Churchill's Few: The Battle of Britain

Churchill's Few: The Battle of Britain

by John Willis

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Overview

The most famous turning point of World War II.

Eighty years after the Battle of Britain this vivid and dramatic book tells the story, in their own words, of six brave young men who fought courageously in the skies above England to prevent Hitler's invasion of Britain.

This thin blue line in their Hurricanes and Spitfires were the "few" to whom Churchill said the nation owed so much. It was, as one pilot's wife put it "a queer, golden time," when men in their teens and twenties fought each other in a brutal but still gentlemanly conflict. At stake was the very future of Britain.

The six men in this sympathetic but honest portrayal were from vastly contrasting backgrounds. Geoffrey Page, shot down in his Hurricane and the victim of horrendous burns, was a founder member of the legendary Guinea Pig Club. Bob Doe, also badly injured, was one of the most successful fighter aces but remained unheralded and out of the public eye. Cyril Bamberger rose from humble origins as a Sergeant Pilot to win a DFC and bar. Joseph Slagowski was one of the small band of heroic Polish pilots whose contribution to the Battle, as this book shows, remains scandalously undervalued.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781912914050
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 06/16/2020
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 408,141
Product dimensions: 5.67(w) x 8.57(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

John Willis is a British television executive. He is a former Vice-president of National Programs at WGBH Boston, former Director of Programmes at Channel 4 and Director of Factual and Learning at the BBC. In 2012 he was elected as Chair of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

He started his career as a documentary maker and won a string of major awards for his films including Churchill's Few, on which this book is based.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Prologue xi

Part 1 Before the Battle 1

The Build up 3

The Flying Ace 9

The Pole 21

The Intelligence Officer 31

The Guinea Pig 41

The Sergeant Pilot 51

The German 57

Battle Order 67

Part 2 The Battle 83

The Closing Days of July 85

The Battle Warms Up 95

Disaster 105

Eagle Day and Beyond 119

More Losses 131

Under Threat 147

Turning Point 163

The Tide Really Turns 173

The Risks Continue 189

The Final Days 201

The Prisoner of War 217

Part 3 After the Battle 223

The War Goes On 225

The Intelligence Officer II 247

The Sergeant Pilot II 255

The Guinea Pig II 263

The Pole II 275

The Flying Ace II 281

The German II 287

End of an Era 305

Epilogue 327

Postscript 331

Acknowledgements 335

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