num_pages: 252
description: When Sergeant Chris Thorne arrives at RAF Hartby in the spring of 1940 there is little sign of impending war.The sleepiness of the English countryside of his native Yorkshire is scarcely interrupted by the small airfield whose complement of outdated Gloster Gladiators marks out the men assigned to the airbase as low on the militarys list of priorities.For the nearby village of Hartby Steeple RAF Hartby rarely impinges on daily life: the airmen prefer the neighbouring market town of Garthbridge for entertainment and with only boring Gladiators based out of the airfield the boys of the village have long since lost interest in the airbase goings-on.Only Susan Wetherall who lives above Hartby Steeple with her father at Swallow Hill Farm has any real interest in the airfield and its occupantsparticularly the handsome Thorne whose company she has longed for since their first chance encounter.But when Germany attacks Norway the peace of this quiet part of Yorkshire is shattered.Thorne and his fellow airmen find themselves thrust into a brutal war that only seems likely to get worse forced to rethink their ideas of airplane combat on the fly.As the lives of the airmen and the villagers inevitably become intertwined the Germans prepare for the final destruction and Susan begins to wonder if Thorne can possibly survive the winged messengers of death that come from across the ChannelThe descriptions of weaponryare authentically detailed. -'Takes you to the heart of the action.' -was born in 1941 in the North Yorkshire village of Melsonby. A former pilot and navigation instructor his active involvement with aviation lasted many years. Following his retirement from the RAFVR in 1977 as a squadron leader he became a full-time aviation writer and aerospace correspondent and lectured extensively on strategic issues. He speaks five languages including Russian and has written more than forty nonfiction works on military affairs. He is also the author of the popular Yeoman and SAS fiction series.
language: English
title: The Battle of Britain
publisher: Endeavour Media