Cliffs of Dover Essential Reading

Websites
The Official RAF Battle of Britain Website

The Narrow Margin

The Falco and Regia Aeronautica in the Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain historical society

Battle-of-Britain.com

Imperial War Museum\'s \'Battle of Britain\' Page

The Chain Home Radar System

BBC\'s \'Behind the Battle of Britain\' Site

Luftwaffe sustained losses attacking from Norway

Some of the Immortal Few..
Douglas Bader

Alan Deere

Peter Townsend

"Ginger" Lacey

Stanford tuck (interview)

Books
The Battle of Britain by Arthur Ward

Battle of Britiain: Then and Now by Winston G Ramsey

The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain by Stephen Bungay

Duel of Eagles: The Struggle for the Ski...ter Townsend

Fly for Your Life: The Story of Wing Commander Bob Stanford Tuck
by Larry Forrester

Fighter Boys: Saving Britain 1940 by Patrick Bishop

Movies (non-documentary)
Battle of Britain (1969)

Dark Blue World

Members are encouraged to add posts with new links! Keep them coming folks!

The official RAF Battle of Britain website:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/bobhome.html

http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap40.html

this site has good info on losses the luftwaffe sustained from attacking britain from norway

Couple of quickies

The Battle of Britain History Site

Battle of Britain historical society

Battle-of-Britain.com

Battle of Britain

and some of the immortal few..
Douglas Bader

Alan Deere

Peter Townsend

"Ginger" Lacey

Stanford tuck (interview)

Bob information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A733565

About the Chain Home Radar

http://www.radarpages.co.uk/mob/ch/chainhome.htm

viking

Old to most but important to newcomers and a must to all the movie “The Battle of Britain”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ASD...&v=glance&n=130


And of course the DVD “Dark blue world”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000064...&v=glance&n=130

Viking

I have still not read a book about The Battle that is as good as "Duel Of Eagles" by Peter Townsend.
This book is by a man who is not only a terrific writer, he was an ace during The Battle. He knows of what he writes!
He doesn't simply tell you about the Summer of 1940. He goes back to 1918 and covers how the RAF and Luftwaffe were formed, and how they came to meet over the skies of England. If you only read one, I really this this should be it.

Duel of eagels is ok,

This book is essential:

The battle of britain, then and now

ISBN: 0900913460

Bergström (further presentation unnecessary) is doing a new book on the BoB. Have a look at http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/.

Will be published first in Swedish and then in English and I read somewhere that he compares this book with “The battle of Britain, then and now” (thanks Taisto for the tip!) only it will be more up to date. I am really looking forward to this release and hope that it will be as good as Bergströms previous books.

Viking

"Fly for your Life"

Seems to be a good book about this time of the war. Its basically a auto-bio of Robert Stanford Tuck. He flew in the BOB and was later shot down over Europe.

Figher Boys, Patrick Bishop.

Link

Bishop concentrates on the view of individuals rather than machinery and campaign overviews.
Its difficult to add anything to the massive ammount of material about the BOB but IMO Bishop has managed to produce something different.

Links have been updated.

Ave!

I registered today just so I could share a good fictional book with you for this topic:

'Piece of Cake' by Derek Robinson, one of the finest fictional books I've ever read that I feel conveys what air combat would actually feel like (at least to a flat-foot such as moi!). Additionally there is some really good dialogue (some made me laugh out loud & some good old gallows humour) and a few elements of myth-busting in there. I think there was a mini-series aired on ITV back in the late 80's, which might be available somewhere. For those that are interested, Robinson wrote a follow up 'A Good Clean Fight', set during the desert air war. Not as good, but still enjoyable. I recommend both highly.

Another (non-fiction) book that is pretty good (and well thumbed):
'Battle of Britain' by Richard Hough & Denis Richards.

Bon voyage!

