A Summer Bright and Terrible : Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain

lord Hugh Dowding, Air Chief Marshall Of The Royal Air Force, Head Of Fighter Command, First Baron Of Bentley Priory, Lived In The Grip Of Unseen Spirits. In Thrall Of The Supernatural, He Talked To The Ghosts Of His Dead Pilots, Proclaimed That Hitler Was Defeated Only By The Personal Intervention Of God, And Believed In The Existence Of Faeries. How Could It Be That Such A Man Should Be Put In Charge Of Evaluating Technical Developments For The British Air Ministry? Yet It Was He Who Brought The Modern Multi-gunned Fighter Into Existence. And He Insisted That His Scientists Investigate The Mysterious Invisible Rays That Would Prove To Be The Salvation Of Britain: Radar. dowding, Who Provided The Organization And Training That Led To Victory, Has Been All But Ignored By U. S. Biographers Of Churchill And Historians Of The Battle Of Britain. Yet His Story Is Vital To Tell, For Its Importance To The Defense Of Britain And The Free World, And For The Intriguing Character Study That Emerges From His Ongoing Conflict With Churchill And The British Government During The Crisis Years Of The Empire. Part Military History, Part Science Narrative, Part Biography; This An Incredible Story. "A Summer Bright and Terrible depicts a rich and deeply human account of the Battle of Britain and Lord Hugh Dowding, the eccentric man who led the RAF during its finest hour. The story of the violent onrush of the Second World War is one of a future seen only dimly and quite differently by the various people involved. Today's histories look back and see the outstanding personage Winston Churchill, a powerhouse, a locomotive who ran roughshod over whomever stood in his way - except for Hugh Dowding, a quiet, unassuming, but equally stubborn man who fought fiercely to fulfill his personal vision. If he had not stood up against Churchill and forced the acceptance of his own ideas, Hitler would have won the war. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of this, Churchill never forgave him. None of this, of course, can be found in Churchill's writings. Nor is it even mentioned in the several recent histories that purport to tell the story of those days. The true history has been lost, until now." "Lord Hugh Dowding, Air Chief Marshall of the Royal Air Force, Head of Fighter Command, First Baron of Bentley Priory, lived in the grip of unseen spirits. In thrall of the supernatural world, he talked to the ghosts of his dead pilots, proclaimed that Hitler was defeated only by the personal intervention of God, and believed in the existence of faeries. How could it be that such a man should be put in charge of evaluating technical developments for the British Air Ministry? Yet it was he who, fighting the inertia of the bureaucrats who ruled the Air Force, brought the modern multi-gunned Hurricane and Spitfire into existence. And he insisted that his scientists investigate the mysterious invisible rays that would prove to be the salvation of Britain: radar." "Dowding's story is vital to tell, both for its importance to the defence of Britain - indeed the entire free world - and for the intriguing character study that emerges from his ongoing conflict with Churchill and the British government during the crisis years of the empire. Part military history, part science narrative, part biography, this story is brought to life by David E. Fisher. It is among the strangest, most important, and least known tales of the Second World War."--Jacket