Michael Korda's outstanding analysis of Air Marrshal Dowding's role during the 1940 Battle for Britain filled a vast void in the memory of this WW-11 veteran. A 20-year-old navy Lt at the time, my memory of this period is skatchy at best!The Brits are a heroic people, and it took a writer of Falk's calibre to hold this 90-year-ld veteran spellbound for the few hours it took to contemplate the narrative. I was aboard the British battlewagon Duke of York in Enewitok Harbor when we learned that the U.S Airforce had dropped an atomic bomb on Japan. It was then that I witnessed the English capacity to celebrate. Unlike American warships, they served scotch whiskey in the officers mess! A USN "Well Done" to Michael Korda!

Al Kayworth, Amazon listed author

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This book has a lot of information. But from what I read there was absolutely no mention of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. Measured by kill ratio, No. 303 was the best performing RAF unit in the Battle of Britain. In my opinion this was the best Fighter Squadron in WWII. See A Question of Honor A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II

Item arrived very quickly, even though it was right before the holidays. In brand new, perfect condition as described and packaged well!

A nice historical piece on the B-of-B, with a focus on Hugh Dowding, chief of Fighter Command. Not much on individual air battles, more on the history. Basically a scholarly work, but not dry, and reads very easily.

Having read many books about World War II, I did not expect to learn anything new from this one, which was recommended to me by a USMC friend. Thus, it was a real pleasure to read this description of how one man, Chief Air Marshal Dowding, almost single-handedly led the RAF to victory in the Battle of Britain.

This book is about the strategic conduct of the Battle of Britain. Readers interested in learning what it was like for the individual pilots should consider reading First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, an RAF fighter pilot who was 19 years old at the time..

This book is better than any novel and should be a "must read" for all, especially historians. In our unsettled world is a miracle how close defeat was in the early days of WW II. The hurdles we face today are no less threatening and pray that our leaders will have the vision of Dowding. As a Navy pilot I was facinated by the motivation and skill of these early airmen.

This is a great book. I learned a lot about the Battle of Britain. It's not a pilot story with dog fights on every page, but more about the overal Strategy, production problems, important players, and how a relatively few fighter planes, not bombers like most thought, would keep britain safe.

Great Read.

The Book was exceptional in revealing the events Britian and particularly Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding did in preparation for the battle. His insight into radar and setting up the defense apparatus to defend against attack. There was no precedent for his actions. His courage to exploit his plan against all opposition makes him a heroic figure. He took radar and the development of fighter aircraft and implemented them just before the Germans attacked.

This book has little to offer in a crowded field. Any person who's interested in The Battle of Britain will have read something about it, and Korda's effort added little to my understanding of the period. The usual stories of the gestation of the Spitfire and ME 109 are told, and the book focuses largely on the contribution of Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding who Korda feels contributed more than anyone else to Britain's victory, along with radar.

Dowding did not endear himself to the people he worked with, including Winston Churchill, and he fought long and hard to keep Fighter Command the way he planned it - correctly, luckily for us. Goering claimed that he would destroy the Royal Air Force, and could not understand after how the Germans had destroyed a large number of the British fighters that the same number still appeared the next day. This was due to Dowding keeping many of his fighters on the ground until absolutely necessary.

Because of this Goering believed that he was coming close to wiping out the British and after the successes of the German's European Campaign of 1940 it seemed like nothing could stop the Nazis. But they were stopped, by a reasonably equal force of Brits and their allies. Korda takes us through the summer of 1940, but after Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain the book peters out. It would have been nice to know of the fate of the major players, but Korda never goes beyond 1940, although he does have a lot of information on the 1930s and the beginnings of Fighter Command.

What makes this book difficult to read is the lack of good editing. There are a few obvious problems - how did Winston Churchill write a review of this 2009 book, when he died in 1965? Or is it his grandchild, born in 1940, who has the same name? And one of the captions refers to the Bf 110, but the picture is of Bf 109s.

Occasionally the writing slips - there is one sentence that has six commas in it, each comma dividing clauses, which means you have to read the sentence twice to be sure you got the meaning. There are several cases where the one word that turns the thought into a negative is easy to miss. And there's the problem that appears in so many war books, where you can be confused as to which country has a "number 12 group" or a "first army." Just one word would clear this up, but it's not there.

Admittedly I read fast and some of the problems may be mine, but I've written enough published books and articles to know that you should keep the reader slightly over-informed, and it's no great skill to do this without people noticing. Another problem is the amount of repetition - how many times do we need to know that the Junkers 87 dive-bombers were fitted with sirens?

Finally, on several occasions we're reminded that this is the author speaking. It's almost embarrassing to read of how Korda is certain of what happened at a meeting with Churchill, by divining Churchill's writing style in his memoirs. Churchill does not speak to the point Korda is trying to make, but Korda is quite convinced that he's right and Churchill hid the truth.

I don't know what happened to the book. After nearly twenty books, maybe Korda has reached that exalted plane where his publishers live in fear of upsetting him, and thus they specify "minimal editing." For the worst examples I've mentioned, a quick read by an editor would have found most of them. For full fact checking and editing, it would have taken about a week. And maybe it would have dealt with the intrusive nature of the Americanization of the book, where every English term is over-explained when much of these terms would be obvious from the context.

If you're new to reading the history of the Battle of Britain, this book will do as well as many. Otherwise, steer clear. I guess that the final straw was when I read how the Luftwaffe flew part of a sortie from a point on the English coast to the town where I was born. This coastline marker is some 20 miles east of my home town, but we're informed that the planes were flying eastward.

Or maybe there was a negative somewhere that I missed. To be quite honest, I ended up not really caring.

I have read the first 80 pages of this book and don't generally write a review before finishing a book but I have found that this book while it might be a great story about the Battle of Britain is poorly research (it the author even bothered at all) in other areas. First he appears to be an apologist for Neville Chamberlain. Now we are to believe that Chamberlain delayed the war so he could get Britain prepared to fight and he knew all along what Hitler was planning. Pure crap! We all know that if Chamberlain had face Hitler down at once maybe World War II could have been avoided entirely. Secondly Mr Korda states that the Germans learn dive bombing techniques from the US Navy. More crap. The Germans learn dive bombing techniques from the US Marine Corps who were fighting the Banana Wars in the 30's in Haiti and Nicaragua and were the only military force that had any combat experience in this technique.

