Fighter

<p>Summer, 1940: western Europe has been conquered, and all that stands between Hitler and the invasion of England is the matter of air supremacy. And the RAF...</p><p>Hitler's top-secret Directive No. 16, July 1940: 'The English air force must be beaten down to such an extent, that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German advance.'</p><p>'Fighter' is Len Deighton's thrilling history of the ensuing Battle of Britain - the aerial combat between the RAF and the Luftwaffe that was fought over the summer of 1940. Ex-RAF pilot Deighton has written a balanced study of strategies and tactics that also expertly recounts the development of the aeroplanes that fought each other in the skies - the Spitfires and Messerschmitts - and of radar. Behind the strategies and tactics, and in the cockpits of the aeroplanes, are the men brought vividly to life by Deighton's skill as a novelist.</p>