on Matthew Parkers The battle of Britain. I think I am going to like it, being a sucker for personal stories and testimonials. It looks like Parker is going to follow the route of Cornelius Ryan (The longest day) and introduce the reader to more and more people as the battle evolves and then follw them through to the end...it looks very promising!!!!

I read this not long after it came out Spitty. The memory's a bit fuzzy but IIRC it did a very good job of intertwining personal stories with the history. If you like this sort of thing Craig and Clayton's "Finest Hour" isn't a bad one either, following ordinary people's accounts of the BoB and the Blitz.

I might just have to dig out Parker's book from the book shelf and read it again

And I just received my copy of Overy's "The BoB Experience". Beautifully presented and laid out in the landscape format. Obviously haven't had time to read it properly yet but looks good (if a little light but then that's the nature of the book) and the facsimiles of original documents is a very nice touch.

 

[Chas]

The heroic narratives tend to perpetuate the myths IMHO. From what I understand, from Overy is saying, the Brits didn't even come close to losing the BoB. So it wasn't "The Few", it was "The Quite A Few". But I will reserve further comment 'til I finish it.

Tally ho.

 

[Smithy]

The heroic narratives tend to perpetuate the myths IMHO. From what I understand, from Overy is saying, the Brits didn't even come close to losing the BoB. So it wasn't "The Few", it was "The Quite A Few". But I will reserve further comment 'til I finish it.

Tally ho.

The heroic narrative thing had largely disappeared from serious BoB studies around the 1970s .

I think you'll find that Overy doesn't say "the Brits didn't even come close to losing the BoB" but rather that a German invasion was extremely unlikely very much for the reasons I listed above in my earlier reply to you and that it was German air superiority over Britain which was ultimately stopped. As I said before it's not a bad little volume at all, being a good distillation of contemporary BoB analyses. In truth though it's a tad light but not a bad read to start leading into more indepth and exhaustive studies.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Have a good look at some of the photos, those chaps were bloody exhausted..I've interviewed them, and the WAAF's and from my point of view if we hadnt had some of the pre-war RAF and Polish pilots who did have the experience I'm not sure of the outcome.

It was still a close run thing and to be quite honest I find it more than a little offensive that it is being suggested otherwise!


Don't let's start re-writing history, it demeans Them.

Kate

 

[Smithy]

Have a good look at some of the photos, those chaps were bloody exhausted

I agree entirely with you Kate. Most of those very young men were flying up to 5 combat sorties a day, were up at around 4 in the morning and very often not released until late evening. Also because of the nature of defending Britain Park et al had to be very careful about the commitment of squadrons on raids and as a result you have the usual incidence where on interception, the RAF flights/squadrons were grossly outnumbered. They are heroes in my book and always will be.

 

[Spitfire]

The heroic narratives tend to perpetuate the myths IMHO. From what I understand, from Overy is saying, the Brits didn't even come close to losing the BoB. So it wasn't "The Few", it was "The Quite A Few". But I will reserve further comment 'til I finish it.

Tally ho.

1:4 is few in my book!

Kitty: BRAVO!

 

[Smithy]

The books are coming thick and fast this week!

Just got aviation artist, Robert Taylor's Battle of Britain Collection which is a wonderful new hardback with his BoB paintings and drawings and accompanying text. I'm a bit of a fan of his paintings as I have his "Battle of Britain VC". The book does a brilliant job of reproducing his artworks and it really is a little visual stunner of a book. (Spitty I know you would like this one )

 

[Spitfire]

I spotted it too - but I was only wondering if I did not allready have reproductions of all - or most of - the paintings, since I have the three volume book of his.

 

[PADDY]

Very informative thread Gents.

The great thing about members who are *enthusiastic* about a subject area (in this case the BoB air war) is that it flags up things that other members (such as myself) were not aware of, and it points the likes of *me* in the direction of resources and books that I'd be interested in reading.

There is no ONE DEFINITIVE read on these things Gents (My goodness, it would be boring if there was anyway!!). It's an ongoing *work-in-progress* of continuous discovery and as one learns more, one wants to learn more! like an inverted pyramid, start with all the BIG STUFF and then start focusing down on all the smaller details.

But I must say, I'm quite in awe of the knowledge base of some of you chaps here, and it really wets my appetite to learn more about this chapter in history. If fortress Britain had fallen, then the geo-political map of the world would look very different today.

I'll keep an eye out for this new book!

BT NOTE: Thanks for keeping a measured, balanced and gentlemanly *lid* on discussing things here. Points 'can' be made quite effectively without the need to ridicule or be judgemental towards others. Cheers Gents.

 

[Smithy]

I spotted it too - but I was only wondering if I did not allready have reproductions of all - or most of - the paintings, since I have the three volume book of his.

You probably will have a lot of them then Søren but have a look at amazon uk as the "look inside" feature means that you will be able to see from the table of contents which paintings are included. Saying that, the book does have a large amount of Taylor's drawings as well and also quite a substantial text for each painting. I'm very impressed with it as it's very nicely done.

There is no ONE DEFINITIVE read on these things Gents (My goodness, it would be boring if there was anyway!!). It's an ongoing *work-in-progress* of continuous discovery and as one learns more, one wants to learn more! like an inverted pyramid, start with all the BIG STUFF and then start focusing down on all the smaller details.

You have hit the nail on the head Paddy old boy. Like any passion or interest, you are always learning something new, even if it is merely a small detail, but it always spurs you on to read, learn and discover more.