I just can't find a justification for either writing or reading "With Wings Like Eagles", Michael Korda's newish addition to a long litany of "Battle of Britain" histories. Not that it's a bad book, it isn't. It just doesn't have a goal of bringing new information to light, what's there is pretty much old hat. By now, everyone knows how Hugh Dowding was fighting on two fronts, versus the Nazis and RAF intriguers that wanted his job, the author puts too much emphasis on Douglas Bader's part in getting 'rid' of Dowding, Bader, frankly, was a nutter, his ravings those of a mere squadron commander. Everyone also knows the story of Keith Park being shown the door as well. Granted, these are big stories but they've been more capably dealt with in other, better books: "The Narrow Margin", by Derek Wood & Derek Dempster, for one, "Fighter", by Len Deighton, for another and let's not forget "The Most Dangerous Enemy", by Stephen Bungay, the most authoritative, insightful and exciting history of the Battle of Britain liable to be written for years to come, besides numerous revelations of goings-on of the "home team", this is a book which delves into the "other side" of the battle, Bungay sheds much light as to how the ongoing grind and relentless pace of the battle affected the men and morale of the Luftwaffe, something conspicuously missing from Korda's effort. When I finished "With Wings Like Eagles", I had the feeling that it was just another book attempting to cash in on the popular phenomenon, rightly so, which is The Battle of Britain.

Great account of the Battle of Britain. It was hard to put down. Well written and well detailed.

If you are at all interested in the Battle of Britain, I cannot imagine a better book to read. If you are interested in World War 11, again, this book covers one of the most exciting, interesting and important periods of the war. Highly readable, well written and fast paced, this is a must read. It covers all the events that matter, all the people involved, some interesting anecdotes, all the pertinent features of the aircraft, and all other necessary information without ever getting ponderous or overly detailed.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" said Winston S. Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain. He had, a few days earlier been at the command center of the effort to defeat the German aerial assault against Britain. Better than most, Churchill knew that only a thousand or so fighter pilots stood between a German invasion - and probably conquest - of Britain and a chance to fight some other day.

The "Battle of Britain" has become well known, at least to an earlier generation, as a time of almost daily German air raids against British airfields, radar stations, ship convoys and ultimately cities. (The Battle of Britain is distinct from the "Blitz", an all-out aerial assault against population centers, which came later.) Many have seen the not-too-bad movie entitled "The Battle of Britain". Of course, it wasn't not-too-good either.

And books: dozens of books, if not hundreds, from English, American, German, even Japanese perspectives.

But this superb popular history is very, very different - and well worth the read.

Michael Korda has written some truly excellent popular histories, such as his very short, but extraordinary, treatment of Ulysses S. Grant. He sees what others don'.

And in this case, Korda doesn't focus on the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns and cannon or the bursting of bombs, but on the one man more critical to Britain's triumphant defense than any other: Air Marshall (later Sir) Hugh Dowding.

Korda pays surprising credit to Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, both regarded as appeasers of Hitler, for laying the groundwork for Britain's survival, though neither did so consciously. They both battle for higher aircraft production, particularly of fighters and funded the development of radar.

Dowding was, putting it mildly, a strange duck. He was contentious, single-minded, dismissive and had made many enemies in the Air Ministry. He also said no to Churchill, which was not a career enhancing move.

But it was Dowding's genius that save Britain in what may very well have been the most important battle of World War II.

Dowding alone conceived of the fighter command concept, linking early warnings from radar stations and observers with a command center that in turn filtered the data and sent it on to air group command centers. Today, we seem to think it perfectly natural to have fighters and bombers engaged half-way around the world and controlled from a command center in the United States. Every day, pilots sitting in air-conditioned trailers at bases in the United States fly unmanned aircraft over Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with data being relayed around the world and back again through satellites.

Dowding had to fight hard for the commonsense notion of burying telephone cables to his command centers so they wouldn't be bombed out. He created the strategy of husbanding his very scarce fighters and their even more precious pilots in a campaign of attrition against the German Luftwaffe. He worked diligently with Lord Beaverbrook to assure a steady supplied of newly manufactured fighter planes and reconstructed aircraft, salvaged from earlier battles.

The story of Dowding's pre-war work is fascinating and Korda shines light on previously unexamined aspects of how a very few men in Britain's leadership defied prevailing thought and made the nation ready for war.

Korda's descriptions of the Battle of Britain are rather sketchy. He isn't overly interested in the dogfights and bombing. He focuses more on how Dowding's system and the man worked, under incredible stresses. This unpopular, eccentric man literally saved his nation.

Appreciation for this incredible feat wasn't necessarily fully forthcoming or universal, which is a sad ending that I have never seen related in detail elsewhere.

This is a popular history. While supported adequately with appropriate references to sources, Korda never buries the reader. Instead, each page moves swiftly as Korda tells us this incredible story of how one man led a few thousand other men to implement a plan of his own invention and saved democracy in Europe. It is an incredible story and well worth reading through Korda's unique perspective.

Jerry

Michael Korda served in the Royal Air Force. This book tells about the Battle of Britain where the fighter pilots of the RAF beat back the fleets of bombers sent to bomb British airfields, factories, and cities. The `Acknowledgments' thank Len Deighton whose book "Fighter" showed detailed knowledge of the period, and others from that time. The `Bibliography' has four pages of relevant book. There are `Notes' but no `Index'. Chapter 1 gives the background of the 1930s. Germany's success in Spain, Poland, and Norway were against a smaller air force (p.19). Their bombers did not face a modern air defense system. Britain was different, its fighter aircraft were equal to the Luftwaffe. This was made possible by the governments later called "appeasers" (p.20).

The victory in the Battle of Britain is due to Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding who took over RAF Fighter Command in 1936 (Chapter 2). He knew more about this technology than others, but was a stubborn difficult man (p.24). The film "The Shape of Things to Come" had an immense effect on people (p.29). It was easier to fund fighters than bombers (p.39). Dowding had definite plans for the future (pp.49,55). Two different but similar fighters were produced (pp.78-83). Chapter 4 discusses the similarities and differences between the RAF and the Luftwaffe. Chapter 5 tells what a fighter pilot would experience in combat. Dowding did everything to prevent sending Hurricanes to France (p.150). It also describes the domestic and external politics, the rivalries within the British military. Korda criticizes Churchill's memoirs (p.167). Dowding wrote a letter saying draining squadrons would lead to a complete defeat (p.171). Dowding's enemies retaliated after he won the Battle of Britain (p.172).

Dowding wanted continual small attacks instead of a big battle (p.179) to destroy expensive bombers and crews. Lord Beaverbrook was put in charge of Aircraft Production (p.187), doubling production (p.192). German losses of men and machines were final, the British repaired and recycled aircraft (p.210). The German attack on Britain began on August 12, 1940 (Chapter 8). Weather was the most important factor in the battle (p.232). The clear weather allowed a massive German attack on August 15. Dowding's policy allowed fighters to attack German bombers while they were at sea (p.269). The attacks continued for another month (Chapter 9).

