Classic RAF Battles

The Royal Air Force has earned its celebrated reputation for excellence and courage over seven decades of service to Britain, through two World Wars and many small incidents, events and flash-points the world over. In compiling this superb visual testament to the RAF, the general aim has been to capture the very reason for the RAF's existence - the combat actions which have given it such an historic tradition of defence to the nation. Some scenes are of general campaigns or aspects of the RAF's history; most, however, are of specific raids, operations or incidents; but they all demonstrate the variety of locations, task's and aircraft types that feature in the RAF's reputation.
Air force history is well documented through archive contemporary photography, but the aviation art collected within these pages offers a further viewpoint on war in the air. For the artist chooses to capture just one moment in an often confused and high-speed action, and creates a virtual snapshot of aerial warfare. Landscape, cloudscape and aircraft are all accurately recreated with attention to the smallest detail, and the result is often a unique glimpse of the true nature of war in the air.
The forty paintings in this book come from a variety of sources - RAF stations, squadron messes, artists' own collections, private archives, plus some commissioned solely to hang on a study or living room wall and which are thus seen here for the first time. They all, however, represent work of some of the very finest aviation artists working today, and would make a fine book by themselves. To describe and comment on the art, however, Sir Michael Armitage has assembled a first-class team of RAF veterans, historians and aviation experts with the brief to write the background history of the action depicted in each painting. The result is a unique visual and written history of the RAF in action. Paintings are arranged chronologically within the decades of RAF service, and each is reproduced alongside the narrative, together with a map to pinpoint its location.
This superb collection will appeal to those who wish to admire these first-class aviation art scenes or those who may recognise and remember their own involvement in some of the events or periods depicted, and for anyone interested in the historical background to these classic RAF battles.