THIS IS THE story of the young men in Hurricanes and Spitfires who won the Battle of Britain in 1940. It is a story of great bravery, patriotism, and triumph against the odds. It is also a story of naivety, tragic errors, friendly fire, media spin and the other realities of winning a war.

Patrick Bishop describes the rapid development of combat in the air during the First World War, when barely a decade after the Wright Brothers' tentative first liftoff in 1903. the Sotlwith Camels and Bristol Scouts of the Royal Flying Corps fought gentlemanly airborne duels with Manfield von Richthofen and his