So much ink has been spilt and so many miles of film expended on the amphibious invasion of Normandy on 6 June, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, and so familiar have the images become of men leaping from their landing craft and wading ashore as shells exploded all around them, that it is all too easy to forget that none of this would have been possible without the virtually complete air superiority which the Allies had gained over the Luftwaffe in advance of the invasion. In this absorbing book, Richard Bickers (who himself possesses first-hand experience of serving in Fighter and Coastal Commands and in the Desert Air Force) describes how that superiority was won and held after the landings. He describes in some detail how the vital necessity of air/land cooperation was brought home to the senior officers in North Africa and emphasizes how valuable this lesson was to prove later in the war. He tells of several of the French and Belgian units who had managed to escape from Nazi-held Europe to fight on and were now returning home. He recounts the experiences of German pilots who were by then seeing things in a very different light.He also describes the war of the men on the ground, the crews who serviced the planes and the Airfield Construction Squadrons who built and ran the runways as the Allies advanced into Occupied France.
Richard Bickers has produced a worthy tribute to a supremely gallant band of men who played a vital part in restoring liberty and democracy to the continent of Europe.