The bottleneck was in trained pilots (p.293), there was enough aircraft. Czech, French, and Polish pilots were added on August 18. The Germans concentrated their attack on two important airfields (p.298). This chapter provides details on those "hardest days". The Germans could accurately drop bombs at night (p.335). Bombing civilians did not break the will of a people (pp.350-351). Korda says Hitler lost the war then by failing to conquer Britain. War with the Soviet Union and then America led to defeat. Chapter 10 summarizes the aftermath. The failure to attack night bombers led to Dowding's retirement (p.415). Dowding backed the means that won the Battle of Britain (p.423), yet his name was omitted from the official history (p.422) because of jealousies and cliques.

This very readable book provides a high-level view of the events and politics that are censored or ignored in other books. The lifting of censorship in the 1970s allowed new books like "The Ultra Secret".

Reading this book will take you back in time over the skies of Great Britain witnessing one of the most important battles in the history of Europe.
The Author gives a great description of the events leading up to the Battle of Britain and of the men that participated in this strenuous fight. Above all, it was the brilliant mind of Hugh Dowding, Chief of RAF Fighter Command, who recognized the importance of fighters to control the skies.
A deserved tribute is given to "the Few", the relatively small group of fighter pilots that onboard of their Hurricanes and Spitfires fought against the overwhelming air fleet of the Luftwaffe.
The style used by Korda is clear and direct and you will enjoy reading this book.
I definitively recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the Battle of Britain.

I've always had a deep fascination with the Battle of Britain (which probably began the day I saw the movie of that name) and read this book like it was a spy thriller. This book is both accurate and well-written. It is also perfectly-paced, never getting bogged down in the details. It is deep enough to give a good sense of the ebb and flow of the battle, but not so deep that it becomes inaccessible.

If I was forced to come up with a negative for this book, I'd point to the author's esteem, and perhaps even over-esteem, for Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. In fact, in many places the book reads almost like a biography of Dowding. While his importance to the battle and to the eventual Allied victory in the Second World War has long been under-appreciated, Korda may be just a little bit too positive toward his hero. Nevertheless, this is a very good book and one that describes an exceedingly important battle that without doubt changed the world.

I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed reading this book. Hugh Dowding endured challenges from the Luftwaffe, his own Air Ministry and even Churchill himself and still managed to endure and succeed. Dowding's story and the description by a British pilot of his intense combat experience make this a book worth picking up.

Historically flawless and an easy read. Could have benefited from just a bit more editing though. He repeats a number of points at least three times, such as the lack of proper lifesaving gear on the British side when it came to water landings. He does this in almost the same words, as if he was unaware of his own, repeated, previous mentions. A more careful editing would have cleaned these up, but it is a minor point which the reader can easily forgive.

I've read a number of Battle of Britain books over the years. This one looks at it from a different viewpoint. Not much shoot-em-up in this book. The author, instead, gives an entertaining and gripping look at this period from the management and political side. I thoroughly enjoyed it. After you read this, go back and watch "The Battle of Britain" on DVD. You'll really enjoy seeing the characters from the book.

Here's the menu for understanding The Battle of Britain and having fun:
1- Watch the Masterpiece Theater series of this period entitled "A Piece of Cake." Amazon has it. A winner series as good as a Band of Brothers.
2- Watch the action CD "Battle of Britain" with Michael Cane, Trevor Howard, et al. This is for those who want planes blowing up in the air. The history is correct, too. Lots of action.
3-Read Korda's book. It's a smooth read and gives you the political in- fighting among the powerful on both sides, among all the other things you would expect. A fascinating look at Fighter Command Leader Dowding who you don't hear much about but who saved Britain with his fighter strategy.

The book is a goldmine, full of details (e.g., the Bf-109 Messerschmitt fighter prototype was powered with an imported Rolls-Royce Kestrel 12-cylinder engine!) usually not addressed in other books. The author seems to be well informed.

There are, however, 2 sections that, for me at least, discredit the book a little.

(1) The book does not mention the prowess of the Belgian Army that, by strongly defending its positions in the West corner of Belgium against Hitler in May 20-28, 1940 ultimately allowed British troops (134,000) to return to England safely. If it had not been for this event, Great Britain would never have had the opportunity to re-arm, and Hitler would definitively have won WW II.

(2) The author fell into a series of too-well known (wrong) clichés when he writes (p. 109) that the king of Belgium, Leopold III, remained in Belgium under German occupation "together with his mistress Lilian Baels." The truth is that Lilian Baels was King Leopold's wife and her behavior was exemplary at all time during German occupation of Belgium.


Background information: Since September 4, 1939 King Leopold III was also Commander in Chief of the Belgian Army. As such, after allowing the British troops to retreat safely, he capitulated on May 28, 1940 and decided to stay with his troops. All Belgian soldiers, including King Leopold, were made prisoners. As Hitler had decided that Flemish-speaking Belgians were to be treated "mildly" since their language was a dialect of German, all Flemish-speaking soldiers were allowed to return free to their homes; in contrast, French-speaking soldiers were deported to concentration camps in Germany. King Leopold himself was confined in his palace in Laeken/Brussels. This did not prevent him from maintaining contacts with former Belgian authorities including Mr. Baels, former Belgium minister and Governor of West Flander. Remember that King Leopold III was widower of Queen Astrid who had died in a car accident in 1935 in Switzerland. No surprise if King Leopold fell under the charm of Governor Baels' daughter and married her on September 11, 1941. Lilian Baels was not King Leopold's mistress; she was his wife! In the difficult times of occupation, her behavior was exemplary. For example, she raised Leopold's 3 children as if they were her own. Shame on Michael Korda who simply reported a sordid sex story!

As a young boy growing up in England and watching the Battle Of Britain standing in the street and later in life in the Royal Air Force as an engine mechanic on the Mosquito that had two Rolls Royce Merlin engines this book brought back a lot of memories. It is so close to the fact as I can remember and some that I was not aware of. A great read.

If you're interested in WWII history then you should definitely read this excellent book. I don't usually write book reviews so I'll make this short. Just when you think everything has been written about a particular topic in history, someone will come up with new insights. Michael Korda is a historian and long-time book editor who writes like a professional and knows very well about the details of the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command and its role in protecting Britain from the onslaught of Nazi Germany, in the very early days of what would become World War II. It begins and ends with the story of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowling who was eventually given his rightful place as the builder and protector of Fighter Command and a proponent of the tactics that would eventually save the nation. Dowling, who overcame great odds going against bureaucrats, eventually succumbed to the intense political infighting and was dumped by Winston Churchill in 1942.

