People

A Daring Dream Takes Flight: The Story of Amy Johnson While the exact spark that ignited Amy Johnson‘s passion for aviation remains unclear, the context of her time offers some possibilities. The early 1900s witnessed a surge in fascination with flight. Pioneering feats like Louis Blériot’s crossing of the English Channel and Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic […]

Few people can have crammed more into a life time of service than Ulric Cross and whilst this site is dedicated to all matters 1940s, this gentleman’s story spans a far greater timeline than that and as a result of his overall achievements, we have included a potted life history. Philip Louis Ulric Cross was

From Instructor to Bomber Ace: The Rise of Arthur Gill, RAF Dive Bomber Pilot While British RAF personnel are more renowned for their fighter pilot or bomber crew roles, Wing Commander Arthur Gill defied expectations. He became arguably Britain’s best dive bomber pilot of WWII, though his achievements remain largely unknown. Early Life and Wartime

The Lancaster bombers of 61 Squadron thundered down the runway into the gathering gloom on yet another one of their relentless crusades and the early Autumn air was alive with the mix of mown fields and aviation exhaust fumes. That year had been quite a warm one in England and drier than average conditions in

On a warm spring morning in April 1943, a sardine fisherman spotted the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and set in train a course of events that would change the course of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted,

The Early Life and Political Beginnings of Winston Churchill Born in 1874 at Blenheim Palace, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was the eldest child of Lord Randolph Churchill and American heiress Jennie Jerome.  Following an education geared towards the military, Churchill enlisted in the British Army in 1895 and served in India.  This period also