I've just started this one Pooch and you are quite right mate it's very good indeed

I had no idea that German airships bombed Victoria Station in London and dropped tons of bombs on London's civilians. Or that the Red Baron strafed ditched RAF pilots. Or that Goering flew in a Circus mauve and yellow paint scheme. That must have been a sight to see

Ming

France invaded Germany and Goering was a really heroic character this one's breaking down some misconceptions and I'm only on page 60

Ming

Reads like a novel, doesn't it Ming? Well done, I thought. And when you get to his part in the whole thing, it really comes through in his writing that he still feels quite guilty about the Germans he killed.
I'm half way through "Fighter Boys," by Bishop. Another good one.

I'm not done with this one but it is sure to cause some interesting conversation regarding BoB.

Derek Robinson "Invasion 1940". He's known more for historical fiction dealing with the airwar in WWI and WWII, but this book so far is really a great read.

"First Light" Geoffrey Wellum 'ISBN 0-670-91248-4'
Geoff's recount of his experience in 92 Squadron during the Battle of Britain is a good read.

Heroic maybe, but popular amongst his peers he was not. He succeeded in becoming the Leader of JG1 not long after MvH lost his life, but was never invited to any of their post war reunions.

[Goering] was never invited to any of their post war reunions

Not true he was the life and soul of the Nuremburg party. Or was that Himmler. On the spoons

Ming

I heard the same, fancy dress was his forte, man in drag his speciality....and he only had one testicle or was that someone else

Wasn't it Hermann "Meyer" who had a penchant for pink uniforms too?

I do remember reading that he was an excellent pilot in WWI.

"Fighter" by Len Deighton is also good read. Focuses a lot on the technology of radar, the people behind the scenes and so on.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighter-True-Sto...ie=UTF8&s=books

It's actually similar to the Townsend book mentioned earlier. I have both, and would say IMHO that the Townsend one is the easier read.

Worth a look though.

Books: (quoted from this site: http://www.battleofbritain.net/bobhsoc/books.html)

TITLE: Finest Hour
AUTHOR: Tim Clayton & Phil Craig
ISBN: 0 340 75041 3
PUBLISHER: Hodder & Staughton
The period of the Battle of Britain comes to life in this book with a difference. It is the book of the BBC television series of the same name. It is not a book about tactics, it is not concerned about aircraft and bombs. It is a book about people. Basically it is a big collection of peoples stories, what they done, how they reacted, how they felt and how they went about their duties during this period of the war. Interviews and stories from Denis Wissler and Paul Ritchie of the RAF, Marion Holmes who was Winston Churchill's secretary, Peter Vaux and Ernie Leggett from the army, Ian Nethercott who was in the navy and WAAF Edith Kupp who married Dennis Wissler as well as many others. Excellent reference if you are looking for feelings and personal quotes. The personal testimonies are excellent in this hard cover book of 418 pages with numerous photographs.


I read this book some time ago and loved it. I really wish someone would make a movie about Dennis Wissler and Paul Ritchie. I would have romance, drama and tradgedy, which is all the good earmarks of a movie. Beats the hell out of the fictional story that was embedded into that 'Pearl Harbor' movie.

Is the movie "Hope and Glory" worth putting on the list? I loved this movie. No fighting but you get to see what the Battle of Britain was like for a young kid in london. Lots of funny moments.

I would like to recommend History Today's article

Pie in the Sky?

On Sunday, September 17th, Britain will once again remember the epic struggle of Fighter Command in the Second World War at a service of thanksgiving and rededication in Westminster Abbey before a congregation of airmen past and present. Like the great flypast of three hundred airplanes last September, the event will encourage Britons everywhere to recall how a handful of heroes saved these islands from invasion. But is this true - or the perpetuation of a glorious myth?

It is not mere revisionist history that puts this question, and indeed offers the suggestion that it would be at least equally fitting if, on this Battle of Britain Day, the Royal Navy were to send its ships in procession along our coasts - for it was the navy, not the RAF, that prevented a German invasion in 1940. This is the contention of three senior military historians at the Joint Services Command Staff College. Together they run the High Command course that teaches the past to the air marshals, generals and admirals of the future...

