RAF Bomber Command and its Aircraft 1941-1945

In this second volume of their penetrating survey of Bomber Command's aircraft in World War II, James Goulding and Philip Moyes cover the introduction into service of the great classic heavy bombers - the Lancaster, the Stirling and the Halifax - as well as the development of the types which, had the war continued, would have succeeded them.

In their first volume the authors dealt with the evolution of the bomber aircraft which, though designed in the peace of the mid-thirties, enabled Bomber Command to carry the battle to the enemy in the desperate early days of the war. In this volume they examine how the lessons of that period influenced the design of the later bomber types and how British industry faced up to the stresses and strains of producing aircraft of both a size and complexity, and in numbers, undreamed of before the war.

After analysing the strategy and tactics of Bomber Command in World War 11 the authors consider each of the bombers in great detail - from its origins on the drawing board as an Air Ministry Specification, through its development prototypes, to its final operational status and the changes combat necessitated. Enlivened by many an eyewitness account, by 100 well-chosen photographs, and by James Goulding's superbly detailed drawings this book brings Bomber Command and its aircraft to life.

It offers the military modeller scale drawings and a well researched chapter on camouflage; the air enthusiast some of the less well known aspects of bomber development, the jet bomber projects and plans for a superbomber, and for all readers it providers a clear insight into what it was like to be in a bomber over Berlin, and which bombers were best equipped to be there.