Luck of the draw

When Buckingham Palace was hit by bombs on 15 September 1940, it brought the war to the very front door of King George VI and his wife Elizabeth, the Queen consort. Just over two weeks later, the war

This fantastic plan, which led the then Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS), Air Vice-Marshal Arthur T Harris, to remark ‘the story, that appears too fantastic for words, might have a fortunate outco

Flight’s glamorous beginnings

In 1942, the German war machine was at the height of its power. France, the ‘hereditary enemy’, was defeated and occupied. In the Soviet Union, Army Group South was marching inexorably toward the Cauc

Subordinate to Dr Joseph Goebbels’ Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) but reporting through the Wehrmacht Propaganda department of O

Fritz Kosmahl, destined to become one of Germany’s most highly decorated two-seater pilots, was born in Leipzig on 5 September 1892. His early interest in aviation led him to undertake pilot training