Unfortunately it's not free, but for six pounds you can read it along with four more articles from their archive.

And yet it is revisionist history.


S! Comp

So did you enjoy the article? :-)

No. I'm not paying six quid for it but it sounds very similar to other revisionist histories I've read. Anything new there?

S! Comp

Harvest of Messerschmitts: The Chronicle of a Village at War. 1940.

David Knight. Published by Frederick Warne 1981 but now out of print. ISBN 0723227721

Well illustrated. This little known book captures the atmosphere of the Battle better than most books on the subject.

Salute

Actually, while the Battle of Britain, which was an aerial engagement, was won by the RAF, the existence of the British Navy was at least as important to the fact the Germans could not invade as the presence of the RAF in the skies.

Because the Royal Navy outnumbered and dominated the German navy so thoroughly, in order to have a successful invasion, the Germans needed COMPLETE Air Superiority. The British merely needed a contested air space for their Navy to be able to operate, albeit with considerable loss, against an invasion.

For example, while the Germans had an overall air superiority during the Dunkirk evacuation, the RAF was able to contest control enough so that the Royal Navy could come in and evacuate the BEF. Losses were heavy in ships, but the job was done.

If the Germans had launched their invasion in September 1940, they would not have been able to prevent the Royal Navy from entering the Channel and sinking the majority of the German transports and supporting Naval elements. The losses to the Royal Navy would be high, but considering the alternative was the overrunning of the British homeland, it would be acceptable.

The Royal Navy never participated except in a peripheral way in the Battle of Britain, but when Hitler, the Werhmacht, the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe, planned their operations, it was the shadow in the corner of the room, the proverbial 1000 lb Gorilla.

Interesting read and well researched:

http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbri1.html

Scroll down, http://www.naval-history.net/WW2RN04-194004.htm

RN destroyer losses: 6 out of 40 (3 from torpedos)

If anyone living in the States subscribes to the online Blockbuster postal thingy, they have both Piece of Cake and the very moving documentary Finest Hour available. Just watched both of these again, the latter causing a couple of eye moisteners.

S! Comp

Greetings,

So long since I've been on here I had to create a new user!

Anyway, I'd certainly add 'The Hardest Day' by Alfred Price to the list. Excellent work on the frantic action of the 18th August 1940.

The low-level attack by KG76 on Kenley was the subject of one of the instant action scenarios in the original BoB.

S!

I thought a more substantial reason why Hitler didn't invade Britain was that he never expected Britain to keep fighting, and never made any serious preparations to invade?

Weather and time of year was also a major factor, not to mention Hermann Goering kept promising Hitler that the Luftwaffe could defeat Britain without the need for German troops on english soil.

Not withstanding the other factors like the Germans being overstretched on virtually every continent...

From a certain point of view, all history is revisionist history.

***

Even if the Germans could have achieved air supremacy, they wouldn't have had an easy go of an invasion. The Royal Navy would almost certainly have been tossed into the mix regardless; not only that, but the Germans had virtually no knowledge of how to conduct an amphibious invasion of a contested coastline (in fact, no nation had proper knowledge at the time). The equipment that was planned to be used consisted mainly of river barges, which would have required an almost unheard-of dead calm in the Channel in order to work without swamping, or so this one has been told. If any beachhead was to be secured, it would have to have been done via a combined naval-borne and airborne assault, using those massive Me 321 and Me 323 transports as well as the venerable old Ju 52, all of which would have had to brave a well-established network of flak and beach obstacles.

In short, the RAF was only the most visible of a large number of obstacles in Germany's way in 1940, the British having had almost a full year to prepare to resist a seaborne invasion. While Britain had nothing to approach the intricate fortifications of the Atlantic Wall, they had well enough preparations to make Jerry's day really unhappy. Of course, we can say this now, but this one imagines that the attitude was somewhat different in those days, and perhaps that could be one reason why the victory of the RAF is celebrated so much more then other factors in the campaign, such as how vital the Observer Corps was in supplementing the radar installations.