"With Wings Like Eagles" is also the story of how nascent technology changed everything. The information gathered through the early radio directional system (which is basically a radar) and the methods used to disseminate it gave the RAF a distinct edge against Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe. Korda also describes the new airplanes that were developed to fight the battles. The Germans also had some of the most advanced airplanes ever seen at the time which is very fascinating. Korda was in the RAF in the 1950s and was involved in some of the stories of these heroes on both sides and from around the world. The bulk of the book is about the few from Winston Churchill's famous epitaphic "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". I'm not really a tech head or a military expert so some of the more technical stuff was abit confusing, but the way the book was written made it more easier to understand and there were alot of fascinating stuff.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding led Fighter Command to victory, but it wasn't easy. He not only had to put Spitfires and Hurricanes into the air to attack fleets of Luftwaffe planes, he had to stave off old enemies in the Air Ministry and critics within his command. Before the war, Dowding put together an early-warning system with radar buried phone lines, spotters and central command to get the word quickly and accurately to the fighter squadrons. He also husbanded his resources, preventing Prime Minister Winston Churchill from sending more fighters to a losing cause in France, and keeping reserves during the battle itself. "With Wings Like Eagles" is a worthy addition to your library especially if you like WWII history like myself, the book also reminds me of that Iron Maiden song ;-).

With Wings like Eagles by Michael Korda is a thoughtful look at what is arguable one of the greatest air battles in history - the Battle of Britain. Every time I think that there simply cannot be anything else written about this particular battle, I am taken back by the fact that every few years someone comes out with a new look, with a little different slant on things. Some of these books are great, some not so great and some are absolutely horrid. This work by Korda falls into the first category.

This account of The Battle of Britain is not one of those "shoot-em-up bang, bang books" filled with the personal narratives and recollections of the pilots who took part in this battle; rather it is an overall view of the battle and the sequence of events, really starting before the fall of France and the evacuation at Dunkirk. This work concentrates more on the planning, preparation and mechanics of the battle than some past offerings by others, and it certainly does a wonderful job of examining and assessing the tremendous egos of the leaders of all countries involved (England, Germany and France, along with the supporting cast). I found the account of infighting on the British General Staff and German High Command as fascinating as the actually physical battle and it certainly was just a viscious at times.

There are always reasons for everything, and the result of this battle certainly had many factors at play, some planned, some purely opportunistic and then there was the sheer luck involved. The author has given fare nods to all. This work takes a close look at the battle from both the British and the German perspective and has done quite a nice job of it. Now I cannot make the claim as some that "this is a well researched book," as I simply do not know if it was or was not. I will say that what I read pretty well agrees with the many other accounts of the battle, and as far as I could tell the time line was quite accurate. When the author speculates, he goes to great pains in pointing this fact out. What I am trying to say is that I am far from an expert on this particular battle, but from what I do know of it (which is actually quite a lot for a pure armature reader of history) all seemed to be in order. I am quite sure that someone who has a more extensive background in this area could probably nit-pick the book to death...but to what ends?

The author does give us some food for thought in this work. The primary aspect of this battle is one that I had never considered. It is the author's opinion that the appeasers, Chamberlain being the top dog in this pack, actually helped England in some rather unexpected ways. The author speculates had not these men gone through their appeasement process, England never would have had the time to ready themselves for a battle which was absolutely inevitable in one form or another. Now whether this was done on purpose (a fact I doubt), or whether it was foresight on the part of Chamberlain (another fact I doubt) or if it was completely blind luck (which is my opinion), is indeed pure speculation.

This book of course strongly features Churchill, and rightfully so, but also includes the thoughts and actions of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, the real architect of the English victory, and that of his opposite Goring. We also get an insightful look at the developers of the weapon platforms used; Williy Messerschmitt, R.J. Mitchell, Sidney Cam and the rest of the engineers involved. The author discusses the old argument that "the bomber will always get through' verses the tactical and strategically use of the fighter type aircraft. This was of course the central augment of the time and the author has addressed this at length.

It is also gratifying to read an author who points out the fact that times were changing and that the ineptitude shown by both the British and German high commands during the First World War were starting to change somewhat even though many were still caught up in the entire Old World social class thing. Many of the fighters, junior officers and NCOs where from solid middle class stock, practical and well grounded, as well as educated, rather than the rather effete, and frankly completely drained upper class who, by this time, thanks to the First World War, were almost completly drained of most of their vitality and certainly intellegence.

This is a good solid piece of popular history and is a very welcome addition to my library. It is well written and quite easy to follow. I do recommend it highly for those that have an interest in this area and do recommend it for those who want a nice, not too technical account of one of the more important battles in our time.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This is less a "history of the Battle of Britain" than a briefing on the major figures and developments of a time when Winston Churchill suggested in the House of Commons on August 20, 1940, that, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." It was also Churchill who had said the previous June, also in the House of Commons, "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...." And just to complete proper attribution, the title of Michael Korda's book was suggested by this passage from the Book of Isaiah (40:31): "They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

As for the key figures, Prime Minister Churchill of course but Korda's primary focus is on Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, the leader of RAF Fighter Command and his own "team or rivals," Commanders Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Keith Park, C. J. Quintin Brand, and Richard Saul. Juxtaposed to Churchill was Adolph Hitler but Korda's primary focus is on Hermann Göring and several General Field Marshals who included Albert Kesselring, Hugo Sperrle, and Hans-Jürgen Stumpff. Over a relatively brief period of time (from July 10 until October 31 in 1940), the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attempted to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF), especially its Fighter Command, and hopefully force a surrender without having to invade Great Britain. Without air superiority, such an invasion (codenamed "Operation Sea Lion") would not have succeeded and Hitler knew it.

In this book, Korda explains what the RAF's "Dowding System" was, how it operated, and why effective execution of it eventually defeated the Luftwaffe. Of special interest to me is its architect, Dowding, whose total confidence in and commitment to the strategies he devised were vindicated by heroism of those who flew the Spitfires and Hurricanes against what at first seemed vastly superior forces. Although no doubt well-aware of the doubts about his competence and efforts to oppose (if not replace him) him, he persevered. In the final chapter, Korda says this about Dowding's relationship with the Air Ministry: "In the circumstances, it took no great effort to float the suggestion in high quarters that Dowding was too old for the job and out of touch with the latest technology, not to speak of being tired, stubborn, difficult, and hostile to new ideas... He had been put on notice in August, at the height of the battle, [prior to the day, September 15, when - for all intents and purposes - the invasion was denied] that his retirement date had been postponed to November, and this time was not extended." After leading the Fighter Command to "the greatest and most crucial air battle of history to date," Dowding retired, "having been informed rather abruptly that there was no further post available for an officer of his seniority. Korda correctly suggests that special praise must also be given to others, inspired by Churchill's leadership and the courage of the fighter pilots, and while under almost constant attack, who maintained the early-warning communication systems, kept the fighter planes in the air, and provided critically important support in countless other ways. Moreover, they did so with severely limited resources but with sufficient faith, hope, and courage.

