AMBERLEY The history of the Battle of Britain in the words of the pilots from a unique archive of first hand accounts.
Available to buy now!
T: 01285 760030 F: 01285 760031
THE FEW The Story of the Battle of Britain in the Words of the Pilots DILIP SARKAR
Author has interviewed more Battle of Britain pilots than any other historian. ‘Dilip knows more about me and the pilots with whom I flew during the Battle of Britain than we do! If anyone ever needs to know anything about the RAF during the summer of 1940, don’t ask the Few, ask him!’ GEORGE ‘GRUMPY’ UNWIN, Battle of Britain fighter ace. ‘Dilip Sarkar understands perfectly the mysteries of air tactics and strategy, enabling him write authoritatively, lively and deeply touching stories of those days when friend and foe met in the air’ PETER TOWNSEND, Battle of Britain fighter ace. Over 100 historic photographs, most originate from the personal albums of Battle of Britain veterans and have never been reproduced before.
In 1940, the world was shaken when Hitler conquered France and the Low Countries in just six weeks. As Hitler prepared a seaborne invasion of England, only RAF Fighter Command stood against the Nazi dictator, and the world literally held its breath. BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Publication:
June 2009
Price:
£25
ISBN: 84868-215-3
978-1-
Size: 172mm
248
Binding:
Hardback
Extent:
336 pages
x
100 photos Rights:
PRAISE SARKAR
World, all languages FOR
DILIP
T HE BATTLE OF B RITAIN : T HE P HOTOGRAPHIC KALEIDOSCOPE ‘An excellent book’ LADY BADER Bader’s Tangmere Spitfires ‘A most diligent and carefully researched account‘ JOHNNY JOHNSON, the RAF’s top scoring fighter ace in WW2 Fighter Pilot ‘This book deserves to achieve success’ DAME VERA LYNN
The Battle of Britain started on 10th July 1940, ending 16 weeks later on 31st October 1940. The Luftwaffe’s intention was to destroy Fighter Command, domination of the skies being crucial to Hitler’s invasion plan. During that fateful summer, young RAF fighter pilots, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes, were scrambled time and time again to face insuperable odds - and the Luftwaffe was, until that point, unbeaten. The enemy fighter pilots, in their brightly painted Messerschmitt 109s, were the most experienced in the world. But somehow the RAF pilots, fighting desperately in a spider’s web of intricate vapour trails, and with sudden and violent death an ever present companion, prevailed. Afterwards, Churchill paid homage to them all: ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few’. A legend had been born. Dilip Sarkar has been fascinated by the Battle of Britain since childhood and began seriously researching the subject in the 1970s. He wrote thousands of letters and travelled extensively over the UK interviewing the fabled ‘Few’. Over the last 30 years he has interviewed more Battle of Britain survivors than any other author and his archive is a unique collection of veterans ‘voices’. In this new book Dilip Sarkar chronicles the Battle of Britain from start to finish, drawing extensively from his interviews with pilots and support staff.
MARKETING, PUBLICITY, PRESS
Author is an acknowledged expert on the Battle of Britain with over 20 books on the subject to his credit.
Book signings at several major air shows in 2009 are planned.
Reviews in the aviation and history press to include Flypast, RAF News and BBC History Magazine.
Endorsement expected from Professor Richard Overy, author of The Battle of Britain (Penguin) and The Bombing War (forthcoming Penguin 2009).
Endorsement expected from Lady Bader.
THE AUTHOR Fascinated by the Battle of Britain since childhood, Dilip Sarkar remains both moved and inspired by the story of Churchill’s fabled Few, those young airmen who stood between freedom and a Britain dominated by Nazi Germany. Since the 1970s he has met and interviewed more Battle of Britain pilots than any other historian. He has researched the subject thoroughly and has published over twenty books, titles which include the only biographical works formally endorsed by the families of both Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and Air Vice-Marshal Johnnie Johnson. In 2003, Dilip was made an MBE for services to aviation history, and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society in 2006. He lives in Worcester.