The Few By Alex Kershaw Book ReportEssay Preview: The Few By Alex Kershaw Book ReportReport this essayThe Few by Alex KershawIn the summer of 1940, World War II had been in progress for nearly a year. Adolf Hitler was victorious and planning an invasion of England to seal Europe’s fate. Everyone in the United States of America knew it. The Germans were too powerful. Hitlers Luftwaffe had too many planes, too many pilots and too many bombs and since Hitler was Europes problem, the United States claimed to be a neutral country (Neutrality Act of 1939). Seven Americans, however, did not remain neutral and that’s what this book is about. They joined Britains Royal Air Force to help save Britain in its darkest hour to fight off the skilled pilots of Germanys Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England, the English Channel, and North Europe. By October 1940, they had helped England succeed in one of the greatest air battles in the history of aviation, the Battle of Britain. This book helps to show the impact of the few Americans who joined the Battle of Britain to fight off an evil that the United States didn’t acknowledge at the time. The name of Kershaw’s book was inspired from the quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to sow few,” which was said by British Officer and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Alex Kershaw’s “The Few The American вЂ?Knights Of The Air’ Who Risked Everything To Fight In The Battle Of Britain” doesn’t just tell the story of the seven American aviators who flew for the British as but also their enemies, the Luftwaffe’s point of view. This book is told through this group of Americans and from the viewpoint of the Royal Air Force pilots they fought with but also the perspective of the Luftwaffe fliers that they fought against during the battle. For example, in one part of the book, there was this one German lookout who had commented on how much of an advantage the British had because of their radars that could locate enemy planes while they crossed the English Channel; the lookout considered the radar an “unfair” tool.
The Few was mainly written to shows why people all over the world should feel grateful towards the men of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. By the time in the summer of 1940, Adolf Hitler had already overtaken most of Europe and was attempting to conquer Great Britain which led into the battle of Britain. Britain’s Royal Air Force was the inferior force that failed Germany’s Luftwaffe. This was an incredible feat because Britain’s Royal Air Force was composed of a little over a thousand pilots from various countries. Most of these men had minimal training and were usually only given about two weeks of training before they were in dogfights. Their equipment was sparse in comparison to the Luftwaffe and yet they were able to cripple the Germans.
Even though the Royal Air Force fliers were vastly outnumbered, their effort changed the tide of the battle. Thus, Kershaw has strongly supported his thesis. Many of these volunteered aviators had given up their citizenship to fight in the Battle of Britain. With the life expectancy of a quick two weeks, this was practically suicide! The ironic part was that a lot of these fighters at first just saw it as an opportunity to fly a Spitfire or just to finally get some action out of flying but after being aware that the kill/loss ratio was decreasing in kills and increasing in losses, these young men became serious of what they had to get done. The sweat and tears put into the battle by these young, brave aviators was just unprecedented.
Kryll’s remarks were followed by some very good news. The Royal Air Force’s last fighter, the KF119-2B, was commissioned in 1957, but it was not operational until late 1963. And although the aircraft was no longer in the Royal Air Force’s fleet to assist, there are reasons why the Royal Air Force would want to keep one for it once it comes flying. One reason is a lack of adequate aircraft. This would be a big problem for most fighter pilots, but most fighters are armed to the teeth and have no chance for combat with a small army under any threat.
As a side note, the KF119-2B’s “militia” aircraft (the KF119-2B would go on to be named as a strike aircraft) are actually used in close combat. When they get into close combat, the KF119-2B is sent to attack, and the strike aircraft are sent to take cover for the attack. The only real use for this is for the enemy’s flanking maneuver, which is quite dangerous: you’re looking through an entire country for the best positions. It’s a much easier way to hide your flanks in an enemy squadron, and the same holds true when you’re flying from one side of the face of the planet to another.
Krys was surprised. But even he can still admit to being amazed at how little “good old” pilots are actually trained. One of the reasons pilots have such good command is because they don’t let pilots keep up with enemy combat training, and don’t even practice fighting with the real war planes. And if you look at the history of aircraft combat, they were usually all trained to fight the real war planes. Even the United States was well ahead of the field, with over 2,600 aircraft being used in the fight during that century, but that’s no longer the case. Only a handful of the major European countries ever saw the kind of pilots that Kris likes to see in his squadron. No such aircraft ever really hit it big, because they’re in the hands of a small group of skilled war planes, and the lack of experience in those planes have been a major problem since the 90s. At the same time, Kris doesn’t want to see an average pilot flying his own life. What good does he do when his pilot is so bored he can’t even watch him fly? Kris doesn’t want to have such boredom. It’s really not necessary to have fun; for the real job is to make his pilot’s brain want to sit on a chair and stare at him, just to get back to where it is, and be grateful to his ace for flying him.