As suggested earlier, this is not a history of the Battle of (and for) Britain but what it does offer is a rigorous and remarkably comprehensive briefing (or "overview," if you will) of an intense 82-day period well before the United States became involved in what became World War Two. Virtually alone and certain that a massive and decisive invasion was imminent, Britain needed more than a prime minister's determination to "never, never, never, never give up." The imperiled nation also needed a prophet. Almost alone, Dowding had prophesied, correctly, the form of air warfare would take; and almost without help, he had invented the means with which to defend Britain against attack from the air, right down to the smallest item. Not only did he prophesy the nature of the attack; he prophesied the kind of tools that would be needed to defeat it - radar, the single-engine monoplane fighter, the centralized operations room - and by a miracle of vision and obstinacy manager to put it all in place by 1940, just when it was needed. Few prophets have ever had a clearer picture of what was to come - or what to do about it."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out a film, Battle of Britain, that was released in 1969 and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on Derek Wood's book, Narrow Margin: The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power 1930-1949. The role of Air Chief Marshall Dowding is brilliantly portrayed plated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

This is an easy-to-read short history of the Battle of Britain that focuses in on tactics and strategies of the RAF vs the Luftwaffe and in particular on the role of the feisty, controversial Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Downing, who seems not to have gotten the credit he was due in other histories, official and otherwise. But while Downing's constant strife with everyone from his subordinates and superiors to Winston Churchill would make a good bio of the Air Chief Marshall, whose policies turned out to be mostly correct, far too many pages are spent on these backroom brawls and not enough on the actual fighting of the men involved. There is very, very little action in the sky here and, after a long build-up to the first forays into the skies and a detailed day-by-day narrative of the ongoing battle, the book hardly touches on the raids on London itself, and the humanity of the story does not register as it should. Nevertheless, Korda has revealed the machinations behind the machines but not very much about the men on both sides who had to fight those battles.

A very readable book. Tells the story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoints of both the British and German sides. Covers, in detail, the key roles played by Hugh Dowding (the head of RAF Fighter Command) and his deputy, Keith Park (the head of the RAF air defense sector south of London). Tells how Dowding was pivotal in the development of all the necessary elements of the defense of British airspace and highlights how cleverly he, and Park deployed their limited assets in a life or death "Poker game" with the Germans that really was a "Winner take all" situation. Also gives due recognition to "The Few," the 1,000 young men who were all that stood between Nazi Germany and the survival of our democratic way of life.
A real turning point of history skillfully and compellingly brought back to life!

"With Wings" is a scholarly, well written, well documented redundancy. I assumed, erroneously, that for another Battle of Britain book to reach the market it must bring something new or revelatory to the table. Alas, not so! For a Battle of Britain buff perhaps it's a "must have" and for the novice perhaps it's a good survey...but for me it was a disappointment.

This book was a pleasure to read. The author -- who also served in the RAF -- has written a history of The Battle of Britain that strikes the right balance between the big picture, illuminating details, and the right amount of background.

One of the biggest benefits of With Wings Like Eagles is the background provided about the development of British fighter command, tactics, and the Spitfire and Hurricanes. Some welcome attention is giving to similar German developments, but obviously less than to the British. The author is clearly a fan of Hugh Dowding, commanding officer of British Fighter Command leading up to and through the Battle of Britain. Indeed, this book is a sort of mini-biography of Dowding with an expanded focus on the Battle of Britain, closing out by following Dowding into retirement.

The author describes how the theoretical climate preceding WWII did not favor the development of a strong fighter defense force, as the military thinkers of the day thought that no matter what was done, "the bombers would always get through." Dowding, with the understated assistance of the peace faction political leaders, rejected this view; Dowding because he had real ideas of how to fight such a conflict and the peace-politicians because they could no bring themselves to support offensive bombing but felt they had to do something to prepare for the conflict.

As it turns out, Dowding's foresight was proven correct. His insistence on developing a strong centralized fighter control system, staffed by young British women and dependent on the new radar technology and ground based observers, as well as eight gun all-metal fighters such as the Spitfire and Hurricane, were instrumental in the war to come.

Just as important, if not more so, was Dowding's strategy of winning a war of attrition with a larger foe. The author covers the "big wing" controversy and sides with Dowding and his hit and slash attacks that would whittle down the Luftwaffe and keep fighter command in the game. The Germans -- due to these tactics -- repeatedly underestimated the strength of fighter command and made other mistakes, including intelligence failures, underestimating radar, and shifting from attacking fighter command's infrastructure to bombing London.

Once the book shifts from background to the Battle of Britain, we get a day by day account of the conflict, including the plans, tactics, results, and losses of each side. Despite the focus on the daily progression of the battle, the author never gets bogged down in the details. There are occasionally some repetitive passages and -- even more rare -- an extended digression. These stand out only because the account is so well written and otherwise flows so well.

If you want to get a firm grasp of how The Battle of Britain progressed and the reasons for the RAF's success and the Luftwaffe's failure, this is the place to look.

No matter how aquanted you are with WWII, you will learn much from this book

No, Korda won't give you an in-depth look at an individual Spitfire squadron or something.

But, from the level of grand strategy, and how that strategy interacted with politics, technology and more, in both London and Berlin, this is an excellent overview of the Battle of Britain.

Korda explains the development, and tech limitations of, the main planes on both sides without getting overly technical. He notes the intersection with politics as part of why Germany didn't have a four-engine bomber, or a long-range escort fighter for it, ready for the Battle of Britain. He also relates the development of radar, location of towers/stations and more, all the way back to Stanley Baldwin, for whom Korda appears to have a soft spot.

Finally, he gives plenty of recognition to Sir Hugh Dowding, the head of RAF Fighter Command and the single person most responsible for British victory.

Michael Korda devotes little space to the personal stories of individuals who actually comprised the Few who successfully thwarted the German invasion of Great Britain; instead, he concentrates his treatment of the famous battles in the air during the summer of 1940 on the men who developed the strategy necessary to meet the challenge. Churchill, Beaverbrook, Leigh-Mallory, Park, Douglas, Mitchell, and Camm are naturally given prominence for their work as Prime Minister, aviation production manager, group air commanders, and aviation designers; however, it is Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding who commands the greatest attention-of whom it was later said,"To him the people of Britain and the free world owe largely the way of life and the liberties that they enjoy today".

It was Dowding, that the author and others who came to recognize the invaluable service of Dowding, who developed and implemented the grouping and sectoring of the home island's Spitfires and Hurricanes; who held appreciable numbers of fighter planes in reserve to deceive Goring into believing that the RAF had fewer planes than they actually had; who convinced the powers to be of the significant importance of radar and the burying of communication cables sheltered from enemy bombs; who coordinated the use of aerial spotters and the home guard; and who blended indivduals whose temperments were contrary to meeting the needed goals and objectives.

Yes, the Battle of Britain was his story and the end results changed the course of the war and in turn world history. Korda has given the focus where it belongs even though at the time it seemed that Dowding's overbearing style might prove to be his undoing. His vision never at the time was fully accepted, but the years that followed proved him to be both a prophet and rescuer.

