Rating: 
Summary: Objective, Interesting and Informative
Review: This is a very enlightening and easy to understand book on the history the RAF and the Luftwaffe in the time period between the end of WWI and the Battle of Britain. The book describes and compares the tactics, weapons and philosophies of both sides and also provides interesting biographies of the major players of the air war. The detailed descriptions and development histories of the various planes were very interesting and the numerous maps and diagrams help to make the text very understandable. There are many myths, such as the belief that the Germans did not have radar, that are dispelled in this excellent book. This was the first work by Len Deighton that I have read and upon completion I immediately bought Blitzkrieg and Blood Tears and Folly by the same author.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is one of the best books on the Battle of Britain. A well written work which shows how both sides, German and British, planned and waged the battle. It also includes many technical aspects,which Deighton makes intereasting. The introduction by A.J.P. Taylor is excellent. A classic on world war II.
Rating: 
Summary: The last 'romantic' war
Review: What images come to mind when you think about the Battle of Britain? Maybe you can recall seeing the widely published photographs that are referred to in the book - 'pilots petting their dogs, playing cards or relaxing in deck chairs on neatly trimmed grass' or demonstrating with their hands how they shot down another plane from behind, (like school boys - you can almost hear them going 'ratta tatta tat', firing their imaginary guns). This image, of a great adventure in a romantic era is strengthend when you read about the exploits of the British 'aces' or the German 'experten' and when you realize that there were German pilots that were honourable and brave enough to return to base with unused bombs because they couldn't find a military target to drop them on. How poignant is the following description from the book about the loss of one of these pilots. 'He parachuted down into the wintry waters of the Channel while his men circled, unable to save him' "It was as if a curtain went down and the play ended"' said one of the watching pilots. The events that took place in the blue skies over southern England in the summer of 1940 were indeed, as Deighton says, the last romantic war.The author however makes it very clear from the start that a lot of what comes to mind when we think about the Battle of Britain is a very deliberate effort to create a 'David versus Goliath' myth. For example, Churchill relied on rhetoric to reinforce in the minds of the British public, the great victory that had been achieved. He also had the US in mind when he spoke, because he knew that people there had now started to believe that with help, Britain might make it. It shouldn't be a surprise to realize that the day of the largest air battle over central London (September 15th) which was therefore witnessed by the most people, quickly became the day celebrated as Battle of Britain day. It shouldn't be a surprise either to learn that this was the day of the largest RAF combat victory claim - 185 German planes shot down! The postwar figure was revised downward to a truer total, 56. Britain was as adept as Germany in using war time propaganda. Political infighting and backstabbing was as common as the air battles and almost as deadly. Politicians, Military men and civilians, both German and British, all had axes to grind. Ernhard Milch, Gorings Deputy hated Willy Messerschmitt and tried to ruin him. Messerschmitt in turn had no use for another aircraft designer - Ernest Heinkel. Churchill didn't care much for his Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. Perhaps the bitterest rivalry is the one pitting Trafford Leigh-Mallory (a deputy of Dowding) and Squadron Leader Douglas Bader (the legless ace) against Dowding and another of his deputies Keith Park. The outcome of this battle was embarassment and humilitiation, loss of jobs and ruined careers for Dowding and Park. Treatment from their own worse than anything the enemy did. Offcourse the book is about more than myths and the historical persons involved, it is principally about the planes and more specifically the Hurricane, Spitfire and Messerscmitt Bf109. The development of the airframes, engines, armament and supporting technologies such as radar are all interestingly laid out in detail. Deighton also has creatively split the air battles into four phases each with a different tactic being employed by the Germans or different strategic objectives in mind. This is helpful as it leads to a question asked in the book - What was the German plan for the Battle of Britain? It is difficult to answer this looking at the changing tactics, goals and targets. The answer may lie with the perspective you take. Indeed this brings up the most startling revelation in the whole book. Germany and Germans, even 'til today, do not recognise any event called the Battle of Britain. We are therefore right back to where we began - What images come to mind when you think about the Battle of Britain? For Germans it's simply a myth.
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