Freedoms Battle Vol 02 Voices From The War In The Air 19391945 Gavin Lyall by Gavin Lyall 9781845950842, 1845950844 instant download after payment.

Gavin Lyall, who edited the original edition of The War in the Air, was himself a National Service pilot during the 1950s, flying Tiger Moths and Meteors. A particularly fine writer, he was the ideal choice to edit this anthology of the Royal Air Force in theSecond World War.
He wisely adopts a chronological approach to the subject and starts the book with one of the most famous fliers, Guy Gibson, who was later to lead the Dambusters Raid. Already a professional pilot in September 1939 at the age of 21, Gibson recalled the days before Britain actually declared war. 'A world about to go mad. For us a runny feeling that the next day we might not be in this world.'
After the Phoney War, in April 1940 British troops landed in northern Norway. The RAF soon saw action, flying outdated Gloucester Gladiators alongside the Hurricanes. By May, the
German Blitzkrieg had overrun Holland, Belgium and areas of northern France, forcing the British Expeditionary Force to retreat towards Dunkirk. It is here that Lyall has chosen Al Deere to describe an early dogfight. One of the outstanding fighter pIlots of the Second World War, Deere was also one of the luckiest pilots to survive. In the space of a few weeks he collided with an Me 109, was shot down by a Spitfire and then had a wing of his plane
blown off by a bomb during a scramble. Sent home to prepare pilots for the next phase of the war, he was forced to bailout after a mid-air collision over Sussex.