Secret Life of Fighter Command: Testimonials from the men and women who beat the Luftwaffe

by Sinclair McKay

During the dark days of 1940, when Britain faced the might of Hitler's armed forces alone, the RAF played an integral role in winning the Battle of Britain against the Luftwaffe, thus ensuring the country's safety from invasion. The men and women of Fighter Command worked tirelessly in air bases scattered throughout the length and breadth of Britain to thwart the Nazi attacks; The Secret Life of Fighter Command tells their story.

From setting up the ground-breaking radar systems along the coast of the Southeast of England, to the distribution of spotters of bombing waves coming along the Thames Estuary, the boffins who designed and built the guidance and detection structures to organise a winning defence umbrella, to the Wrens who plotted enemy movements and then conveyed this to the various RAF squadrons stationed in the UK's zonal defence system — all of them played a part in maintaining the security over Britain. Through exclusive interviews with various members of this unique and world famous organisation, bestselling author Sinclair McKay tells the human story of how Britain survived the Nazi onslaught and enabled our Hurricanes and Spitfires to triumph over the German airforce.

Genres: History, Military History, World War II, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2015

About the author

Sinclair McKay writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph and The Secret Listeners and has written books about James Bond and Hammer horror for Aurum. His next book, about the wartime “Y” Service during World War II, is due to be published by Aurum in 2012. He lives in London.
-Source

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great survey of the role and experience of RAF Fighter Command in World War II. McKay did an excellent job of including the big picture while giving a voice to the common man and woman doing the work of air defense. This was also a very accessible read. I would recommend this to anyone! It did a great job of providing excellent information without details being too granular. The granularity of certain descriptions and accounts made perfect sense. Overall I really enjoyed this survey and it has sparked an interest in reading more about the RAF.

[Liz C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective although despite the title I was assuming would be more on the actual pilots. However, this book provides depth to the story behind the story of the Battle of Britain and was a captivating read.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little brief on details, does not go into depth.

[Kevin Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, full of interesting information and observations from the people who were there risking their lives to help save the nation.

[Holden Barbaree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great read especially if you are a huge history buff like myself. Unlike many historic writings, The Secret Life of Fighter Command was easy to get into. It spoke about many important figures during the Second World War. One of the biggest of them all was Air Chief, Marshall Dowding. He was in charge of defending England from the wretched Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe was the pride of Hitler’s Wehrmacht. It was essentially Hitler’s Air Force. They played a key role in the invasion of Poland that led to the domination of Europe. Air Forces’ all over the world feared these infamous men flying the planes with the black and white crosses on the wings. The book starts well before the war talking about the first installations of radar on the east coast of England. It was a very primitive system compared to the ones we use today. The systems could only tell location therefore it wasn’t helpful with height or bearing. This made it very difficult for British pilots to find these incoming bombers and fighters in certain weather conditions. Once the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill was elected he made one of his top priorities to defend England from Hitler’s war machine. He tasked many scientists on developing a state of the art radar system to detect planes and to display accurate location readings. The book follows many different people throughout the book with many different jobs thus giving the reader a well-rounded look at different perspectives during the war. From fighter pilots themselves to the women who worked radar for hours during disastrous night raids. One of my favorite quotes was written in a Times ad it read, “If you are seventeen and a half and not yet thirty one, go to the RAF section of the nearest Combined Recruiting Centre and say you wish to volunteer as a pilot” (275). This quote is very symbolic of what the book represents. There was a humongous shortage of British pilots in the Royal Air Force at the time. The shortage was so bad that the RAF was letting pilots from other European nations come fly for them. The defense ministry needed all the help they can get. By using this ad in the Times they were asking all men between the ages of seventeen and a half and thirty-one to join the war. One question that connects to the book is how do we form and shape identities. When we are first introduced to Winston Churchill he doesn’t seem fit to lead a nation. He is second-guessed by many higher-powered figures and is not well regarded at the beginning of his stint as Prime Minister. He quickly changed many people’s opinions by developing a complex defense system around England. It wasn’t the most effective because of many human errors but in my opinion and many others he was one of the reasons England was not invaded during the war. He had a huge influence as well with trusting his appointed men in the defense ministry. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in the defense of England. This book would also interest people that would like to read about the war from many different perspectives. It is a much deeper detailed version than what most books talk about so be ready for a long read but a very educational one.

[iain meek · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short prelude before WW2 and a short postlude after WW2. Somehow not a history of Fighter Command. Mostly an up-to-date description of the outfit during WW2- nothing particularly new.

Well enough written but let down by it's title.