Dornier Do-17/215 and some Do-217 super site

Don't forget the Wiki's. They are at least as good as the general books out there.

What about War and Peace?

Just added this reading advice to the 1C site after reading the book last week:

Hi!

If you haven't read it, I can really recommend Richard Hillary's "The Last Enemy". Written by one of the Spitfire pilots that fought the Battle of Britain. It was written in 1941-1942 when Richard Hillary was recovering from the burn injuries he received after getting shot down during the battle. After he recovered he was put back in active duty and died on a mission in early 1943.

The interesting thing is that the book is written during the war, right after the battle. Hillary's memories are therefore very clear - and not colored by the analysis after the war...

Read it to get an exellent glimpse of what it was really like - from the training to the actual battle. In Hillary's division (603) that moved down to southern England from Scotland during the battle 8 out of 24 pilots survived the battle. How many that survived the war is not mentioned in the book as the war was still raging when it was written...

Regards /Mazex

Are there any B.O.B. books written from zee German's side of the action ?

Here are a few.

SPITFIRE ON MY TAIL, by Ulrich Steinhilper.
LUFTWAFFE FIGHTERS' BATTLE OF BRITAIN : The Inside Story - July to October 1940. By Chris Goss
LUFTWAFFE IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. By Armand Van Ishoven
LUFTSTRID OVER KANALEN. By Christer Bergstrom
A LUFTWAFFE BOMBER PILOT REMEMBERS. By Klaus Haberlen
THE LUFTWAFFE BOMBERS' BATTLE OF BRITAIN: The Inside Story - July to October 1940. By Chris Goss
BOMBER UNITS OF THE LUFTWAFFE 1933-1945 Vol.1 & 2. By Henry L. de Zeng IV and Douglas G. Stankey
9 STAFFEL/JAGDGESCHWADER 26: THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN PHOTO ALBUM OF LUFTWAFFE BF 109 PILOT WILLY FRONHOFER. By John Vasco
BOMBSIGHTS OVER ENGLAND: Erprobungsgruppe 210 Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. By John Vasco
ZERSTORER: The Me110 and its Units in 1940. By John Vasco

Fantastic, much thanks Pips.

A couple more German ones:

The Luftwaffe War Diaries - Cajus Bekker
JG26 War diary volume 1 - Donald Caldwell
The First and the Last : Adolf Galland

a couple of lesser known British ones:

Battle for Britain: Wing Commander H.R. Allen (autobiography)
Who Won the Battle of Britain: H.R. Allen (historical)

and one thrown in just for its novelty value:

Flying Fever : Air Vice Marshall S.F. Vincent
(this chap who u probably never even heard of was the only allied pilot officially credited with air victories whilst flying single seat fighters in BOTH world wars. he was station commander Northholt during the BoB)

Steve

Messerschmitt Bf 109 performance trials and tactical evaluations.

Kurfurst - The Messerschmitt Bf 109 Performance Resource Site

Currently it has dozens of performance tests, French, British, German, Finnish tactical trials relating to the Bf 109 and detailed information on the Messerschmitt's powerplants, like ratings, clearances etc. The site gets updated regularly.

Table of Contents

* I. Messerschmitt Bf 109 related Tactical & Technical Trials.
o Bf 109 E
o Bf 109 F
o Bf 109 G

* II. Messerschmitt Bf 109 related Performance Trials.
o Bf 109 B, C, D
o Bf 109 E
o Bf 109 F
o Bf 109 G
o Bf 109 K

* III. Messerschmitt Bf 109 Technology.
o Bf 109 Powerplants

* IV. Messerschmitt Bf 109 Operations,
o Deployment

[quote=Brigstock]"First Light" Geoffrey Wellum 'ISBN 0-670-91248-4'
Geoff's recount of his experience in 92 Squadron during the Battle of Britain is a good read.


Read this last year. Without doubt one of the best wartime recollections I have ever read. It really is in the 'Can't put down' category.

Highly reommended.

