The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Save Britain in the Summer of 1940

Alex Kershaw shows a far different side of the Battle of Britain from the popular image of the Noble Few cheerily flying off like heroic Knights to help save civilization. Yes, they did help save civilization, and yes, they were heroes, but Kershaw describes the Battle's viciously dark side by telling of the eight American pilots who helped fight it. The eight began with irrepressibly innocent romantic aspirations, followed by desperate attempts to get to Britain and find a flying unit to accept them. Then, the sacrifices began ...By the end of the Battle, six of the eight were dead. Another died soon after. All were killed from combat-related causes. Before they died, all experienced severe emotional and physical stress, all saw friends painfully die with severe burns, all were rarely without exhaustion or recent trauma, and all desperately flew against a capable foe who had more combat experience.Despite the intensity, the author writes in an objective, almost matter-of-fact style which rarely overdramatizes events. I finished the book with great respect for those who took part in the Battle, and for those whose lifestyle might make future wars less frequent. May the Many make the sacrifices of the Few less likely, and may we live in a way that honors the opportunities they gave us.

Service was excellent, book arrived on time. The book itself was/is outstanding. My brother was a Navy fighter pilot in WW II, I was in Junior High so the time the time span covered by the book was very meaningful. I became an Air Force fighter pilot during the cold war and flew combat in a fighter during the Vietnam war so I was able to appreciate the tactics and language,e.g., "Climb takeoff and climb buster to angles 35;" which meant after take off climb full power to 35,000 feet. It also explained where many of our traditions came from. Highly recommend it; especially for our protesters so they can understand how the brave men won them the freedoms, i.e., right to protest, they have today!!!

In WW2's darkest period, eight young American flyers decided to offer their services to the RAF and ultimately participated in the crucial Battle of Britain. Alex Kershaw masterfully tells their stories and how the battle went day-by-day. Participation of this heroic group led to America's abandoning its neutral position and becoming an Ally to the English at a desperate time. If you only want to read one book on the Battle of Britain you should select this one.

Find yourself in the cockpit. Taste the thrill, the power, the fear. Experience the sense of loss as pals fall from the sky. Learn of the debt WE owe these heroes.

In this book Alex Kershaw does a masterful job of bringing the stories of the few Americans in the Battle of England to life. A fifth of pilots in the battle of England were foreigners, but only eight American did so against their government's neutrality laws! Among the heroes who fought for a greater good was Olympic gold medalist Billy Fiske! All these stories of WWII are amazing and I recommend this book without hesitation!

Recently I listened to a speech that Alex Kershaw gave at the Pritzker Military Library. I found the podcast on iTunes. I was moved by his admiration for the American pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, so I moved my copy of "The Few" to the top of my "to be read" stack of books.I just finished reading the book. Closing the cover was like coming out of a movie theater and back into present reality. The book took me back in time, magically. Alex, thank you for giving recognition to "the few" and for keeping history alive.

Got it.

Well detailed, fluently written, always an engrossing story from World War II history.

An excellent book that documents the contribution of overseas pilots to victory in the “Battle of Britain. Well written and absorbing.

Excellent

Another book to add to my collection. I am the grandchild of one of The Few who was shot down and killed.

Tout a été tel que proposé. Excellente livraison !

The narrative is excellent as well as the style of writing. you very quickly get swept along with the stories of the men of both sides. as far as the inaccuracies are concerned, I feel they dont take away from it. yes they could have been found with more in-depth editing but they are a minuscule part of the story, in fact they involve the periphery of it.Kershaw gets the points across with professionalism and care for his subjects.I recommend this to anyone interested as a starting point of the huge subject which is the battle of Britain. I look forward to reading more of his workgave it for stars just to take into account the inaccuracy otherwise would defiantly been 5

great book for the price

ドキュメンタリー戦史のカーショーさんがThe Battle of Britain,1940に参戦した7人の米人パイロットを追跡する。４人ほどが詳しい。当初の米国の中立政策のため米人がヨーロッパ戦線に志願することが困難で、まずカナダに行き、そこからフランス空軍に入隊したものの、すぐに敗戦、それから混乱の中、英国へという件りが読ませる。一方でドイツ空軍の記述は有名なメールダ、ガランドらのエースらの活躍が中心で、双方の戦闘が活写されている。ガランドの乗機は高高度特別仕様で僚機より速く獲物に到達できた！！とかの証言が紹介されて興味深い。星減は、実際は事故死が多く、実戦ではそれほど活躍してはいないようだ。それでも他国の為に命をかけたその想いが泣かせる。タイトルの「少数」は7名という数であるが、チャーチルの有名な演説「こんな僅かな人々のおかげで云々」でも、また、英国人なら知っているシェイクスピア「ヘンリー五世」の名セリフ:Happy few, band of brothers(戦友達）が頭に浮かび、感動に打たれた。

