Dowding of Fighter Command

Making full use of archival sources, studies by other scholars, and information provided by family members, the author has completed the first biography of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding to cover his entire life. Soldier, pilot, wireless pioneer, squadron commander, spiritualist, champion skier, 'Stuffy' Dowding is perhaps best known as the creator of the first radar-based air defense system and his no less remarkable management of such throughout the Battle of Britain. Dowding served in Iraq, helped to pacify unrest in the Holy Land, was involved in the R.101 airship disaster and oversaw the creation of Britain's first eight-gun monoplanes, the Hurricane and Spitfire. Controversially dismissed from Fighter Command and refused the R.A.F.'s highest rank, he nevertheless became the first airman elevated to the peerage since Trenchard.