I am familiar with the history of the Battle of Brittain as I wrote a paper about the 8th Air Force for Air War College when I was in the Air Force. The book is an excellent mix of history and descriptions of the times through the eyes of the pilots. I really enjoyed this one

I found this read exciting, well written, and an amazing reminder how the fate of the masses, for life or death, is controlled by the power of the few.

I must agreed with nearly all the reviews written here previous to mine's that this is one of the best books I ever read on the overall history of Battle of Britain. The book clearly reflects on the creation, maintaining and usages of Royal Air Forces' Fighter Command led by Sir Hugh Dowding from 1937 to 1940. In many ways, this book is some sort of a sub-biography of Dowding as the book clearly showed how he won the Battle of Britain against all odds. He fought against the Germans, and he fought against his British distractors such as Winston Churchill and his other air marshals.

The book also reflect how close the Germans came to winning the Battle of Britain and how Dowding's sledge of hand usages of his fighters kept them off balance and guessing on his strength until the very end of the battle. Dowding's downfall came ironically when the Germans gave up on air superiority battle over Britain and settled down on night time bombing of Britain, one area where Fighter Command were unable to stop at that period.

The book read very well and the author's veer for story telling a great battle ring true in every page. It was quite exciting to read this book, even for one as well read as I am on the battle, I found the book to be quite engrossing. By the time I was done reading, I wondered why Hugh Dowding's birthday is NOT a national holiday in Britain. Okay, that was bit overstating thing but this is an excellent book and well worth anyone's time reading it.

Korda has always written beautifully, and this is a rare look at the politics behind the Battle of Britain on both sides. It's also rather amazing to find out that fewer than 2,000 British pilots, many non-officers, made the difference. I find this book is best appreciated if you've read biographies of Churchill, Goring, Hitler, and others, and/or if you read about the work behind the development of radar. "Wings" is an important contribution to understanding the research, manufacturing, and pilot availability that supported what happened in the air.

This is an excellent book on the Battle of Britain . The discriptions of the behind-the-scenes efforts from both sides are as interesting as the stories of the actual air battles themselves .

Terrific read, plus quick fair overviews of several issues that are complex to this day.

The day was filled with a chill...but the chill wasn't caused by the cool breezy days of England, rather the advancement of the German army. The Battle of Britain was a crucial victory over the Luftwaffe. Between the 10th of July and the 31st of October in the year 1940, the Royal Air Force would find itself in the most important fight of its life. Michael Korda recreates those fateful months in such pain-staking details, you will find your teeth grinding as the intensity of the battle that prolonged the war long enough for the US to tip the balance of power is unfolded. And yet, while this story is well-known to most of us...the expertise and sheer brilliance of Michael Korda's experience as an editor-in-chief at Simon and Schuster and his narrative from being a veteran in the Royal Air Force sets this book apart from the rest. Yet, if losing WW II wasn't bad enough, his uncle was ordered to be arrested the moment Germany won the battle...of course, the Germans would never get that chance.

Another difference from Korda's tale is where the spotlight focuses. In most stories the focus is on Prime Minister Winston Churchill...and it should be. Winston Churchill is famous for his quote "history will remember me well, as I intend to write it." He did...he also won a Nobel Prize, but in this version Winston Churchill plays the supporting role, with the focus squarely on Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding. Hugh Dowding led the Royal Air Force from the moment of its conception...and saw the importance of the fighter plane - at that time the bomber was the bread-n-butter of the RAF. The development of the fighter plane was crucial and changed the tactics of the Germans. Hugh Dowding began plotting dogfights with the lighter aircraft, and implemented the use of radar and radio control of aircrafts...he also created the single-engine monoplane...one such plane was the eight-gun Spitfire.

With efforts and planning by no more than a thousand young soldiers, Hugh Dowding, was able to lead the assault of the German army's first major defeat. Michael Korda realized that this one man may have sealed the fate of the Germans before the battle had even begun. Yet this outcome was almost lost. Winston Churchill wanted to divert the fighter planes to France in an effort to hold off the German advancements. It was Hugh Dowding who knew France was lost and any aircraft sent there would be lost as well. In his defiance, Dowding refused and in the process saved many young soldiers from unheroically losing their lives. Yet, while Korda's portrayal of Dowding is heroic (and rightfully so) it was his stubbornness that would ultimately remove him from the war...and while he was removed from the war...his accomplishments and victory at a crucial battle can never be taken from him.

It's tough to predict the future, especially because public attitudes and technology keeps changing and thus messing up the facts used to make predictions.

One emphasis of this book is the arguments in the 1930s about the need for fighters or bombers to defend Britain. A massive fleet of heavy bombers was sought by military experts as an aggressive retaliatory force to deter bomber attacks. Politicians who wanted to keep taxes low wanted fighters as cheaper defence against bombers.

Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain won the "cheap" arguments, which is why Britain had a large force of Hurricanes and Spitfires to defend the country in the summer of 1940. Luck? Foresight? Cost conscious wisdom in favour of low taxes? Or simple decency in not building an offensive force? Those issues of "Why?" are still open for debate.

This book deals decisions and personalities of leaders in Britain and Germany, and outlines the almost inevitable reasons that Germany couldn't win a war in the air against an equal opponent. Thus, a cross-channel invasion was impossible. The RAF simply made it unthinkable. Instead, Hitler settled for what he thought he knew best -- a foot soldier's invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941.

This isn't a tacka-tacka-tacka account of aerial warfare; instead, it examines the personalities and decisions that produced the Battle of Britain. There are plenty of books from both sides about the aerial combat; it's one of the few which analyze policy decisions.

After reading it I'm left with two impressions: 1) Hitler was a
bully who backed down if he couldn't terrorize people into submission; and 2) the British are a lot smarter than is ever portrayed in the "peace in our time" of the Munich-and-umbrella scenario.

The book solidifies the image of the German spur-of-the-moment war efforts, as seen in the aerial campaign to capture Crete in the spring of 1941 and later piecemeal reinforcements of the Afrika Krops. Bullies usually don't plan well or far in advance; Korda's book reinforces the image of Hitler as pure bully rather than military genius.

When backed into a corner, bullies become desperate which is why the war was so long and hard; on their own, as seen in the Russian campaign, they waste efforts on non-essential flailing instead of decisive blows. The same failing doomed the German effort in the skies over Britain. In other words, Hitler couldn't have won the war; he was limited to the vision and foresight of a corporal. But, given German ability to produce vast amounts of superb weapons, he did inflict a lot of damage.

Whether or not you share my assessment, it's a superb book and will give every reader due cause to think and re-consider everything they were taught or think they knew about the Battle of Britain. Instead of battles of numbers, miles per hour and other tech specs of equipment, it is a superb account of the personalities who won and those who were fated to lose.