Kershaw, Alex: The Few. The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain reviewAs historian you are working on book for years constantly correcting yourself by editing and adding new primary and secondary sources, by cross-checking every detail and then you see someone like Mr. Alex Kershaw, who is making a lot of money by copy and paste 75 years old propaganda pamflets. Very sad.I was wondering how could anybody without corrections and without proper research use war pamflets like Eugene Tobin: Yankee Eagle over London, Liberty Magazine, 29 March 1941 and 5 April 1941, Hector Bolitho: Yanks over England, 2 March 1941 and Tally-Ho! Yankea in a Spitfire, 1943. As I see, you could, but results are like Kershaw's, unfortunately. Stories from airfield near Tours during French campaign are unproven and definitely nonsence. French soldiers killed two Czech pilots when the are running towards Potez 63? Po 63 is shooting down Ju 87 above airfield and Stuka is crashing in front of their eyes? No, this did not happened! There are even no dates of those situations and if they are some, you could find out that story is completely incorrect!In book you can find references of Stephen Bungay: The Most Dangerous Enemy. Yes, this was bestseller, but my personal copy is full of "incorrect" notes. Book is filled with misleading and inaccurate statements. They are like hunderts of them. Why? Because Stephen Bungay is not historian, but right wing manager. So, when I found this sentence in the book, I knew imediately who was author: "Britain had 48 squadrons of 754 Hurricanes and Spitfires [roughly 16 planes to a squadron] against the Luftwaffe's 1,464 fighter planes and 1,808 bombers." Yes, this was Bungay, p. 107. This statement is misleading, so completely incorrect. On 22nd July 1940 Luftflotte 2 and 3 had 1,935 operational planes of ALL TYPES! On 19th July 1940 Britain had 996 fighters nad 422 in reserve. Not all were operational, but usually 80% were airworthy. From 996 fighter planes, 868 were Hurricanes and Spitfires and from 422 in reserve 329 were Hurricanes and Spitfires. Thats the reality. I dont get how Bungay could be the main refference in this book for such importatnt things like airpower.More to come, so brace yourself :-)Kershaw about Hurricane: "Wonderfully sturdy platforms, they now outnumbered less resilient but more elegant Spitfires by three to one." Thats incorrect, it was 3 to 2, or even less. During the Battle of Britain at least 1,715 Hurricanes (serials) were used, but also 1,600 Spitfires. During period from July to October 1940 at least 800 Spitfires (serials) were severely damaged or destroyed (Cat. 3 and 2)."In a week of almost constant combat at Dunkirk, the RAF had shot down 132 German planes for a loss of 99 of its own fighters. 5 from Flight Leader Frank Howell's 609 Squadron. It was a remarkable performace, or as Churchill described it to his War Cabinet, "a signal victory which gives cause for high hopes of our successses in the future." Churchill was lying. It was disaster! British fighter aircraft destroyed and damaged lower number of planes, that was their own loss! 72 Spitfires were lost during Dunkerque evacuation and together with other types 229 aircraft. That was really bad.Unfortunately other mistakes coming. Problems are dates and times. On 5th August 1940 No. 64 Squadron took off from Kenley, definitely not after 06.09 but 08.00, and combat took place at around 09.00. Suitable Jagdwaffe claims are for 08.55, 08.56, 08.57 and 08.59. This should be researched in detail, but there is nothing like that. Kershaw did not even mention German claims, only unit JG 54. More problems are with type of aircraft, once he mention Me 109, but citations are about Me 110's behind Spitfire's tail: "I saw him," said nearby pilot [nobody concretely is mentioned by Kershaw]. "I saw him with two 110s on his tail. By the time I got to him they had gotten him. He went down. Had no chance to bail out." No Me 110 claims are known yet. Yet another problem is with citation: "Bandits are approaching from the north!", is one. How could they? Squadron took off from Kenley climbing towards Dover to cover convoy. Bandits came from South or Southeast, not from North. German claims are 10 km. S. W. Dover and N. Cap Gris-Nez in France. RDF could not spot them over Kent, only above sea near French coast!Kershaw even could not count well, as you'll see in next citation: "It would be forty-eight hours before Donahue and his nineteen-year-old friend, 64's youngest pilot, would return to the skies. They would be involved in the fiercest fight yet above the Channel between the RAF and the Luftwaffe-a midday mêlée so costly that it would eventually be seen by the German pilots involved as marking the true beginning of their Battle of Britain." The date was 8th August 1940, so at least 3x24=72 hours, three days. More to say, the beggining of the Battle of Britain for Gemans was Eagle Day, so 13th August 1940, 8th August 1940 was beggining day of the Battle of Britain for Air Ministry and Ministry of Information in 1941! Kershaw is not historian, but a "jurnalist".On 8th August 1940 he did not mentioned, that Sgt John William Copous Squier from No. 64 Squadron was shot down and crashed at Great Couldham, Capel-le-Ferne, Surrey severely injured by Trautloft! Six month out of service.You could continue like that for ages...