Customer Reviews

The Battle of Britain (Classic Conflicts)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the best book on the Battle of Britain that I have ever come across. With small info on all the participating pilots in The Battle of Britain, the aircraft used by both the Luftwaffe and the RAF, and a day in the life of both RAF and Luftwaffe pilots... this book is deffinatly worth seeking out- regardless of the cost! It has a brilliant forward by Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling (whom I greatly admire, along with Douglas Bader, Johnnie Johnson, and a few others), it is described in the best way possible. It is deffinatly a must get!

I found this book to be superb. It is not a day-by-day laundry list of actions. Rather, it gives an overview of the Battle, and then breaks it down into several components. For instance, there is a chapter about the RAF leading up to late 1940, and then a succeeding chapter that goes over the development history of four planes they used, the Hurricane, Spitfire, Defiant, and Blenheim; with cutaway draweings of the two main fighters. Next is a chapter on the Luftwaffe, followed by a breakdown of the Bf109, Bf110, He111, Do17, and Ju88. And so on. What I found most fascinating was a breakdown of the fighter and bomber tactics used by each side, with numerous illustrations. There are a number of sidebars listing things like codewords both sides used over the radio. There are several sections written by actual pilots who fought in the Battle.

This is not a detailed book meant for the historical researcher. It is an overview of the Battle, quite detailed in some areas, with lots of glossy photos, drawings, and maps. I learned a lot of minutiae (flaws in one plane's radios, pecularities of this or that engine, and so on), more than I've seen in any other book intended for a similar audience. I highly recommend this book.

This book published by Salamander was put together with the 60th anniversary of The Battle of Britain in mind. I haven't enjoyed a book on this subject so much since I came across Len Deighton's volume back in the 70's.

Most of the reviewers here give high marks to this volume and rightly so. To make a totally parabolic statement such as "if it isn't in this book, you don't need to know it" would be a bit much, but not by much. Seldom in a book on WWII have I seen so much various detail and information packed between the covers. This is not a book you will read in a day, possibly in not a few days. Encompassing 325 b/w and color photos and illustrations, it also boasts full-color 3D aerial battle maps, maps which help illustrate the tactics used by both sides.

I've had this oversize book in my home library since Summer, 2000, and still prize it greatly. Anyone having the slighted interest in this battle will no doubt have interest in this fine book as well.

Semper Fi.

Mind numbing laundry lists of dates and squadron losses presented in narrative format, making it incredibly boring to read and impossible to use as a reference. No maps or tables, and a lot of information is repeated through the book as though it hadn't been edited. STAY AWAY.