This was so well done!!! The written account was complimented so well by the great pictures that I felt like I could get an better idea of being there. This really needed to be recorded before it was a forgotten era in history. Thank you for doing that.

enjoyed the book and found an artist rendering taken at a train staion, i beleive. the approximate page location is 70 & 71, give or take. what i need to know is where i can obtain a source that has this picture showing this german train station during WWII. it is for a friend who works for union pacific and loves enginges. please contact me about the picture. as for the book i grew up near wright-patterson AFB, Dayton OH and love planes - loved the book - hope to purchace it someday. any direction to a source will be greatly appreciated. thank you. Dave Falknor.

As the son of a surviving B-17 pilot, I have spent considerable time poring over books specific to the subject. This book, along with Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer are true treasures. History books alone cannot convey information to our successors like a story retold by someone who had the events firmly planted in their memory by the first-hand impact of the situation.

Originally published in hardback as "Their Finest Hour", now bearing its original UK title. Not a formal history as such, but an effort to convey the flow and feel of the times. R. Collier has written a number of good WWII history books and this too is very well written. P. Kaplan has been the artistic mind behind a series of books of this type and format (see note). The book includes many photographs both from 1940 and as the sites, people and artifacts appeared when the book was first published (1988+/-), Sidebars have bits of poetry, songs, and passages from memoirs. (Note: in the same format are: "One Last Look", Little Friends", "Round the Clock", "Wolfpack", Convoy", "Fighter Pilot", and "Bombers". The first three are also excellent, the middle two very good, the last two fair.)

Published in the States as "Their Finest Hour". This is an enjoyable and evocative presentation of the Battle of Britain. The text, pictures and sidebars work well together. Great addition to an excellent series.

Philip Kaplan always comes up with a winner !! This is a superb book that really gets beneath the B/S and myth that surrounds WW 11 Fighter pilots.

A great book of a time when our cause was so noble and the sacrifices so great. With gratitude we think of all those who
did their best and left a noble legacy of the United States Of America for the rest of the world. Without that effort the world would not be as great as it is. Make no mistake the seeds of our goodwill were sown forever by those who fought that battle.

Not a formal history, but an attempt to convey the atmosphere and flow of the battle; it is very well done. One of a series of books in the same format, all of them worthwhile.

I have all the books Mr Kaplan has done in this format and (sort of) series. I thought "One Last Look", "Their Finest Hour" (now out in paper as "The Few"), "Little Friends", and "Round the Clock" were all excellent. Great writing, attractive visually, good sidebars, thoroughly enjoyable. This one is good but, if you have the others, you will find much you have seen before. Some of the quoted passges and many of the photographs are duplicated here. My advice is: if you do have the others, pass on this; if not, go ahead.

This is first and foremost a picture book, as far as I'm concerned, and it is a fine one. The book is chock full of superb color and black and white photographs. The text is informative and presents a good overall history of bombers from World War I to the present, but with special emphasis on the flight crews of the big bombers in WWII. The author has gone to a great deal of work to find the right photos to accompany the text. The book is high quality, bound well with sharp images. It is a good introductory text but it will also be fun for the veterans of heavy bombers of WWII to flip through and reminisce. I recommend the book while emphasizing that it is an overview and not any kind of exhaustive research tome.

A lot of great pictures but not much technical detail. A good coffee table book but don't buy it as a reference. If you're looking for a book with more information about the technical specs of Naval aircraft I suggest "Carrier" by Tom Clancy, if you want to know what it takes to be a US Navy fighter pilot get "Bogeys and Bandits" by Robert Gandt.

This is an absolutely fabulous book about carrier aviation from its first conception to modern day. It's margins are filled with lots of trivia about the aviators and aircraft. The book contains lots of picture and photographs of the first built carriers and carrier based aircraft. I enjoy just picking up the book and reading a few pages at a time. It is very easy to read and makes a wonderful coffee table book. As a naval aviator, I will cherish this book. By the way, the BEST book is U.S. Naval Aviation.

This book is really book of pictures which cover U-boats on patrol, ship sinkings and rescues, and lots of interior pictures showing U-boat crews going about their duties. There are also some nice pictures of submarine pens in French ports and the captured U-505 here in Chicago at the Museuem of Science and Industry. Each illustration has text which describes what's going on in the picture and includes diary excerpts and letters from actual U-boat crewmen.

Although the letters and diary entries do give an idea of what life was like on a U-boat, I was hoping for a deeper discussion of U-boat operations. However, if you're looking for a good source of illustrations and photos of life on a U-boat, this would be a good choice.

Very nicely compiled 25x25cm glossy pages with rare B&W and color photos of life inside various subs in port and at sea, including diesel engine room, torpedo room of U-505 just as it was abandoned at the moment of capture off West Africa in June 1944. Color photos of U-995 on display at Laboe, photos of U-505 at the Museum at Chicago, and many color photos of the many U-boat pens built on the French coast. Dramatic photos of U-175 sailors rescued at sea and taken prisoner aboard US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer. We see photos of the damaged Blohm and Voss shipyard at Hamburg and of the Germaniawerft at Kiel at the end of the war with hundreds of U-boats still in various construction stages. Color closeups of the Enigma machines with 4 rotors used exclusively by the Navy. A worthwhile addition for your U-boat library. Only the serious history buff will note a few factual discrepancies, such as the photo caption of Kapitanleutnant Hoffmann of U-447. That boat never had a commander by that name. Additional factual information can be verified on the website: U-BOAT.NET

I've read and liked all the books in this format by Kaplan et.al., but I think this is the weakest in the series. The picture choices were "fair" and the writing "fair to good" but this means the book doesn't match the high standard set by the previous volumes (ie "Round the Clock", "Little Friends", etc). It was published after Mr. Currie died so I guess it's understandable. I've read and enjoyed most of Mr. Currie's books and, though I never got to meet him, I will miss him.