WAR IN THE AIR 1914-1945 - Special Edition

The first practical airplane flew in 1903 and within ten years had been developed into a military weapon. During the First World War it evolved from a reconnaissance platform of dubious reliability to an integral part of the military machine on land or at sea. In addition to their intervention on and above the battlefield, aircraft developed a strategic capability that was predicted to become so powerful that land armies would be obsolete. Such extreme pre-war theories were put to the test in the Second World War and proved wanting. However, in 1945 aircraft did indeed achieve total dominance, with the atomic bomb raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A new era of warfare had begun. The author, Professor Williamson Murray served in the US Air Force before receiving his PhD at Yale and becoming Professor of History at Ohio State University.

This Special Edition has been created to include two Veterans Edition bookplates, one representing RAF Fighter Command and the other RAF Bomber & Coastal Command during World War Two.

Each has been personally signed by the following RAF Aircrew veterans, all of whom served operationally during World War Two:

Plate 1 - Fighter Command

Wing Commander Peter Ayerst DFC (flew Hurricanes in the Battle of France and Spitfires in the North Africa Desert Campaign)

Squadron Leader Peter Dawbarn (flew Hurricanes in the Battle of France and Battle of Britain)

Squadron Leader Tony Pickering (flew Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain and Spitfires over the Western Front)

Wing Commander Bob Foster DFC (flew Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain and Spitfires over Java and South East Asia)

Squadron Leader Ken Lee DFC (flew Hurricanes in the Battle of France and Battle of Britain then Spitfires in the North Africa desert campaign)

Flight Lieutenant Terry Clark DFM (flew in Blenheims and Beaufighters during the Battle of Britain and in Mosquitos over the Western Front)

Flying Officer Derek Tapson (flew Typhoons during the Normandy Landings and over the Western Front)

Wing Commander Ken Mackenzie DFC, AFC (flew Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain and became a Stalag POW)

Wing Commander Bob Doe DSO, DFC (flew Hurricanes and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain and with Indian Air Force over Burma)

Flight Lieutenant Ken Gilbert (flew Hurricanes and Thunderbolts in Burma)

Plate 1 - Bomber & Coastal Command

Flight Lieutenant Dennis Steiner

Warrant Officer Dick Maywood

Flight Lieutenant Ron Massey

Squadron Leader Terry Bulloch DSO* DFC* (Coastal Command)
Flight Sergeant Zbigniew Kowalski (Coastal Command) 
Squadron Leader Don Pope DFC
Master Navigator Ed Kelly DFM
Warrant Officer Tony Winser
Squadron Leader Tony Iveson DFC
Flying Officer Doug Page

Only 5 Special Editions were produced.

*SOLD OUT*

Large format hardback;

Book size: 20.1cm x 13.7cm x 1.5 cm