Paul

Good points. One might even suggest that the efforts by the RN during the German invasion of Norway reduced the offensive capacity of the Kreigsmarine to such a degree that a seaborne invasion of Britain became impossible without domination of the air. A tactical victory in Norway eventually became a strategic defeat... and vice versa for the British.

Cheers

Paul

IIRC Norway was a vital objective for Germany, all his steel came from there.

"Feindberührung" by Julius Meimberg.

http://www.neunundzwanzigsechs.de/main.php?page=11

Click on "Julius Meimberg" on the left side of the page and then on the Union Jack at the bottom of the page for a synopsis in English.

The book's all in German I'm afraid, but it has some excellent, first-hand accounts of an LW-pilot who flew during the entire war: Western front, Africa and Reichsverteidigung IIRC. The BoB is discussed pretty thoroughly in this book.



I also have Günther Rall's "Mein Flugbuch" from the same publisher - also highly recommended.


S.

The previously mentioned "First Light" by Wellum is the best pilot memoir I have come across yet, and I am in the process of reading them all.

The most dangerous enemy by Stephen Bungay.

Spitfire, potrait of a legend by Leo Mckinstry

Hurricane the last witnesses by Brian Milton

Forgotten voices of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain by Joshua Levine. this one contains a collection of quotes and stories of people in Britain that experienced the BOB. Quite harrowing at times.

Someone probably already mentioned this:


http://www.flightglobal.com/sitemap/default.aspx

This archive of Flight magazine (1909-2004) has lots of interesting and informative articles, photos and drawings.
For example there are fairly in-depth looks at German aircraft going through details of structural design etc. including 3D cutaways.
It's fascinating reading articles written as perceived at the time.
Quite often opinions of aircraft are influenced by propaganda, example: in January 1942 they make first mention of the FW190, saying it doesn't really measure up to the Hurricane or Spitfire.
An otherwise excellent article on the Short Stirling lists maximum speed as "around" 300mph (I guess around means +/- 50mph)

I am almost done with First Light and it's fantastic.

that is really interesting, thanks

Hope And Glory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLJKIsCtkic


The best Battle Of Britain documentary I've ever seen

The Battle Of Britain: The Real Story.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDDeLRy7UM0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5D49ohukdA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IHLZzEe5L4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8FsRU0fv_A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MW0irwx8A4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIcWxowigxY&feature=related

Good stuff Hackl.


Wheels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy

might as well add this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t3gjpuwriA

For a moving book about BoB lost pilots:

Finding the Few: Some Outstanding Mysteries of the Battle of Britain Investigated and Solved


Cheers,
6S.Insuber

This book gives the history of the famous Kosciuszko (303) Squadron and some its' pilots

http://www.lynneolson.com/questionofhonor/questionofhonor.htm

Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey is an excellent read http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0304363391/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/280-0694332-6801738

Not focussed on the BOB alone, but a great read for info on the JU-88, HE-111,Bf110, JU-87 and Bf109 (though G version):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wings-Luftwaffe-...5219&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Wings-of-the-Luftw...5267&sr=8-5

Just a super book by one of the world's greatest pilots.

Though I guess most people here know it well...

Recent book : "With Wings Like Eagles" by Michael Korda. His father was a famous film maker in the UK in the 1930's.

A few from my collection that I haven't seen mentioned...

Fiction:
Ace, Spencer Dunsmore (as a 109 pilot)
Squadron Airborne, Elleston Trevor
Piece of Cake (TV series DVD)
Making of 'Piece of Cake'

Pilot memoirs:
Angels 22, George Barclay
Ten Fighter Boys, assorted
Last of the Ten Fighter Boys, Jimmy Corbin
A willingness to die, Brian Kingcome
The Last Battle, Peter Henn (German)
First and the Last, Adolf Galland (German)

History:
Eagle day, Richard Collier
The Hardest Day, Alfred Price
The Story of Air Fighting, J.E. Johnson

Cheers
Keith

Not really focused on BoB at all but an awesome resource . Wicked HI-res pics with a good search function.

Get a coffee or a beer and check me out

well worth it.