Battle of britian books?
 

I just finished reading Christer Bergstrom's battle of britian book.It gave me a good overview of the battle.
What are the best books to buy to learn more?From British or German points of view.
Best memoirs/first person accounts?
Best squadron histories of the battle?
Best aircraft books?

Recommendations??

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

Of all the books I have on military aviation/history, I have only two on the Battle Of Britain itself..
These are "Battle over Britain" (F.K.Mason) revised,
and "Men Of The Battle Of Britain" (K.G.Wynn)
There are many many more out there including "The Narrow Margin" and so on.
But I feel the two above have served me well over the years....

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

By far the best analysis in my view is Stephen Bungay's "The Most Dangerous Enemy" (available in paperback).

For a day-by-day account there is Mason's book (mentioned by AMC) which was a pioneering work but has been improved on since by "The Battle of Britain Then and Now". (However, Mason did also discuss the raids on Britain in The Great War and how that experience affected preparations for the next conflict.

Alfred Price also wrote to very good and highly detailed accounts of two days in the Battle: "The Hardest Day" and "Battle of Britain Day". Price did something different from other books by giving background about life in Britain and London in August and September 1940.

Len Deighton's "Fighter" is every bit as readable as his novels and asks some interesting questions but a lot of what he says would be disputed, I think.

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

There are quite a few errors in Christer's book concerning details on the Bf 110 units. Cross check many of the details. One example: pages 237&238. He says: "...The Gruppenkommandeur, Hauptmann Martin Lutz fell in the air over Bristol. A little further north, the ace Oberleutnant Wilhelm Richard Rössiger perished in the flames of his burning Bf 110..."

What? Lutz's Bf 110 came down at Bussey Stool Farm, near Tarrant Gunville, not Bristol.

Rößiger down further north than Bristol? Rößiger was shot down into the Channel. All the Bf 110 crashes on land are accounted for in this raid.

Caveat Emptor...

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

1. Agree re Stephen Bungay's book.

2. Yes, Mason's book was pioneering for its time. But its content has been overtaken in recent decades by more recent research (even the 1990 second edition). Even the Battle of Britain Then and Now and its subsequent mini updates is somewhat behind the game now, but I would dearly love to see a fresh edition published with all that is known up to present with regard to combats and losses...

3. Alfred Price's books have stood the test of time admirably.

4. Didn't Bader call Len Deighton, 'That well-known writer of fiction'?

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

Talking of BoB books with errors, I must mention the one by James Holland. When he wrote that a Ju 87 crew experienced negative-g when pulling out of a dive, I thought it was a misprint. When he said it again later in the book, I realised that he actually didn't understand what he was talking about.

Then he tried to be controversial with his verdict that the Bf 109 was a better fighter than the Spitfire. And one reason? The Spitfire would be out of ammunition in 16 seconds whereas the Bf 109's machine guns could keep firing for a whole minute — no recognition that it was weight of fire per second that mattered in air combat. By his logic an aircraft could be improved by reducing the number of guns but keeping the same load of ammunition.

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

IMHO that depends on the number of guns and their calibre. I imagine many P-47 pilots would have been happier with just six .5 inch guns, instead of eight, but with a bit more ammunition to feed them. Six were just as deadly. I seem to remember that some pilots actually switched off one pair of guns to conserve firepower for later.

Back to BoB books, how about the recently released "Battle for the Channel: The First Month of the Battle of Britain 10 July - 10 August 1940" by Brian Cull?

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

Only one small point
Of the "The Battle of Britain Then and Now" editions the Mk V is the last one. So if someone is going to bye one, the Mk V is the best option.

Juha

Re: Battle of Britain books?
 

That's a good point once you have enough firepower for the job you're doing. Then anything more is just extra weight.

Re: Battle of britian books?
 

New and from Fonthill Media.

Jay
j.slater@fonthillmedia.com