An Oral History of Britain's "Finest Hour".
In the summer of 1940 Britain seemed doomed. The elite of her army had been driven ignominiously from France, her allies had collapsed and her population was seized with invasion panic. A few miles across the Channel was the most terrifying and efficient fighting machine ever unleashed.
All that stood between Britain and Nazi occupation were Winston Churchill, the English Channel and the fighter squadrons of the RAF. In the fierce fighting that followed in the skies over southern England, earlier ideas of chivalry and fair play were quickly overtaken by a ruthless desperation. Each pilot knew his chances of surviving for long were limited and the fear of a nightmare death by burning spread quickly.
Through fascinating interviews with the survivors of the battle on both sides, this book tells how Britain survived the rest of that year and inflicted on Hitler his first defeat. It is a tale of tactics, aircraft, leadership, propaganda and politics, but above all, it is a story of heroism and endurance: not just of the pilots, but also of the ground crews, support systems and civilians who responded to the bombing of their homes with extraordinary steadfastness and unity.
