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Best Battle of Britain Memoirs?


Procopius

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I was pondering what titles a list of the best books about the Battle of Britain written by participants might include. There are some obvious inclusions, like First Light by Geoffrey Wellum or Gun Button to Fire by Tom Neil, but what are some of your other recommendations, and why?

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Not a published book, but I do have this small booklet. It was printed in my home province of Nova Scotia, some time during the war. There is no date on it.

 

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Chris

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3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Not a published book, but I do have this small booklet. It was printed in my home province of Nova Scotia, some time during the war. There is no date on it.

 

 

 

 

Chris

Is that not the Air Ministry pamphlet on the Battle?

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I once bought / received a copy of the novel "The Hardest Day" - The Battle of Britain 18 August 1940 by Alfred Price. Its probably not the best overall campaign piece of work as it mainly concentrates on one date in time, however its not bad. Having re-read your post you may be after books written by participants rather than historians. I'll give Mr./Dr. Price the benefit of the doubt that he may belong to the latter category. 

 

Cheers (and good thread)... Dave  

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12 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I once bought / received a copy of the novel "The Hardest Day" - The Battle of Britain 18 August 1940 by Alfred Price. Its probably not the best overall campaign piece of work as it mainly concentrates on one date in time, however its not bad. Having re-read your post you may be after books written by participants rather than historians. I'll give Mr./Dr. Price the benefit of the doubt that he may belong to the latter category. 

 

Cheers (and good thread)... Dave  

It's a great book, as is his Battle of Britain Day, about 15 September, but yes, it's not a memoir. 

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Group Captain Alan C.Deere. 'Nine Lives'. I seem to have a first addition of this. 

My favourite modern book is 'Dennis Knights Battle of Britain Sketchbook'.

Then there are the 'Battle of Britain combat Archive' series. This is an on going day by day record of the battle.

 

Edited by Greg Law
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I would add David Crook's Spitfire PIlot, and Roger Hall's Clouds of Fear (recently republished as Spitfire Pilot, presumably as a more saleable title).  The latter is far from the usual combat memoir, but all the more impressive for that.

 

I understood that Deere's Nine Lives was ghost written, but would appreciate the truth of that.  It's sadly true that many such books are, which doesn't make them valueless but unlikely to provide deep insight.  I do know that Beamont was later dismissive of his early biography.

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For my sins, my study shelves sag under the weight of a variety of BoB memoirs and biographies, amongst which are: Tally Ho - Bob Foster; One of the Few - Johnny Kent; A Willingness to Die - Brian Kingcombe; Hurricane Combat - Ken Mackenzie; Fighter Pilot - Bob Doe; Spirit  of the Blue - Peter Ayerst; Glorious Summer Laddie Lucas & Johnny Johnson.

Of these (and others), I think I found the first 2 perhaps the more informative, with many of them showing how the passage of time sometimes confuses the actual timing of some of the events described. This is perhaps unsurprising in view of how long ago all this occurred and how detailed the internet has allowed more recent research to progress. The anorak pit is probably waiting for all os us.

I also enjoyed the view from the other side through Ulrich Steinhilper's Spitfire on my Tail. I'm sure there are many with different views/perspectives. Paul

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I would second Tally Ho as being pretty good. Peter Townsend's Duel of Eagles is as much about others' experiences as his own but is quite interesting, as is Keith Park's eponymous autobiography which covers a lot more than the Battle of Britain.

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How about 'The First and The Last' by Adolf Galland - I must read it again but it did contain his view of the Battle of Britain from the other side. Also, the internal machinations of the Luftwaffe were interesting and he seems to have been at the centre of the key Western Front activities after the BoB.

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Second vote for Al Deere's "Nine LIves". First read when I was twelve years old after borrowing it from the school library. No idea how many times I've read it since. Also helped by living close to Southend Airport (Rochford Aerodrome) and my grandparents lived on the edge of the old Hornchurch aerodrome, so all familiar locations for me. It's just a great read too.

 

Also, Geoffrey Page's "Tale of a Guinea pig" is also a great book.

 

Best regards;

Steve 

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I'll just toss in Sandy Johnstone's Spitfire Into War.  Recreated from diaries of a pilot on 602 Squadron and still in a daily format which gives immediacy and some idea of the tempo of things.  Also a number of incidental details for modellers on things like addition of armour, rear view mirrors, constant-speed props, cannon armament.

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There's also "Paddy" Life and times of Wing Commander Paddy Barthropp". A great read and also very entertaining autobiography. Having met Paddy Barthropp a few times, I can say with certainty that his unique character comes through in his writing. He was quite a card with a very interesting life story to tell. "Dizzy" Allen's book "Ten Fighter Boys" is also a good, frank read. HMSO also published several little books based on transcripts of contemporary interview with aircrew, some Battle of Britain types. It's doesn't credit who the interviewees are, but most are easy to work out from their stories. Al Deere, for instance, recounts the rescue mission he escorted of 74 Squadron's CO from France on 23rd May 1940.

 

Steve

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48 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

There's also "Paddy" Life and times of Wing Commander Paddy Barthropp". A great read and also very entertaining autobiography. Having met Paddy Barthropp a few times, I can say with certainty that his unique character comes through in his writing. He was quite a card with a very interesting life story to tell. "Dizzy" Allen's book "Ten Fighter Boys" is also a good, frank read.

I have a very early US edition of Ten Fighter Boys, but haven't read Barthropp's book (though I've wanted to). I understand he's very critical of Fighter Command?

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Wellum's "First Light" is my personal favourite but I'd also strongly recommend Jim Bailey's "The Sky Suspended" which is unusual because Bailey was a Defiant pilot.  It's a small volume but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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6 minutes ago, mhaselden said:

 I'd also strongly recommend Jim Bailey's "The Sky Suspended" which is unusual because Bailey was a Defiant pilot.  It's a small volume but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And purchased! Thanks for the tip.

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Can't disagree with all the suggestions above, some of which I don't have. Just a couple of comments. I recently re-read Alan  Deere's "Nine Lives" for research reasons and found it a weel written and compelling account of his early  career over France and in the BoB. A worthy addition. The other thing that occurred to me along the lines of Adolf Galland's book was "Spitfire on my Tail" by Ulrich Steinhilper which stood out for me since he was not perhaps one of the most famous Jagdwaffe pilots but, in a way, his observations are perhaps less sellf-serving as some. Paul

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Try Spitfire Squadron. It is not written by any one person but it  is edited by David Guthrie. Each short chapter is accounts by individuals who flew in a Spitfire Squadron between 1940 and 1941. The book is only 142 pages long but each account or chapter of each individual is quite powerful. My copy is a Corgie paperback from 1976 catalogue no. 0 552 10326 8. 

 

Also perhaps more obviously Richard Hillary's The Last Enemy as it gives an authentic flavour if that's the right word of the era.

 

Cheers Greg

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