Bøger af Steve Darlow

Churchill’s ‘Few’ will forever be remembered by history as men who thwarted the seemingly invincible German war machine, when all seemed lost. They countered the full force of the Luftwaffe in the daylight battles during the summer of 1940, and in the night skies of the winter and spring of 1940/41. They were at the time, and still are, perceived as knights of the air, as our heroes. Now, five distinguished RAF airmen, four pilots and one radar operator/navigator, who fought that air battle during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, have recounted their experiences in detail to author Steve Darlow. Their stories have never before been published, and they talk engagingly of their service life, combats, losses, injuries, friendships and fears – flying Spitfires, Hurricanes, Blenheims, Beaufighters and Havocs. One pilot tells of the time he fell victim to the enemy – ‘My Spitfire stopped being a flying machine, it became a lump of metal. I was going down with it and I couldn’t get out. I broke the seat by standing on it. The pressure throwing me into the bottom was terrific…’ A Beaufighter radar operator remembers being involved in shooting down a German aircraft – ‘He took a vertical dive, struck the ground and exploded with a shower of incendiaries. I felt like a child with a new toy. I had at last proved myself but for some reason I suddenly felt a little sad.’ But Five of the Few is not just about the experiences of these men during 1940/41. They would also distinguish themselves in subsequent air campaigns – night defense of the UK, offensive operations over the continent and support to D-Day and beyond. In between the aerial combats and ground attack operations, promotions, decorations and command responsibilities would come their way. But not all would make it through safely to the end of the war. One would end up behind barbed wire. Collectively Five of the Few is a war story of youth maturing, through aspiration and idealism, courage and bravado, fear and heroism, memory and reflection. It is a reminder of why so much was owed, and still is, by so many to so few.

The story behind the International Bomber Command Centre and the men and women it serves to remember and commemorate.

The extraordinary stories of five of the last remaining Second World War RAF Bomber Command Prisoners-of-War: pilot Reg Barker, bomb aimer Charles Clarke, air gunner David Fraser, air gunner Albert Gunn and navigator Henry Wagner.

From the autumn of 1943 to the last days of winter in early 1944, RAF Bomber Command directly assaulted the German capital Berlin. The authors, utilising considerable primary source material piece together the remarkable, yet ultimately tragic stories of some of those lost fighting the Battle of Berlin.

In the summer of 1944 Nazi Germany launched its terrifying V-weapons against England and RAF Bomber Command was called in to counter the menace. There was a human cost and V-Weapons Bomber Command Failed to Return tells the story of some of those who risked all fighting the German V-Weapon offensive, in direct defence of the civilian population.

During WWII, on one raid alone, Nuremburg March 1944, more Bomber Command airmen lost their lives than were lost in the Battle of Britain. These were ordinary men who became part of extraordinary events.