A Summer Bright and Terrible

Posted on 03 December 2017 by David E. Fisher

Lord Hugh Dowding, Air Chief Marshall of the Royal Air Force, Head of Fighter Command, First Baron of Bentley Priory, lived in the grip of unseen spirits In thrall of the supernatural, he talked to the ghosts of his dead pilots, proclaimed that Hitler was defeated only by the personal intervention of God, and believed in the existence of faeries How could it be that such a man should be put in charge of evaluating technical developments for the British air ministry Yet it was he who brought the modern multi gunned fighter into existence And he insisted that his scientists investigate the mysterious invisible rays that would prove to be the salvation of Britain radar.Dowding, who provided the organization and training that led to victory, has been all but ignored by U S biographers of Churchill and historians of the Battle of Britain Yet his story is vital to tell, for its importance to the defense of Britain and the free world, and for the intriguing character study that emerges from his ongoing conflict with Churchill and the British government during the crisis years of the empire Part military history, part science narrative, part biography this an incredible story. Read A Summer Bright and Terrible – kino-fada.fr Horribly written book about an important piece of history The author goes out of his way to single out one man as being responsible for winning the Battle of Britain, but he makes sure that he trashes some parts of Lord Dowding s personality that don t fit the author s world view Dowding s odd spiritualism, his weird, but unshakeable belief in God being on Britain s side, etc Fisher writes in conversational tone Your emember Sholto Douglas from the First World War, right and is addicte Horribly written book about an important piece of history The author goes out of his way to single out one man as being responsible for winning the Battle of Britain, but he ma...I am somewhat ambivalent about this book I learned details if true that I had not learned elsewhere The overall treatment of the book is very much on the light and popular side On the other hand, the writing is at least a notch or two above what passes for average these days To be fair, the book has a clear thesis and focus and sticks to it.The book revolves around two central themes The first, and most important, is Lord Dowding, who commanded the RAF fighters in the Battle of Britain T I am somewhat ambivalent about this book I lea...Concise and highly opinionated analysis of the career of Lord Hugh Dowding, the man who was responsible for the air defense of Britain during the early part of WW2 The informal and clever prose made it a pleasure to read and I d recommend it to anyone interested in the era.An outstanding review of how Hugh Dowding fostered a new technology Radar in WWII into a war winning advantage Recounting experimentation conducted in both infrastructure and tactical employment, this is a well written and engaging history of the development of an important sensor used in WWII.Good treatment of scientific topics and of Dowding s personal life at the end.I wanted to give it 5 stars, but the author s style of writing like he was giving a TED talk annoyed me.

English
03 December 2017

David E. Fisher