Dean Sir Maurice Kcb Kcmg (3 results)

Octavo, black boards (hardcover), silver letters, xiv + 349 pp. Very Good+, with bookplate and light soiling to page edges; in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: This new history brings into perspective the story of the RAF from its earliest origins to the final days of the last war. Sir Maurice Dean served throughout the 1930s period of re-armament and the Second World War in the Air Ministry, holding a number of important posts which brought him into close contact with the RAF and the Air Staff. His experience of the force and its leaders at war, coupled with a wide understanding of the process of government, has equipped him to write this remarkable concise history. He covers the creation of the force as part of the Army, its coming of age during the First World War as a weapon in its own right, the early efforts to destroy it and its battle with the two older services, the pre-war period of rearmament and reorganisation, the race to re-equip, and the campaigns of the Second World War, where its responsibiities reached from mid-Atlantic to the Pacific. His account of the campaigns is balanced by studies of the bodies that evaluated, armed, equipped, transported and directed the RAF. Amond other more controversial points discussed are Churchill's criticisms of re-armament, the rise of the Luftwaffe, the nature of Beaverbrook's contribution to aircraft production, the crucial question of "Fighters for France" in May and June 1940, and the argument surrounding Dowding's relations with the Air Ministry. The author includes sketches of the great leaders and a new survey of the parts played by the maritime air forces and by Bomber Command in the final victory; nor does he shy away, unlike many writers, from the question of the morality of strategic bombing, a debate which led to a shabby appriasal of Bomber Command's part in the war. This is not a book of those whose image of the RAF is of a Spitfire slow-rolling in a summer sky, nor for those who believe its sole monument to be the wreckage of Dresden and Hamburg. It is a book for all those interested in the concepts of warfare and defence, and the lessons of history. Military History, Aviation, Royal Air Force, British History, World War II, Second World War, WWII, WWI, World War I. zslic.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Generally Very Good. First Edition. This history brings into perspective the story of the RAF from its earliest origins to the final days of the last war. RAF blue cloth, silver titles, no inscriptions. In very good condition. Unclipped jacket is generally very good. Light dusting to lower edge. A nice copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First Edition / First Print. Hardback copy in blue cloth boards with silver gilt lettering to spine. Price clipped dustjacket in new removable protective clear sleeve. 349pp. Not library copy, name/date in ink to ffep. (46/7).