Defiant: The Untold Story Of The Battle Of Britain

Robert Verkaik

Robinson £20

This summer marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Most people will be familiar with the exploits of the Spitfires and the Hurricanes pitted against the enemy’s Messerschmitts and Stukas; this book aims to resurrect the reputation of a third aircraft, the Boulton Paul Defiant.

It is a story of incompetence, political machinations, military mismanagement and top-brass ineptitude, but also one of outstanding bravery and sacrifice, an important contribution to the war effort that has been largely overlooked.

The Defiant (above, right), while slower than the more fêted Spitfire, was a two-seater aircraft with a gunner at the rear, in a swivelling turret with four machine guns, which gave formidable firepower. It was seen as essential against the threat of German bombers. It performed heroically at Dunkirk and the two Defiant squadrons served with distinction during the Battle of Britain: 264 Squadron holds the record for the most number of confirmed ‘kills’ in a day; 141 Squadron, on the other hand, suffered the greatest loss of life and aircraft in a single combat.

History appears to have judged the Defiant a design failure, best forgotten. It is, however, Robert Verkaik’s wellargued contention that the Defiant was misused and mismanaged: deployed to frontline fighter stations as an independent fighter instead of a bomber destroyer working in tandem with the Hurricanes and Spitfires, it was marred by production delays and design flaws (why no bulletproof-glass canopy?) and a malfunctioning radio system.

Verkaik is an excellent guide, making his case with a restrained passion, taking us through the inter-war rearmament before cataloguing the muddled thinking, the political infighting, the inter-service and personality rivalries.

His research was clearly a labour of love, leaving no Whitehall paper or airman’s letter unturned in his search for the truth, and he never forgets the human dimension behind the losses.