Dowding and The Battle of Britain

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{detailed description}If Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command, had not won his battle with Sir Winston Churchill in 1940, the Battle of Britain would have been lost. This full account of the astounding events that took place then and until after the first and last great battle of the air had been won is told here for the first time.
In the summer of 1940 the first, and probably the last, major battle in the air was fought and won. Fighter Command, which won the Battle of Britain, was largely the creation of one man: Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding. And yet, in the autumn of that year he was forced to relinquish his command under circumstances that have never before been revealed. This has caused, ever since, endless speculation and controversy.
Prominent among his detractors, and critical of his fighting of the Battle, were senior officers who went behind his back and brought about his eventual retirement. A few of this clique went on to achieve the highest ranks in the Royal Air Force. Dowding was forgotten; only now, with the film Battle of Britain, is his worth being fully recognized.
Lord Dowding's battles for Fighter Command started four years before the out. break of war, from the time of his appointment as its first Commander-in-Chief. His approach to the defence of the United Kingdom was entirely new and extraordinarily far-sighted in every respect: air crews, aircraft, the development and use of radar, and the techniques of tightly-knit radio control.
Even as early as May 1940, Dowding had to fight Winston Churchill, who had just become Prime Minister and who wanted to send more precious squadrons of Fighter Command to France. There they would certainly have been destroyed and the Battle of Britain would have been lost. Political manoeuverings, however, had already been going on and he was being asked to relinquish his command. There were repeated postponements of this until he was summarily forced to give up his appointment, with no recognition of his great victory for Britain and the free world.
Dowding has always refused to comment about the events that led up to his retirement. Now, thirty years later, he feels that the time has come to tell the whole story of his personal experiences during Britain's key victory in the Second World War.
Robert Wright was joint author of Night Fighter, Years of Combat and Years of Command, the latter two being the autobiography of Sholto Douglas. He served as Lord Dowding's Personal Assistant during the latter part of the Battle of Britain, and from that close association there has developed a lasting personal friendship. They have had many discussions over the years, and together have made penetrating examinations of all the available records, and assessed all the arguments produced by the other leading protagonists.
Dowding and the Battle of Britain at last presents the first full account of what happened before, during and immediately after the battle to the prime architect of our success, Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding of Bentley Priory.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Robert Wright
published by Macdonald 1969 1st edn. 288pp
{condition}endpapers yellowed, otherwise good in worn d/j.
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