’Paddy’ Finucane and the legend of the Kenley Wing: No.452 (Australian), 485 (New Zealand) and 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadrons, 1941 - Hardcover

Cooper, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781555125 ISBN 13: 9781781555125

Publisher: Fonthill Media, 2016

Synopsis

A year after the start of the Battle of Britain, from the late summer of 1941 the Kenley Wing was one of the six Allied fighter wings taking the war to the Luftwaffe in the RAF’s cross-channel air offensive over France.

Comprised of three Spitfire fighter squadrons, the Australian No.452, the New Zealand No.485, and the British No.602, the Kenley Wing was typical of the wartime RAF in its cosmopolitan makeup, with pilots from all three countries as well as Ireland and Canada. The wing’s famous ace pilots in 1941 included the Irishman, ‘Paddy Finucane’, the Canadian, Johnny Kent, the Australian, ‘Bluey’ Truscott, and the New Zealanders, Al Deere and ‘Hawkeye’ Wells. The most famous of them all was the charismatic Paddy Finucane, a flight commander with 452 (Australian) Squadron, who dominated the wing’s scoring to become far and away its greatest star, and for a time the RAF’s greatest public relations asset, stepping into the gap left by the loss into German captivity of Douglas Bader. This book tells the story of how Finucane’s victories created the legend of the Kenley Wing in 1941.

About this title

About the Author:

Anthony Clayton was a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 1965 to 1993 and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Surrey from 1994 to 2008. He was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of St. Andrews. He served in the colonial Government of Kenya until 1963 and in the Territorial Army in the infantry and later in the Intelligence Corps, finishing as a lieutenant-colonel. He has published works on British and French military history, among them "The British Empire as a Superpower 1919-1939" and "The British Officer from 1660 to the Present"; "France, Soldiers and Africa: The Wars of French Decolonisation"; "Paths to Glory: The French Army 1914-1918" and "Three Marshals of France". For his work on the French military he was made a Chevalier in the Odre des Palmes Académiques. He was also awarded the Medal of Honour of the Gesellschaft zur Forderung des Wiedevaufbaus der Frauenkirche Dresden for his work for the Dresden Trust. His other works include chapters in the Oxford History of the British Empire and the Cambridge History of War, 'Warfare in Woods and Forests'. Anthony Clayton is a widower visited frequently by his son, daughter and grandchildren. He lives with a cavalier King Charles spaniel in Farnham, Surrey.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fonthill Media
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1781555125
• ISBN 13: 9781781555125
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272