Royal Air Force 1939–1945
Volume 1: The Fight At Odds
By Dennis Richards
1953
Crown Copyright Reserved
Printed and Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The ‘Dreadful Note of Preparation’
Chapter 2: La Drôle de Guerre: Bomber Command
Chapter 3: La Drôle de Guerre: Fighter and Coastal Commands. Training
Chapter 4: Scandinavian Misadventure
Chapter 5: Collapse in the West
Chapter 6: The Battle of Britain
Chapter 8: German Blockade, British Bombing
Chapter 9: Middle East: The Opening Rounds
Chapter 10: Middle East: The Loss of Cyrenaica and Greece
Chapter 11: Middle East: Iraq, Crete and Syria
Chapter 13: Towards the Offensive
Appendices
Appendix 1. Members of the Air Council, 1934–1941
Appendix 2. Air Officers Commanding-in-Chief, 1936–1941
Appendix 3. Royal Air Force Command Organization, September 1939
Appendix 4. Royal Air Force Command Organization, January 1941
Appendix 6. Principal Operational Aircraft of the Royal Air Force, 1939–1941
Appendix 7. Principal Operational Aircraft of the German Air Force, 1939–1941
Appendix 8. Principal Operational Aircraft of the Italian Air Force, 1939–1941
Appendix 9. Royal Air Force Middle East, Subordinate Commands, 1940–1941
Appendix 10. Order of Battle, Fighter Command, August 1940
Appendix 11. Glossary of Code Names and Abbreviations
Maps and Diagrams
The Battle of the Atlantic (1), 3 September 1939–May 1940
The Norwegian Campaign, 1940
The German Assault in the West, May–June 1940
Radar Cover, September 1939 and September 1940
The Air Defences of England and Wales, August 1940
The Main German Attacks, 15 August 1940
Production and Wastage of Spitfires and Hurricanes, July–October 1940
The Battle of the Atlantic (2), June 1940–Mid-March 1941
Action of the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, 20 May–1 June 1941
Principal Targets Attacked by Bomber Command, 3 September 1939–31 December 1941
The Mediterranean
Aircraft Reinforcement Routes to the Middle East, 1941
Cyrenaica and the Western Desert, December 1940–April 1941
The German Invasion of Greece, April 1941
The Capture of Italian East Africa, January–April 1941
Habbaniya and Falluja, 30 April–19 May 1941
Crete, May 1941
Syria and Iraq, May–July 1941
The Battle of the Atlantic (3), Mid-March–December 1941
Coastal Command Group Boundaries
The Escape of the Brest Group to Germany, 11–13 February 1942
Plates
Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall—Bomber Airfield at Dusk—Hurricanes on Patrol—The Altmark Spotted—Seven Years Afterwards—Dunkirk—Some of the Few—Aircraft Cemetery—Night Fighters—the Top-Scoring Team—St. Clement Danes, 10th May 1941—Malta—Gladiators over the Western Desert—Wellesley over Italian East Africa—Tobruk, January 1941—Wrecked Italian Aircraft at El Adem—The U-Boat which Surrendered to an Aircraft—Shipping ‘Strike’