Duel of Eagles

Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2003. Reprint Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. xvii. [1]. 455, [7] pages. Illustrations. Map. Appendix. Index, Slight wear to DJ edges. DJ has sticker residue on the front. No price on DJ. Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend CVO, DSO, DFC & Bar (22 November 1914 - 19 June 1995) was a Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier and author. He was equerry to King George VI from 1944 to 1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1953. Townsend joined the Royal Air Force in 1933. He was commissioned a pilot officer on 27 July 1935. He joined No. 1 Squadron RAF at RAF Tangmere flying the Hawker Fury biplane fighter. In 1936 he was posted to No. 36 Squadron RAF in Singapore, flying the Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bomber. He was promoted to flying officer on 27 January 1937, and returned to Tangmere that year as a member of No. 43 Squadron RAF. Townsend was promoted to flight lieutenant on 27 January 1939. The first enemy aircraft to crash on English soil during the Second World War fell victim to fighters from RAF Acklington in Northumberland on 3 February 1940, when three Hurricanes of ‘B' flight, No. 43 Squadron, shot down a Luftwaffe Heinkel 111 of 4./KG 26 near Whitby. The pilots were Flight Lieutenant Townsend, Flying Officer "Tiger" Folkes and Sergeant James Hallowes. Two more He 111s were claimed by Townsend, on 22 February and 8 April, and a sixth share on 22 April. Townsend was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in April 1940. His wartime record was nine aircraft claimed destroyed, and two shared, two 'probables' and four damaged. Reprint of the edition originally published in 1970. The author was a pilot in the Battle of Britain; he provides an eyewitness account of two of history's most exciting air battles: the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Britain.

Derived from a Kirkus review: An unusually lively and well-written account, by former RAF ace Townsend, of the air battle for Britain in which he parallels developments, crises and high-level wrangling in the Luftwaffe and the RAF, incorporating the personal experiences of surviving participants. Townsend recreates with vigorous immediacy those clays when "Action and more action was the only antidote against the deadly, crushing fatigue creeping up on us;" the gallantry of pilots (and prisoners) on both sides; London under siege and his own crossfire combats. From a pre-war period of accelerating preparations in which young Townsend and his comrades "Flying wing to wing...practiced loops, barrel rolls and stalled turns..." to the terrible zenith of the Luftwaffe assault -- the author continues to note findings and speculations concerning the German failure. There was Hitler's lack of "inner feeling" for aircraft which might have explained giving the headlong unrealistic tactics of Goering full play; the London offensive which drew the fire from Fighter Command's bases; Hitler's switch from the aim of destroying the British homeland as a base to an interest in engaging Russia; and of course the incredible bravery of "so few." Townsend also contributes his view of the on-going Chamberlain controversy, arguing that the Prime Minister, authorized to buy time, yet concealed essential estimates of Luftwaffe strength from the Cabinet. With many pilot-to-pilot tributes to German eagles, it's a recall which encompasses moments of exhilaration and terror.