Great Britain. Royal Air Force - Royal Air Force handbook, 1939-1945

RAF

Handbook

19391945

Handbook

19391945

D AVID W RAGG

First published in 2007

The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG
www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved
David Wragg, 2007, 2013

The right of David Wragg to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9599 6

Original typesetting by The History Press

In researching and compiling any such book as this, an author is heavily dependent on the help and assistance of many others. In particular, I am grateful to the Photographic Archive team at the Imperial War Museum and to Jonathan Falconer of Sutton Publishing for help with the illustrations.

No work on a subject as vast as the Royal Air Force during the Second World War can cover every inch of ground, and for those whose appetite is whetted by this book, I would draw their attention to the bibliography at the back. There are accounts of the war in the air from every perspective, including the all-important personal accounts, as well as volumes of sheer factual matter.

David Wragg
Edinburgh
15 November 2006

The Royal Air Force in 1939 had the advantage of having been the worlds first autonomous air force, and the intuition to concentrate most of its often scant resources on the concept of strategic air power, based on fighter defences and bomber offensives. It had been starved of resources for most of the period between the two world wars, but in the three years running up to the Second World War, it underwent dramatic expansion, aided by the growth of the reserve squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

In wartime, its record was mixed, providing a valiant fighter defence in the Battle of Britain, but taking some time before the accuracy of its bombing reached an acceptable standard, while early losses among bomber crews were unsustainable. The war years saw a number of controversies, including that over the strategic bombing campaign, but also in the struggle between Coastal and Bomber Commands for long-range aircraft. One innovation of the war years was the formation of a dedicated Transport Command, empha-sising the importance of air transport in support of ground forces and in the liberation of Europe and reconquest of Asia. The creation of such commands as the Western Desert Air Force and the Second Tactical Air Force strengthened and vastly improved coordination with ground forces.

This is the story of the RAF during the war years, with the situation set in context by a brief history of the period from the formation of the RAF in 1918 to the outbreak of war in 1939. The structure of the service is explained, along with a narrative of its wartime record, followed by brief details of each squadron and the main UK air stations during the war. There is information on recruitment and training, and on life in the RAF for the men and women who served at a time when the nations future was in doubt.

British defence policy between the wars was undermined by the Ten Year Rule, which decreed that there would be ten years in which to prepare for war. In fact just six years elapsed between Hitler gaining absolute power in Germany and the outbreak of war in 1939. Today, something akin to the Ten Year Rule is in place once again and another chilling thought development of the Eurofighter Typhoon has taken as long as the interval between the two world wars.