A Summer Bright and Terrible: Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain - Hardcover

Fisher, David E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1593760477 ISBN 13: 9781593760472

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2005

Synopsis

Lord Hugh Dowding, Air Chief Marshall of the Royal Air Force, Head of Fighter Command, First Baron of Bentley Priory, lived in the grip of unseen spirits. In thrall of the supernatural world, he talked to the ghosts of his dead pilots, proclaimed that Hitler was defeated only by the personal intervention of God, and believed in the existence of fairies. How could it be that such a man should be put in charge of evaluating technical developments for the British air ministry? Yet it was he, fighting the inertia of the bureaucrats who ruled the Air Force, who brought the modern multi-gunned fighter into existence. And he insisted that his scientists investigate the mysterious invisible rays that would prove to be the salvation of Britain: radar.

Dowding, who provided the organization and training that led to victory, has been all but ignored by U. S. biographers of Churchill and historians of the Battle of Britain. Yet his story is vital, both for its importance to the defense of Britain-indeed the entire free world—and for the intriguing character study that emerges from his ongoing conflict with Churchill and the British government during the crisis years of the empire.

About this title

About the Author

David E. Fisher is currently a professor of cosmochemistry and environmental sciences at the University of Miami.

From Booklist

Possibly few World War II battles are quite as myth-encrusted as the Battle of Britain. Accolades to the "few" extolled by Winston Churchill have prompted revisionist accounts such as Richard Overy's Battle of Britain: The Myth and the Reality (2001). Fisher's contribution to the subgenre sets aside the understandable attraction to Spitfires--versus-Messerschmitts, and tells the story of the British commander of the battle, Hugh Dowding. Unceremoniously forced into retirement during the battle, Dowding does not have the historical renown a victor can expect. To Dowding's most obvious trait--obstinacy--Fisher credits the man's success (and by implication, Britain's salvation). For Dowding, initially as the Royal Air Force's chief of technical research, and subsequently as head of Fighter Command, resisted numerous dubious ideas from on high; chaperoned by Churchill's childish excitement, the bad ideas, like sending Britain's fighter squadrons to France, could have had dire consequences but for Dowding's stout opposition. Featuring a lively narrative peppered with summary judgments, Fisher's profile of the eccentric Dowding merits the allegiance of the WWII audience. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1593760477
• ISBN 13: 9781593760472
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304