With British power crumbling after the WWI a ragtag band of visionaries such as Churchill and T.E. Lawrence proclaimed that only the plane, the wonder weapon of the age, would save the empire. This doctrine of using aircraft in the place of ground forces was called Air Control or police bombing, and it was employed to hold down vast swathes of the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Aircraft and bombing were used for everything from crushing revolts to collecting tax. Air power became so crucial that the bomber, rather than the battleship, was hailed as the true symbol of Britain's might. The book covers the equally vital struggle to save the RAF from being disbanded by opponents at home. If the RAF had not proved its worth over the Khyber Pass and Iraqi deserts its rivals might have destroyed it with untold consequences for Britain in World War II. 'Wings of Empire' is the first narrative history of Air Control and the colonial air campaigns. Based on three years of original archival research, it centres on the first-hand experience of air crews and others at the sharp end of these wars. AUTHOR: Barry Renfrew is a foreign correspondent and has covered wars in Afghanistan, Africa and the former Soviet Union during 30 years of reporting across the globe. His reporting won major journalism awards, including The Associated Press Top Reporting Award; he was twice a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. In addition to extensive experience as a war and defence correspondent, he has a life-long interest in British colonial military history. SELLING POINTS: ? Clear and comprehensive history of colonial combat ? Written by an award winning journalist ? Illustrated with photographs that have never been published before with first-person accounts 32pp b/w prints
