http://airminded.org Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:01:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://airminded.org/biographies/j-m-spaight/#comment-1919 Airminded · An alternative Battle of Britain -- I Sun, 30 Jul 2006 17:25:25 +0000 http://airminded.org/j-m-spaight/#comment-1919 [...] This is the front cover of a book by J. M. Spaight on British airpower, called The Sky’s the Limit. It was published in 1940, a not-insignificant year for the RAF. In fact, this ‘New and up-to-date’ edition was published in August, right in the middle of the Battle of Britain. (The first edition was published prior to the fall of France, judging from the number of references to the Armée de l’Air, now in the past tense.) It’s a familar image—the young fighter pilots sitting in their Spitfires on a glorious summer’s day, standing by for the word from Ops to hurl themselves into the sky to repel the hordes of Nazi invaders. In fact, it’s almost iconic. But hang on—something’s not quite right here. Take a closer look at the aeroplane in the background: [...] [...] This is the front cover of a book by J. M. Spaight on British airpower, called The Sky’s the Limit. It was published in 1940, a not-insignificant year for the RAF. In fact, this ‘New and up-to-date’ edition was published in August, right in the middle of the Battle of Britain. (The first edition was published prior to the fall of France, judging from the number of references to the Armée de l’Air, now in the past tense.) It’s a familar image—the young fighter pilots sitting in their Spitfires on a glorious summer’s day, standing by for the word from Ops to hurl themselves into the sky to repel the hordes of Nazi invaders. In fact, it’s almost iconic. But hang on—something’s not quite right here. Take a closer look at the aeroplane in the background: [...]

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