INDEPENDENT FORCE — The War Diary of the Daylight Squadrons of the Independent Air Force — JUNE-NOVEMBER 1918 —
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Characteristics
| ISBN-13 | 9781902304908 |
| ISBN-10 | 190230490X |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( round back binding ) |
| Special Features | • Dust jacket |
| Condition | Like NEW |
| Author(s) | Keith Rennles |
| Publisher | Grub Street |
| Number of pages | 218 |
| Published date | 2002 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 18 x 25.5 x 2 cm |
| Categorie(s) | • AVIATION MILITAIRE • PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE • BASES AÉRIENNES - ESCADRILLES |
Description
In late 1916 and early 1917, the Royal Naval Air Service bombed Imperial Germany and, although the attacks were not greatly successful, they proved that targets could be reached inside enemy territory. When the Germans, in turn, began bombing London in 1917, public opinion called for retaliatory strikes, and plans were set in motion. The Army and the Navy, for their part, wanted a resumption of attacks on Germany’s war industries.
General Jan Smuts, a member of the War Cabinet, prepared a report whose main thrust was that a separate Air Ministry and Air Force should be established, independent of the Army and Navy. He also recommended the creation of a strategic bomber force within this new service, whose sole purpose would be to attack Germany. Parliament approved the proposal in November 1917.
In April 1918, the Royal Air Force was formed, and on 6 June the Independent Air Force was officially established—the forerunner of Bomber Command in the second great war of the century.
Keith Rennles has patiently researched a vast body of documentary evidence and reports to reconstruct the day-to-day record of the Independent Air Force’s achievements, as well as the tremendous—though often sadly futile—contribution of its personnel.
This is their story.