021663 - DUNKIRK: Air Combat Archive, 21 May to 2 June 1940 - Operation Dynamo

By Simon W Parry and Mark Postlethwaite

This is a Dunkirk version of the Battle of Britain Combat Archive series. Covering from 21 May – 2nd June.   Fighter Command’s contribution to Operation Dynamo was far more significant than any history book will tell you and the Publisher's have had to run to 192 pages to cover it all!  Packed with some amazingly rare wartime photos and specially commissioned maps and profiles, this is the Air Combat over Dunkirk in the pilots’ own words, using the usual blend of unedited combat, casualty and intelligence reports.

Just 10 days after invading France and the Low Countries, the German spearhead reached the Channel coast, thus trapping over 350,000 Allied troops in the area around Dunkirk and Calais. Suddenly, a mass evacuation by sea became the only hope of saving these men; Operation Dynamo was on.

The operation was hugely vulnerable to air attack so RAF Fighter Command was tasked with providing continual air cover for the Dunkirk area. The Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants flew from English coastal airfields on long and tiring patrols and often fought against vastly superior numbers. In the end, their efforts and sacrifices undoubtedly helped towards saving over 300,000 soldiers, although at the time it was commonly believed that the RAF were not seen over Dunkirk. This book can now put the record straight.

Using contemporary accounts such as combat reports, rarely seen squadron intelligence summaries and the newly released casualty reports, the author and his team of experts have broken down each day from 21 May to 2 June 1940 into individual combats and list the claims and losses from both sides to provide a complete reference archive for each encounter. The days are illustrated with maps, specially commissioned colour profiles and hundreds of original wartime photos, providing a glorious tribute to the unsung early heroes of Fighter Command, many of whom did not live to see the Battle of Britain.

This unique book contains:

Over 200 original wartime photos

12 combat maps

3 Specially commissioned combat scenes by Piotr Forkasiewicz, one of the world’s leading digital aviation artists.

10 new colour profiles