It opens with a brief history of the service, followed by a chapter that reviews its situation on the outbreak of war. The chapters that follow look at the structure of the RAF, from the Air Ministry and Chief of the Air Staff down to squadron level, to include each of the Commands, including Transport Command (a creation of the war years). The main aircraft types used are listed, as well as a full listing of squadrons and airfields in the British Isles. The training of personnel, and such matters as uniforms, rank insignia, medals and life on a typical airfield, are also covered. The main battles or campaigns in which the service was involved are also described.

Beskrivelse af RAF under 2. verdenskrig

Overstretched from the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Royal Navy acquired First World War surplus destroyers from the United States Navy and embarked on a massive programme of construction, building and buying aircraft carriers, escort carriers and frigates and corvettes, building up a powerful submarine arm and, almost from scratch, re-creating the naval air arm taken from it in 1918. The service had to learn fast. It soon became clear that the Germans would not provide an opportunity for a major battleship to battleship fleet action along the lines of Jutland, but that submarine warfare and surface raiders were to be just as effective at undermining the British war effort. The Royal Navy was expected to be active in the North Atlantic and in British waters, and then after the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, it had to protect the Arctic convoys. Meanwhile, it also had to keep control of the Mediterranean, alone after the fall of France, supporting ground forces in North Africa and then in Greece, send convoys to Malta and disrupt the Axis supply lines both in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Norway, and then it had to face the Japanese in the Far East. By the war's end the Royal Navy had grown from its pre-war strength of 129,000 to 863,000 men. Its fleet had also grown from 12 to 61 battleships and cruisers, seven to 59 aircraft carriers, and 100 to 846 destroyers, by 1945.

Traditionally, the right of the line is the vanguard, the place of honour and greatest danger in battle. In this history of the Royal Air Force during the European War of 1939-45, John Terraine shows how the RAF, which in 1939 was small and inadequate for the task it was called upon to perform had, by the end of the war, taken up its proper position. He describes the build-up to war, the early tests in France and at Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the RAF in North Africa and the Mediterranean, the strategic air offensive over Germany and eventual victory in Europe.His best book yet The TimesJohn Terraine is a fine historian but he also believes that history should be exciting and readable The Listener

This work deals with the many aspects of the US Army Air Force's organization and equipment in World War II. It includes everything from global strategies to command structures, flight training to combat aircraft, uniforms and equipment to health and welfare, morale, medals and awards, to a who's who of the Army Air Forces. Detailed listings also cover air force strengths and deployments, group and squadron codes, Medal of Honor recipients, and casualties. Illustrated with more than 150 photographs and line drawings, the book should appeal to anyone with an interest in the world's greatest air force and the key part it played in winning World War II.

The author has selected some twenty RAF fighter pilots of the Second World War, not only to give overdue recognition to their prowess and courage, but also to exemplify the wide diversity of the individual characters of those men whose war was fought from the cockpit of an RAF fighter. A few were familiar names but most received little or no public acclaim, being part of the silent majority which provided the real spine of the RAF's fighter effort throughout the conflict.