Tweddle, P: Into the Night Sky

BritainΣs most northerly bomber base ª Middleton St. George in County Durham ª played a key role in the RAFΣs strategic night bomber offensive against Germany ª from the day its resident Whitley bomber squadron flew its first offensive operational sorties in April 1941 up until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. Over four hard years of total war, its squadrons of Whitleys, Halifaxes and Lancasters flew in all the main RAF offensives against the Third Reich. These included the Thousand Bomber Raids, the Battles of the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin, and finally the huge daylight raids that pulverized the failing heart of Nazi Germany in the closing months of the war in Europe. Author Paul Tweddle has interviewed dozens of veteran air and ground crews who were based at Middleton St. George, and consulted a whole host of official records, to recreate the life and times of a vital Second World War bomber base. Supported by comprehensive appendices and a well chosen selection of photographs from official and private collections, the result is a fascinating portrait of a bomber base at war.