Air Power and the Evacuation of Dunkirk: The RAF and Luftwaffe during Operation Dynamo, 26 May - 4 June 1940 - Paperback

by Harry Raffal (Author)

The evacuation of Dunkirk has been immortalised in books, prints and films, narrated as a story of an outnumbered, inexperienced RAF defeating the battle-hardened Luftwaffe and protecting the evacuation. This book revives the historiography by analysing the air operations during the evacuation. Raffal draws from German and English sources, many for the first time in the context of Operation DYNAMO, to argue that both sides suffered a defeat over Dunkirk. .

This work examines the resources and tactics of both sides during DYNAMO and challenges the traditional view that the Luftwaffe held the advantage. The success that the Luftwaffe achieved during DYNAMO, including halting daylight evacuations on 1 June, is evaluated and the supporting role of RAF Bomber and Coastal Command is explored in detail for the first time. Concluding that the RAF was not responsible for the Luftwaffe's failure to prevent the evacuation, Raffal demonstrates that the reasons lay elsewhere.

Author Biography

Harry Raffal is the Historian based at the Royal Air Force Museum, London, UK. He holds a doctorate from the University of Hull for his thesis on the operations of the RAF and Luftwaffe during the evacuation of Dunkirk. He is an ex-officio Committee member of the RAF Historical Society and the Royal Aeronautical Society, Aeronautical Heritage Group. He has previously published research on the RAF in the Battle of France, and the online development of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces.