Description
Never before have the aerial combats of the Battle been chronicled. True, there are hundreds of books available about the aircraft, the men, the tactics and the casualties – but when it comes to the actual fighting remarkably little is available.
The Idea
Simon Parry and Mark Postlethwaite, owners of Red Kite, have created an entirely new concept to clearly illustrate each combat.
Each day is broken down into the individual engagements that took place, hour-by-hour.
Each engagement features:
· A map showing where the combat took place, the forces involved and where aircraft were shot down.
· Listing of RAF and Luftwaffe Casualties.
· Listing of RAF and Luftwaffe victory claims.
· Squadron reports.
· Pilot’s combat reports.
New information
A key new feature is the information from the RAF Casualty files. These documents have only recently been made available by the Ministry of Defence, and add a remarkable new level of detail to the RAF casualties. Still in the process of be released, the reports are often published here within months of becoming available.
Warts and All
Some of the information does not make for easy reading, or present a pretty picture of events. The extent of ‘over-claiming’ on both sides is clear to see, as are the accounts of ‘friendly fire’, the failings of the controllers and the lack of air-sea rescue to save downed pilots.
In their own words
No ‘third-party’ accounts are included. Every report is reproduced as it was written by the pilots themselves or the Intelligence Officers. Their words bring the events they had witnessed just hours before to life in a way no modern commentary could.
Bringing the Battle into the 21st Century
Books on the Battle have become ever more academic and ‘dull’. The Battle of Britain Combat Archive brings the colour back with dozens of specially commissioned artworks and profiles of the aircraft. Artist Mark Postlethwaite has designed a full colour format to make each page and table easy to understand.
Volume One contains:
- Over 100 original wartime photos
- 50 combat maps
- 13 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 12 new colour profiles
- Each volume is 128 pages,
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Two contains:
- Over 100 original wartime photos
- Approx 50 combat maps
- 11 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 10 new colour profilesEach volume is 128 pages,
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Three contains:
- Over 200 original wartime photos
- Approx 25 combat maps
- 7 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 16 new colour profiles
- Standard volumes are 128 pages, but because of the amount of action that took place on these few days, we’ve extended Volume Three to 160 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Four contains:
- Over 200 original wartime photos
- Approx 15 combat maps
- 3 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 16 new colour profiles
- Standard volumes are 128 pages, but because of the amount of action that took place on these two days, we’ve extended Volume Four to 144 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Five contains:
- Over 200 original wartime photos
- Approx 12 combat maps
- 3 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 6 new colour profiles
- Standard volumes are 128 pages, but because of the amount of action that took place on these two days, we’ve extended Volume Five to 144 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Six contains:
- Over 150 original wartime photos
- Approx 20 combat maps
- 7 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 4 new colour profiles
- Standard volumes are 128 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Seven contains:
- Over 100 original wartime photos
- Approx 16 combat maps
- 4 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 4 new colour profiles
- 104 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
Volume Eight contains:
- Over 100 original wartime photos
- Approx 16 combat maps
- 2 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.
- 128 pages.
- A4 format and printed full colour throughout.
