Rearming the RAF for the Second World War

Poor Strategy and Miscalculation

Adrian Phillips

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781399006255
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

When the RAF rearmed to meet the growing threat from Nazi Germany's remorseless expansion in the late 1930s, it faced immense challenges. It had to manage a huge increase in size as well as mastering rapid advances in aviation technology. To protect Britain from attack, the RAF's commanders had to choose the right strategy and the right balance in its forces. The choices had to be made in peacetime with no guidance from combat experience. These visions then had to be translated into practical reality. A shifting cast of government ministers, civil servants and industrialists with their own financial, political and military agendas brought further dynamics into play. The RAF's readiness for war was crucial to Britain's ability to respond to Nazi aggression before war broke out and when it did, the RAF's rearmament was put to the acid test of battle. Adrian Phillips uses the penetrating grasp of how top level decisions are made that he honed in his inside accounts of the abdication crisis and appeasement, to dissect the process which shaped the RAF of 1940. He looks beyond the familiar legends of the Battle of Britain and explores in depth the successes and failures of a vital element in British preparations for war.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Notes
• Dramatis Personae
• Abbreviations and Table of Ranks
• Introduction Why the Few Were so Few
• Chapter 1 A Modern Major-General
• Chapter 2 The Prophet
• Chapter 3 Who Squeals First?
• Chapter 4 Rabbits
• Chapter 5 Evasion of Responsibility
• Chapter 6 Protection from the Slipstream
• Chapter 7 Incalculable Potential
• Chapter 8 The Air Defence of Great Britain
• Chapter 9 No Longer in a Position Inferior
• Chapter 10 A Pretty Bad Half Section – Scheme A
• Chapter 11 A Malay Running Amok
• Chapter 12 An Air Minister Bypassed – Scheme C
• Chapter 13 The Man for Push and Go
• Chapter 14 A Striking Force of Such Power – Scheme F
• Chapter 15 An Ideal Scheme of Defence
• Chapter 16 Horrors in the Most Intense Form
• Chapter 17 A Striking Bomber Force Not Inferior – Scheme H
• Chapter 18 Maximum Offensive Potential
• Chapter 19 Swinton’s Hobby
• Chapter 20 Striking a Careful Balance – Scheme J
• Chapter 21 The Interpreter
• Chapter 22 Morally Sure – Scheme K
• Chapter 23 No Reflection on Swinton’s Administration – Scheme L
• Chapter 24 A Wave of Uneasiness
• Chapter 25 From Telephones to Warplanes
• Chapter 26 The Doubts of Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt
• Chapter 27 An Ideal of Bombing
• Chapter 28 As Much Damage as Possible on the Attackers
• Chapter 29 Large Allowances Against Underestimate
• Chapter 30 The Utmost Limit Compatible
• Chapter 31 A Weapon We Can Use Very Effectively
• Chapter 32 Per Astra Ad Ardua
• Chapter 33 By This Means Alone – Scheme M
• Chapter 34 Saturation Point – Fighters and Scheme M
• Chapter 35 A Gross Misuse of Air Forces
• Chapter 36 You Can Stand up to Hitler Now
• Chapter 37 The Result of Overexpansion
• Chapter 38 The Miracles Proposed for Them
• Endnotes
• Selected Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Plate Section