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Battle of Britain Combat Archive - Volumes 1-8

Simon W Parry

BofB8set

£165.00

  • Author
  • Size
A4
  • Extent
Total of 1064 pages over eight volumes
  • Illustrations
Approximately 1000 original photos, maps and profiles
  • Book Jacket
Softback
  • Publisher

About

Battle of Britain Combat Archive

Join the most exciting Battle of Britain project ever! Buy this set of eight volumes together for a large saving on the individual RRPs.

Never before have the aerial combats of the Battle been chronicled. True, there are hundreds of books available about the aircraft, the men, the tactics and the casualties – but when it comes to the actual fighting remarkably little is available.

The Idea

Simon Parry and Mark Postlethwaite, owners of Red Kite, have created an entirely new concept to clearly illustrate each combat.

Each day is broken down into the individual engagements that took place, hour-by-hour.

Each engagement features:

A map showing where the combat took place, the forces involved and where aircraft were shot down.

Listing of RAF and Luftwaffe Casualties.

Listing of RAF and Luftwaffe victory claims.

Squadron reports.

Pilot’s combat reports.

 

New information

A key new feature is the information from the RAF Casualty files. These documents have only recently been made available by the Ministry of Defence, and add a remarkable new level of detail to the RAF casualties.
Still in the process of be released, the reports are often published here within months of becoming available.

Warts and All

Some of the information does not make for easy reading, or present a pretty picture of events. The extent of ‘over-claiming’ on both sides is clear to see, as are the accounts of ‘friendly fire’, the failings of the controllers and the lack of air-sea rescue to save downed pilots.

In their own words

No ‘third-party’ accounts are included. Every report is reproduced as it was written by the pilots themselves or the Intelligence Officers. Their words bring the events they had witnessed just hours before to life in a way no modern commentary could.

Bringing the Battle into the 21st Century

Books on the Battle have become ever more academic and ‘dull’. The Battle of Britain Combat Archive brings the colour back with dozens of specially commissioned artworks and profiles of the aircraft. Artist Mark Postlethwaite has designed a full colour format to make each page and table easy to understand.

The Extent

Volume 1-8 cover from the beginning of the Battle of Britain on 10 July to 31 August 1940, leading us a fitting half-way point in the Battle. After this we expect the series to run for at least another six volumes, possibly eight, depending upon the material that we unearth for October.

To see sample pages and to read more specific information about each volume please browse the individual product pages for Volumes 1-8 on this website.