Air Force Blue

Patrick Bishop has been a foreign correspondent for over twenty years, reporting from conflicts all over the world and working as senior correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. He is the author of 'The Irish Empire'; the acclaimed book 'The Provisional IRA' with Eamonn Mallie; and the bestselling 'Fighter Boys', 'Bomber Boys' and '3 Para'. He lives in London.

'This is a terrifically readable, authoritative book that told me many fascinating things I did not know' Max Hastings, Sunday Times

'As a former war correspondent with more than 30 years' experience, Bishop brings journalistic strengths to his second career as a popular historian: an easily readable and exciting writing style, a knowledge of what fighting means to those at the sharp end, a nose for the nub of the story, and an admirable compassion for the victims of war on all sides...a book that at once educates, explains, and excites' BBC History magazine, Book of the Month

'Monumental ... after Bishop's pilot's eye views of the war in Fighter Boys and Bomber Boys, Air Force Blue counts as a publishing event. It won't disappoint" The Times

'Full of excellent and vivid stories, this terrifically readable and authoritative book tells the dramatic story of the RAF during the Second World War' The Sunday Times

'Compelling ... Mr Bishop has an enormous tale to tell as he leads up to 1939 and six years of formative war...what Mr. Bishop does so well is to show how the RAF came to be such a distinctive and effective force' Country Life

'This meticulously compiled survey sets out to combine encomium with a series of unblinkered evaluations' TLS

'Succeeds in mining new and startling insights' The Times