The Air Defence of Britain

The Air Defence of Britain
Penguin S8, Oct 1938, 224pp, 6d.
——, 2nd imp., Oct 1938.

Too little definite information about Britain's air defences has so far been available to the general public. This book, in which three responsible authorities cover every important aspect of what has now become a most urgent problem and everybody's concern, has been specially planned to remedy this. Between them they discuss the nature of the difficulties inherent in defending Britain against air attack, the actual steps being taken now to retaliate against possible enemy air aggression, and the protection and evacuation of the civilian population from London and other crowded cities.
__Each author is specially qualified to write with authority on his section of the subject, and their reputations for clear thinking and responsible judgment are a guarantee against unwarranted sensationalism. The facts themselves are sensational enough.

About the authors [1938]:

Air-Commodore L. E. O. Charlton
Served in South Africa, 1899-1902, twice wounded, mentioned in dispatches, D.S.O.; served W.A.F.F.; European War, again wounded, C.M.G.; Air Attache, British Embassy, Washington; Chief Staff Officer, Iraq Command; Officer in the Legion of Honour; Author of a remarkable autobiography, Charlton, recently issued in Penguins. Has lately established himself as a writer of repute and as an acknowledged authority on air strategy.

G. T. Garratt
Author of another Penguin Special, Mussolini's Roman Empire. Served with the Indian Cavalry during the war, spent 2 1/2 years in Mesopotamia. Correspondent for the Westminster Gazette in Germany and Russia. Political Secretary at the Indian Round Table Conference. Went to India and to the Abyssinian war for the Manchester Guardian. Spent most of 1937 and much of 1938 in Spain on relief work, observing the effect of concentrated bombing of civilian populations, an experience which gives him special knowledge of the problems he deals with in this book.

Lieut.-Commander R. Fletcher, M.P.
Distinguished career in the Royal Navy; served at the Dardanelles, in the Grant Fleet, in the Channel Patrol, in the Light Cruiser Force and at Dartmouth Naval College. After the Armistice he served for three years at the Admiralty as head of the Near Eastern Section of the Intelligence Division. Was a member of the Special Committee recently set up to investigate the progress of British air rearmament and which prepared a Report recommending drastic changes.