(One further point: For anyone wanting a beautiful film of the Battle of Britain, get the superb 1969 'Battle of Britain' DVD with lots of tacka-tacka-tacka action and Spitfires and Hurricanes plus dozens of Rolls-Royce powered re-painted made-in-Spain Me-109s and He - 111s -- it's available from Amazon.com. It's simply the best 'Battle of Britain' film.)

Author Michael Korda's polished and thought-provoking new book offers a sweeping chronicle of the evolution of the Luftwaffe and RAF between the wars, leading up to the ferocious air battles over France and Britain in 1940.

Beyond the more familiar tale of Spitfires and Messerschmitts, Mr. Korda deftly underscores the tensions and behind-the-scenes rivalries among the commanders ruling the RAF and Luftwaffe.

Yes, Mr. Korda's "With Wings Like Eagles" is full of technical details and insider politics for those who follow such things. There is much to recommend this new book -- its a quick and enjoyable read.

Following the First World War, RAF thinking emphasized bomber operations. Air Ministry visionaries argued the only defense Britain needed was a good bomber offense -- Fighter development would be of little value. The Luftwaffe had also committed to the development of very fast bombers. The only man that believed otherwise is the author's main focus -- Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding.

After reading this book, one tends to agree with Mr. Korda's measured assessment: "The architect of this victory was Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding, who took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command on its formation in 1936."

"With Wings Like Eagles" is enormously entertaining, especially in the deft descriptions of Dowding's personality. The picture that emerges of Dowding is both disturbing and perplexing.

'Stuffy' was, as Mr. Korda shows, an eccentric, passionate, for the most part a difficult and remote man often viewed by colleagues as stubborn. But, in author Michael Korda, the strongly opinionated Air Chief could not have asked for a more sympathetic chronicler of his remarkable career.

In the early chapters, Mr. Korda takes us skillfully through the evolution of the Fighter Command -- from the open cockpit bi-planes, to all metal, radio equipped, eight gunned monoplanes, to state-of-the-art radar sites that dotted the countryside, to the extensive air control sector control rooms manned by WAAF's, to radar-equipped night fighters. The resulting book is authoritative, readable and concise.

Mr. Korda does not disappoint as "With Wings Like Eagles" brims with fascinating details and great insight. The author introduces us to the gifted designers of fighter aircraft. We met Willie Messerschmitt, Supermarine's R.J. Mitchell and Hawker's Sydney Camm and learn about their aircraft.

Mr. Korda loads his pages with interesting information -- Goring lobbied to produce the new 400 mph BF 109 with an open cockpit for better pilot visibility -- Squadron Leader Douglas Badar, the leading proponent of the 'big wing' theory and "perhaps the most flamboyant, determined, tough-minded difficult and opinionated personality in all of Fighter Command" had no legs -- Dowding insisted on the Rolls-Royce Merlin burning 100 octane aviation fuel even though no refinery in England produced it -- Udet's famous JU-87 Stuka was based on the U.S. Navy's Curtis dive bomber -- Dowding ordered that German HE 59 air-sea rescue float planes "were not entitled to any protection under the Geneva Convention," even though they were painted white with red cross markings.

Few historians write as well as Mr. Korda. He awakens in us the terror that seizes pilots in air combat and the loneliness they feel up there.

Mr. Korda does not gloss over the rifts and rivalries with both air forces. The author nicely contrasts his principal RAF characters: Churchill, Park, Newall, Douglas, Leigh-Mallory and Bader with their colorful adversaries: Hitler, Goring, Milch, Sperrle, Galland and Udet of the Luftwaffe.

RAF officers like Park, Newall, Douglas and Leigh-Mallory deservedly make mostly cameo appearances, in deference to Dowding.

Mr. Korda tells us about Fighter Command's struggle in the skies over Dunkirk. The French air force had been decimated and they were pleading Churchill to commit more RAF fighter squadrons. Dowding saw RAF's mission as avoiding the battle over France and conserving fighter squadrons to maintain air superiority over England for the coming Operation Sea Lion -- Hitler's invasion of Britain. Defying his Prime Minister, Dowding refused, arguing that if France collapsed, the RAF would no longer be strong enough to resist an invasion.

Dowding believed that Hitler would never launch his invasion of Britain without air superiority. He knew that Fighter Command needed only to survive until the bad weather arrived that fall -- but that would be no comfort for the French -- they needed fighter support immediately. Dowding saw France as already lost.

For his defiance, Dowding knew his future promotions in the RAF were in jeopardy. We learn that Churchill ultimately triumphed and more fighter squadrons were sent to France.

Fighter jocks will be glad to find that Mr. Korda spends over two hundred pages telling his Battle of Britain stories. We learn that Goring conducted his campaign in four distinct phases: The battles over the English Channel, the early assault against the coastal airfields, targeting the RAF airfields, and the final phase where Hitler ordered day attacks on British towns and cities.

Dowding takes us to the busy plotting tables at Group Sector Fighter Control as WAAFs plot the incoming Luftwaffe formations and to the harried fighter airfields like Kenley, Biggin Hill, and Manston that are repeatedly scrambled and then bombed.

Of course, we now know Goring's Luftwaffe ran out of time trying to shoot Dowding's Fighter Command from the skies. The coming winter forced Hitler to cancel Operation Sea Lion -- England was spared.

With victory, his friends and rivals commended Dowding. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath for his efforts in defeating Goring's Luftwaffe. With that done, his enemies pushed him out.

As Mr. Korda notes at the end of his book, "In the end, what brought Dowding down was not the 'big wing' controversy but the poor performance of his night fighters. As the luftwaffe moved from day bombing to night bombing, it became increasingly (and embarrassingly) clear that Dowding's night fighters, for the most part, remained unable to find enemy planes, let alone shoot them down."

At the end of "With Wings Like Eagles," Mr. Korda remarks about Dowding, "By a miracle of vision and obstinacy he managed to put it all in place in 1940, just when it was needed."

Above all, one has to agree with Mr. Korda's generous assessment of Dowding: "Few prophets have ever had a clearer picture of what was to come -- or what to do about it.

Author Michael Korda's polished and thought-provoking new book offers a sweeping chronicle of the evolution of the Luftwaffe and RAF between the wars, leading up to the ferocious air battles over France and Britain in 1940.

Beyond the more familiar tale of Spitfires and Messerschmitts, Mr. Korda deftly underscores the antagonisms and behind-the-scenes animosities among the commanders ruling the RAF and Luftwaffe.

Yes, Mr. Korda's "With Wings Like Eagles" is full of technical details and insider politics for those who follow such things. There is much to recommend this new book -- its a quick and enjoyable read.

The author deserves praise for recognizing the need to revisit in detail this seemingly familiar chapter of World War II history. We should welcome fresh analysis of the aviation developments leading up to the air war in 1940.

