INVASION AIRFIELDS Then and Now

In telling the story of these important if not vital airfields, Ramsey has examined the history of each and every one. In the majority of cases, he has included photographs of the airfields during the period of their use, including images of the aircraft, aircrew and personnel who were based there. Often, these provide the perfect subject matter for After The Battle’s trademark then-and-now comparison photographs. In every case, however, we find coloured maps and photographs of the airfields, including images of the scenes at these historic sites today. Often, they are now changed beyond any recognition and this fact alone highlights the importance of recording these important locations before all reference points and all knowledge is lost. Where possible, the editor has included either vertical or oblique coloured photographs of the airfields to bring the whole subject alive.

In his 1945 report to the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff on the success of Operation `Overlord’, the Supreme Commander General Eisenhower wrote that “on the morning of June 9 I was able to announce that for the first time since 1940, Allied air forces were operating from France, and that within three weeks of D-Day, 31 Allied squadrons were operating from the beach-head bases”.
By any standards, this was a magnificent achievement which had been made possible by much pre-planning which, in turn, enabled temporary airfields to be rolled out (often, quite literally!) in order to operate behind the ever advancing front line.

In their forecasts for the first three months following D-Day, the planners plotted the number of the advanced landing grounds that would be required in Normandy to support the Allied air forces up to September 1944. Using maps and aerial photographs, individual sites were surveyed and plans drawn up so that when each location was captured, either US Aviation Engineers, the Royal Engineers or RAF Airfield Construction Wings, could move in without delay to begin work to build them.

This book tells the story of every airfield that became operational by D+90, explaining the methods used to construct them and the units that flew from them. The vast majority of the temporary airstrips have now been returned to the farmland from which they came, but by using engineers’ plans from the period and modern aerial photographs, the publishers have portrayed the sites in true After the Battle fashion: as they were then and as they are today.

Overseas clients please note: Due to excessively high wrapped weight shipping is weighted on this title