One moment the sky would be full of aircraft wheeling and positioning for the best shot at the enemy; a sky full of danger and menace. The next instant there would just be a clear blue empty sky with the sun shining down on a calm and beautiful landscape. Such was the phenomenon experienced by pilots who fought in the key battles of France and Britain in the Summer of 1940.
These air battles were certainly the most important ever fought in defence of the country and have deserved the millions of words that have been written about them. However, as the number of surviving veterans dwindles to single figures, interviews with some of ‘The Few’ who actually fought the battle are of increasing importance and rarity.
This book tells the story of nineteen men and women who were there. Through a series of filmed interviews their stories were preserved, allowing them to tell the part they played in the nation’s defence in their own words. It is the transcriptions of these interviews that form the basis of this unique collection of accounts.
The nineteen stories are riveting and insightful, yet full of modesty and humour. The veterans talk about not being very good or just being followers of the aces – but underneath it all is a great pride that day after day they flew sortie after sortie against an enemy who had never been beaten until that moment. They talk of aerial battles perhaps three or four times each day; of the aircraft that carried them into battle without faltering; of the social life in their precious moments of quiet and peace; but most of all they talk about comradeship, friends and colleagues. Some friendships lasted barely a few days while others continued for decades.
Three of the interviewees epitomise the men from fifteen other countries who joined the RAF to fight. Others represent the thousands of ground crew, WAAFs, ATA, drivers, plotters, radar operators, airfield defenders, controllers, aircraft builders, cooks and associated personnel without whom the Royal Air Force would have been unable to maintain the fight against Germany.
GUEST REVIEW FROM MARK MAGUIRE
Today I am delighted to be able to hand over my blog to my husband Mark so that he can share with you his review for Empty Skies:
“The year 2020 marked the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. However, due to certain high-profile events, this landmark event in British history, aside from a desultory scattering of Television programmes, went largely uncelebrated. The understandable inability to congregate, and bask in the Finest Hour of the light blue aerial warriors almost certainly left a taste of disappointment in the national mouth.
Thank Heavens then for the printed word! There has been no shortage of re-releases; updated and unabridged works, special edition ‘bookazines’, and very occasionally something entirely new.
The subject of this review: “Empty Sky – RAF voices from the fall of France and the Battle of Britain”, slots into the ‘new’ category comprising as it does, of transcripts from filmed interviews conducted in the late 1990’s through to the 2000’s with 15 members of ‘The Few’ and 1 member of the WAAF. The underlying aim of the work to document and preserve the thoughts of ever-dwindling ‘Few’ for posterity, has resulted in an unadulterated and enthralling stream of consciousness emanating from a plethora of squadrons; theatres of war, and aircraft types – the Defiant being particularly worthy of note.
The interviewees may be well-known to some readers: Peter Brothers; Terence Kane, and Geoffrey Wellum are amongst the participants in this volume for example. Their inclusion however, should not dissuade the reader from continuing. The enclosed transcripts diverge significantly from the traditional veneer of official commemorative fayre, and whilst there are familiar accounts of tactics; readiness, and aerial combat, the underlying theme is of reminiscence; humour, loss, enmity, and in some instances, a rejection of pre-existing accounts of the battle, particularly those with a tendency towards the heroic. The resultant narrative in this instance offers a precious; unfiltered and refreshing insight into the grim realities of Total War, balanced with the omnipotent psychological, and emotional frailties of the participants.
“Empty Skies” is a visceral, and turbulent re-telling of the battles of France and Britain, and it succeeds in removing the superhuman veneer foisted upon the respondents by generations of re-telling, and recasting them as something we can all relate to: ordinary persons living in extraordinary times, being pushed beyond their mental; emotional, and physical limits, with all of the subsequent frailties that exposes. In sum, “Empty Sky” represents one of the last opportunities to emotionally connect with the remaining ‘Few’ as fellow humans without official parenthesis or sanitisation and is highly recommended as a result.”
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