Following World War I, RAF thinking emphasized bomber operations. Air Ministry visionaries argued the only defense Britain needed was a good bomber offense -- Fighter development would be of little value. The Luftwaffe had also committed to the development of very fast bombers. The only man that believed otherwise is the author's main focus -- Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding.

Above all, one has to agree with Mr. Korda's generous assessment: "The architect of this victor was Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding, who took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command on its formation in 1936."

"With Wings Like Eagles" is enormously entertaining, especially in the deft descriptions of Dowding's personality. The picture that emerges of Dowding is both disturbing and perplexing.

'Stuffy' was, as Mr. Korda shows, an eccentric, passionate, for the most part a difficult and remote man often viewed by colleagues as stubborn. But, in author Michael Korda, the strongly opinionated Air Chief could not have asked for a more sympathetic chronicler of his remarkable career.

Frends and rivals commended Dowding for his achievements in defeating Goring's Luftwaffe.

Few historians write as well as Mr. Korda. He awakens in us the terror that seizes pilots in air combat and the loneliness they feel up there.

"With Wings Like Eagles" yields some vivid and fascinating details: "In combat, a pilot had to yank on his control stick with all his strength if he wanted to survive, and stamp his heavy, thick soled flying boots mercilessly on the rudder pedals with his full weight as if he were kicking somebody on the floor in a life or death barroom brawl. In any case, hands and feet were too cold and cramped for gentle movement. The temperature at 25,000 ft. was thirty degrees below zero, and the cockpits of the fighters weren't heated."

Mr. Korda loads his pages with interesting information: On September 15th, at 2:00 pm, the Battle of Britain reached a critical stage. With all 11th Group squadrons airborne and in need of refueling, Goring sent another 150 aircraft to strike London. if they had only caught Park's fighters on the ground instead, "No. 11 Group might well have been wiped out, and the Battle of Britain lost."

Mr. Korda does not gloss over the rifts and feuds with both air forces. The author nicely contrasts his principal RAF characters: Churchill, Park, Newall, Douglas, Leigh-Mallory and Bader with their colorful adversaries: Hitler, Goring, Milch, Sperrle, Galland and Udet of the Luftwaffe.

Mr. Korda does not disappoint as "With Wings Like Eagles" brims with fascinating details and great insight. The author introduces us to the gifted designers of fighter aircraft. We met Willie Messerschmitt, Supermarine's R.J. Mitchell and Hawker's Sydney Camm and admire their aircraft.

Of course, the author is well aware of the political minefield that awaits any study criticizing Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

At its core and at its best, Mr. Korda's book is a saga tracing the obsessions and missteps of the Churchill and Hitler regimes during the war years, a valuable complement to the indicting narratives of Goring's Luftwaffe and the feuding Air Ministry at home.

Although Churchill gets credit for the performance of the RAF, Mr. Korda's detailed description of how Dowding built Fighter Command with the explicit approval of Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin and Neveille Chamberlain -- against the wishes of his Air Ministry rivals -- makes the book worth reading.

RAF officers like Park, Newall, Douglas and Leigh-Mallory deservedly make mostly cameo appearances, in deference to Dowding.

Mr. Korda tells us about Fighter Command's struggle in the skies over Dunkirk. The French air force had been decimated and they were pleading Churchill to commit more RAF fighter squadrons. Dowding saw RAF's mission as avoiding the battle over France and conserving fighter squadrons to maintain air superiority over England for the coming Operation Sea Lion -- Hitler's invasion of Britain. Defying his Prime Minister, Dowding refused, arguing that if France collapsed, the RAF would no longer be strong enough to resist an invasion.

Dowding knew his future in the RAF was ruined. Churchill ultimately triumphed and more fighter squadrons were sent to France.

It is estimated the French lost 1,274 aircraft destroyed during the campaign; the British suffered losses of 959 of which 477 were fighters.

The Battle of Britain can be divided into four phases: The English Channel battles, the early assault against the coastal airfields, targeting the RAF airfields, the day attacks switch to British towns and cities.

Dowding takes us to the busy plotting tables at Group Sector Fighter Control as WAAFs plot the incoming Luftwaffe formations and the harried fighter airfields like Kenley, Biggin Hill, and Manston that are repeatedly scrambled and then bombed.

Dowding believed his Fighter Command was the key obstacle in Hitler's path to victory over Britain. He knew without air supremacy, the German Navy's invasion fleet could not survive attacks by the Royal Navy and RAF in the English Channel.

Goring's Luftwaffe ran out of time trying to shoot Dowding's Fighter Command from the skies. The coming winter forced Hitler to cancel Operation Sea Lion -- England was spared.

No wonder, the Battle of Britain has occupied a honored place in British memory -- comparable to the victories over the Spanish Armada and Nelson's Trafalgar, but on a much vaster scale.

In the early chapters, Mr. Korda takes us skillfully through the evolution of the Fighter Command -- from the fixed landing gear, two gun bi-planes, to all metal, radio equipped, eight gunned monoplanes, to state-of-the-art radar sites, to the extensive air control sector control rooms manned by WAAF's, to radar-equipped night fighters. The resulting book is authoritative, readable and concise.

But all the way through, Mr. Korda offers incisive details and insights that make "With Wings Like Eagles" a fascinating read.

Mr. Korda loads his pages with interesting information -- Goring lobbied to produce the new 400 mph BF 109 with an open cockpit for better pilot visibility -- Squadron Leader Douglas Badar, the leading proponent of the 'big wing' theory and "perhaps the most flamboyant, determined, tough-minded difficult and opinionated personality in all of Fighter Command" had no legs -- Dowding insisted on the Rolls-Royce Merlin burning 100 octane aviation fuel even though no refinery in England produced it -- Udet's famous JU-87 Stuka was based on the U.S. Navy's Curtis dive bomber -- Dowding ordered that German HE 59 air-sea rescue float planes "were not entitled to any protection under the Geneva Convention," even though they were painted white with red cross markings.

As Mr. Korda notes at the end of his book, "In the end, what brought Dowding down was not the 'big wing' controversy but the poor performance of his night fighters. As the luftwaffe moved from day bombing to night bombing, it became increasingly (and embarrassingly) clear that Dowding's night fighters, for the most part, remained unable to find enemy planes, let alone shoot them down."

At the end of "With Wings Like Eagles," Mr. Korda remarks about Dowding, "By a miracle of vision and obstinacy he managed to put it all in place in 1940, just when it was needed."

In fact, this tour de force should be read by anyone who wants real insights into the conduct of the Battle of Britain. It is as good a primer on service politics as you will find.

Above all, one has to agree with Mr. Korda's generous assessment of Dowding: "Few prophets have ever had a clearer picture of what was to come -- or what to do about it.