"Sixteen thousand feet above the London borough of Brixton, 12.09pm. Throttle wide open and overaking rapidly. Flight Lieutenant Peter Brothers of No. 257 Squadron swung his Hurricane into a firing position close behind one of the Dorniers at the rear of the German formation. Strung out behind in echelon to starboard, the other four pilots of his section followed. A 22-year old from Kent, Brothers already had eight aerial victories to his credit. Now he placed the glowing graticule of his sight over the bomber he had chosen as target, yanked the wings level and squeezed the firing button. Emitting a crackle like the tearing of calico, the fighter's guns spewed armour-piercing, incendiary and tracer rounds at a rate of 150 per second. Eight smoking fingers of bullets converged on the bomber." That describes air warfare action sixty years ago, and comes from Battle of Britain Day: 15th September 1940 by Dr Alfred Price, which is being reprinted as a trade paperback for the anniversary (and as a fine contribution to aviation history). Dr Alfred Price starts the book: "As midnight chimed and 15 September began its eventful course, London was in the middle of its eighth consecutive night of aerial bombardment. From high above the city came the waam-waam note of bombers' engines punctuated by the distant 'crump' of detonating anti-aircraft shells. Searchlight beams probed the sky, like surgical scalpels delving into some vast open wound. Above the city the skies were clear, and the bright harvest moon bathed its blacked-out buildings in a silky sheen. On the ground the otherwise idyllic scene was shattered at irregular intervals by the drum-roll of bombs exploding in rows, the staccato bark of the anti-aircraft guns and the clanking bells of fire engines and rescue vehicles racing to their urgent assignations." Dr Price notes: "In the twenty-four hours under review, the Luftwaffe flew about 1,261 sorties over England: 437 by bombers, 769 by single-engined fighters, about 40 by twin-engined fighters and about 15 by reconnaissance aircraft. Of the sorties, 219 were flown during the nights of the 14th/15th and 15th/16th; the remaining sorties, just over 1,000, were flown during the daylight hours of the 15th. In the course of its operations against England the Luftwaffe lost 56 aircraft, all during the daylight hours. This loss represented 5.5 per cent of the force committed. Royal Air Force Fighter Command flew 797 operation sorties, including 92 on the nights of the 14th/15th and 15th/16th. In the Greater London area 57 civilians were killed, 87 seriously injured and 66 slightly injured. Civilian casualties in the rest of the country were 10 killed, 32 seriously injured and 31 slightly injured." The Battle of Britain had been racing across the skies for two months when, on 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched massive daylight raids on London. Based both on interviews with the people involved and official records, historian Dr Alfred Price's definitive book is the only full scale work devoted to the events of that pivotal day. The Luftwaffe aimed to establish air superiority prior to an invasion of England. Faulty intellligence led them to expect little resistance, but though perilously close to defeat, successive waves of British aircraft proved a formidable defence and inflicted a grave blow on German morale. Both sides immediately overclaimed their successes that day; yet it was not the physical damage that made this battle a decisive turning-point. Instead it demonstrated to the German High Command their failure to gain air superiority over the Channel. Without this, the German invasion of England became untenable, and it would never be attempted again. Each year, 15 September is commemorated as 'Battle of Britain Day'. This book explains why. Dr Alfred Price interviewed in detail nearly seventy people involved in the day's events while researching this book: German and British airmen, British military personnel, and many civilian eyewitnesses. Battle of Britain Day will be available in August, priced £11.95 (ISBN 1-85367-419-2). Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 100 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com