With Wings Like Eagles: The Untold Story of the Battle of Britain [9780061125362]

Overview

“Bold and refreshing… Korda writes with great elegance and flair.”  —Wall Street Journal

Michael Korda’s brilliant work of history takes the reader back to the summer of 1940, when fewer than three thousand young fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force—often no more than nine hundred on any given day—stood between Hitler and the victory that seemed almost within his grasp.

Korda recreates the intensity of combat in the “long, delirious, burning blue” of the sky above southern England and, perhaps, for the first time, traces the entire complex web of political, diplomatic, scientific, industrial, and human decisions that led inexorably to the world’s first, greatest, and most decisive air battle.

Winston Churchill memorable said about the Battle of Britain, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Here is the story of “the few,” and how they prevailed against the odds, deprived Hitler of victory, and saved the world during three epic months in 1940.

Korda’s sweeping narrative account explores every facet of this pivotal moment in military history:

• Leadership and Command: Explore the clash of wills between Winston Churchill’s resolve, Sir Hugh Dowding’s quiet genius, and Hermann Göring’s fatal arrogance.
• Revolutionary Technology: Uncover the secret history of radar and the race to design the legendary fighter planes that would rule the skies over Britain.
• Decisive Air Combat: Experience the day-by-day intensity of the dogfights as the Royal Air Force faces the full might of the Luftwaffe.
• The Human Story of "The Few": Meet the pilots who stood between Hitler and invasion, and understand the impossible odds they faced in the summer of 1940.