Fighter Boys: The Battle of Britain, 1940 PDF
Preview Fighter Boys: The Battle of Britain, 1940
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940 PATRICK H OP B S I k U.S. $26.95 V THE SUMMER OF 1940 WAS SUPPOSED to be the beginning of the end of Britain. Europe had fallen to Hitler's storm troops with terrifying speed, and once the Royal Air Force was destroyed, Britain was next. But that was 6 precisely where the Nazis stumbled. For 123 s days, while Hermann Goering sent wave after .•9 wave of Luftwaffe fighters to rain down fire on ST • V9 Britain, three thousand RAF airmen fought back with a ferocity and agility that stunned ! Now the world. in this riveting book, military CJ historian and journalist Patrick Bishop presents the first account of this critical campaign told C 'IL. o s(ii from the perspective ofthe pilots themselves. c § £ Drawing on interviews with scores of sur- 1 5 $ .2 viving pilots as well as diaries and letters never seen before, Bishop re-creates with astonishing J intimacy and clarity this excruciating, exhila- rating war of nerves. In their own words, the pilots describe what it felt like when an engine exploded, a parachute failed to open, a swarm of Messerschmitts surrounded their plane, a bomb fell on their home village, or a comrade's plane "went in" (their bland term for a high speed crash into the ground). Had the RAF failed, a successful German — invasion would hav^ levitable and the (continuedonbackflap) 0803 Fighter Boys PATRICK BISHOP Boys Fighter The Battle of Britain, 1940 VIKING SOUTH BOSTON — VIKING Publishedbythe Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,375 Hudson Street, NewYork,NewYork 10014,U.S.A. PenguinBooks Ltd,80 Strand, LondonWC2RORL,England Penguin BooksAustralia Ltd,250 Camberwell Road,Camberwell, Victoria 3124,Australia PenguinBooks CanadaLtd, 10AlcornAvenue, Toronto,Ontario,CanadaM4V 3B2 PenguinBooks India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre,Panchsheel Park, NewDelhi- 110 017,India PenguinBooks (N.Z.) Ltd,CnrRosedale andAirborne Roads,Albany, Auckland,New Zealand PenguinBooks (SouthAfrica) (Pty) Ltd,24 SturdeeAvenue, Rosebank,Johannesburg2196,SouthAfrica Penguin BooksLtd,RegisteredOffices: 80 Strand,LondonWC2RORL,England FirstAmerican edition Publishedin 2003 byVikingPenguin, amemberofPenguin Group (USA) Inc. 987654321 10 Copyright©PatrickBishop,2003 All rights reserved Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData Bishop,Patrick (PatrickJoseph) Fighterboys :theBattle ofBritain, 1940 / PatrickBishop, p. cm. Includesbibliographical references andindex. ISBN 0-670-03230-1 1.Britain,Battle of,GreatBritain,—1940.2.GreatBritain. RoyalAir For—ce.Fighte—rCommand History.3.Fighterpilots GreatBritian History 20th century. I. Title. D756.5.B7B54 2003 940.54'4941—dc21 2003053522 @ Thisbook isprinted onacid-freepaper. Printedin the United States ofAmerica SetinMonotype Dante Withoutlimitingtherightsundercopyrightreservedabove,nopartofthispublicationmaybe reproduced,stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form orby any means (electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise),without the prior written permission ofboth the copyright ownerandthe abovepublisherofthisbook. Thescanning,uploading,and distribution ofthisbookviathe Internetorviaanyothermeans without the permission ofthe publisheris illegal andpunishable bylaw. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightedmaterials. Yoursupport ofthe author's rights is appreciated. SEP 2003 To Kelly and Bill
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