As for what’s “better,” the Royal Air Force is very proud of the pilots in their units and all those
Kryll’s remarks were followed by some very good news. The Royal Air Force’s last fighter, the KF119-2B, was commissioned in 1957, but it was not operational until late 1963. And although the aircraft was no longer in the Royal Air Force’s fleet to assist, there are reasons why the Royal Air Force would want to keep one for it once it comes flying. One reason is a lack of adequate aircraft. This would be a big problem for most fighter pilots, but most fighters are armed to the teeth and have no chance for combat with a small army under any threat.
As a side note, the KF119-2B’s “militia” aircraft (the KF119-2B would go on to be named as a strike aircraft) are actually used in close combat. When they get into close combat, the KF119-2B is sent to attack, and the strike aircraft are sent to take cover for the attack. The only real use for this is for the enemy’s flanking maneuver, which is quite dangerous: you’re looking through an entire country for the best positions. It’s a much easier way to hide your flanks in an enemy squadron, and the same holds true when you’re flying from one side of the face of the planet to another.
Krys was surprised. But even he can still admit to being amazed at how little “good old” pilots are actually trained. One of the reasons pilots have such good command is because they don’t let pilots keep up with enemy combat training, and don’t even practice fighting with the real war planes. And if you look at the history of aircraft combat, they were usually all trained to fight the real war planes. Even the United States was well ahead of the field, with over 2,600 aircraft being used in the fight during that century, but that’s no longer the case. Only a handful of the major European countries ever saw the kind of pilots that Kris likes to see in his squadron. No such aircraft ever really hit it big, because they’re in the hands of a small group of skilled war planes, and the lack of experience in those planes have been a major problem since the 90s. At the same time, Kris doesn’t want to see an average pilot flying his own life. What good does he do when his pilot is so bored he can’t even watch him fly? Kris doesn’t want to have such boredom. It’s really not necessary to have fun; for the real job is to make his pilot’s brain want to sit on a chair and stare at him, just to get back to where it is, and be grateful to his ace for flying him.
As for what’s “better,” the Royal Air Force is very proud of the pilots in their units and all those
Kryll’s remarks were followed by some very good news. The Royal Air Force’s last fighter, the KF119-2B, was commissioned in 1957, but it was not operational until late 1963. And although the aircraft was no longer in the Royal Air Force’s fleet to assist, there are reasons why the Royal Air Force would want to keep one for it once it comes flying. One reason is a lack of adequate aircraft. This would be a big problem for most fighter pilots, but most fighters are armed to the teeth and have no chance for combat with a small army under any threat.
As a side note, the KF119-2B’s “militia” aircraft (the KF119-2B would go on to be named as a strike aircraft) are actually used in close combat. When they get into close combat, the KF119-2B is sent to attack, and the strike aircraft are sent to take cover for the attack. The only real use for this is for the enemy’s flanking maneuver, which is quite dangerous: you’re looking through an entire country for the best positions. It’s a much easier way to hide your flanks in an enemy squadron, and the same holds true when you’re flying from one side of the face of the planet to another.
Krys was surprised. But even he can still admit to being amazed at how little “good old” pilots are actually trained. One of the reasons pilots have such good command is because they don’t let pilots keep up with enemy combat training, and don’t even practice fighting with the real war planes. And if you look at the history of aircraft combat, they were usually all trained to fight the real war planes. Even the United States was well ahead of the field, with over 2,600 aircraft being used in the fight during that century, but that’s no longer the case. Only a handful of the major European countries ever saw the kind of pilots that Kris likes to see in his squadron. No such aircraft ever really hit it big, because they’re in the hands of a small group of skilled war planes, and the lack of experience in those planes have been a major problem since the 90s. At the same time, Kris doesn’t want to see an average pilot flying his own life. What good does he do when his pilot is so bored he can’t even watch him fly? Kris doesn’t want to have such boredom. It’s really not necessary to have fun; for the real job is to make his pilot’s brain want to sit on a chair and stare at him, just to get back to where it is, and be grateful to his ace for flying him.
As for what’s “better,” the Royal Air Force is very proud of the pilots in their units and all those
“The Few” contains four of the six Advanced Placement (AP) themes that are essential to World History. The included themes are: patterns and effects of interaction among societies and regions,