Roddy MacKenzie’s father served in Bomber Command during the Second World War, but like so many brave veterans who had survived the war, he spoke little of his exploits. So, when Roddy started on his personal journey to discover something of what his father had achieved, he uncovered a great deal about the devastating effectiveness of Bomber Command and the vital role it played in the defeat of Third Reich. He realised that the true story of Bomber Command’s achievements has never been told nor fully acknowledged.

Roddy became a man on a mission, and this startlingly revealing, and often personal study, is the result. Bomber Command: Churchill's Greatest Triumph takes the reader through the early days of the Second World War and introduces all the key individuals who turned the Command into the war-winning weapon it eventually became, as well as detailing the men and machines which flew night after night into the heart of Hitler’s Germany.

The main focus of his book is the destruction and dislocation wrought by the bombing to reduce, and ultimately destroy, Germany’s ability to make war. In his analysis, Roddy dug deep into German archival material to uncover facts rarely presented to either German or English language readers. These demonstrate that Bomber Command’s continual efforts, at appalling cost in aircrew casualties and aircraft losses, did far more damage to the Reich than the Allies knew.

Roddy’s father served with the Royal Canadian Air Force and Roddy naturally highlights its contribution to Bomber Command’s successes, another aspect of this fascinating story which the author believes has not been duly recognized.

Bomber Command: Churchill's Greatest Triumph will certainly raise the debate on the controversial strategy adopted by ‘Bomber’ Harris and how he was perceived by many to have over-stepped his remit. But most of all, this book will revise people’s understanding of just how important the endeavours were of those men who flew through the dark and through the searchlights, the flak, and the enemy night fighters, to bring the Second World War in Europe to its crushing conclusion.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface by Allen Packwood
• Letter from Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon GCB, CBE, FRAeS
• Letter from RCAF Deputy Commander Major General Colin Keiver
• Foreword by Air Vice-Marshal Paul Robinson, OBE, FRAeS
• Maps
• Introduction
• Part I: My Awakening
  • Chapter One Boyhood
  • Chapter Two Manhood
  • Chapter Three My Dad
  • Chapter Four Discovering Bomber Command
  • Chapter Five Leaders
  • Chapter Six Harris
• Part II: Bomber Command Background
  • Chapter Seven Opinions
  • Chapter Eight The Plan
  • Chapter Nine Warplanes
  • Chapter Ten People
  • Chapter Eleven Training
  • Chapter Twelve Dad at War
  • Chapter Thirteen Weaknesses into Strengths
• Part III: Germany’s Perspective
  • Chapter Fourteen Germany’s Research Institute for Military History
  • Chapter Fifteen German Leaders – Especially Speer
  • Chapter Sixteen Joseph Goebbels
  • Chapter Seventeen Luftwaffe Leaders
• Part IV: Bomber Command Accomplishments
  • Chapter Eighteen Air War
  • Chapter Nineteen Sea War
  • Chapter Twenty Assisting Allied Armies
  • Chapter Twenty-One Germany’s War Machine
• Part V: Remembrance and Conclusions
  • Chapter Twenty-Two Dad Postwar
  • Chapter Twenty-Three Bomber Command Postwar
  • Chapter Twenty-Four Conclusions
• Appendix I Royal Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross
• Appendix II Royal Bank of Canada Quill & Ledger Letter
• Appendix III Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) to Rescue Halifaxes
• Appendix IV Military Life Diarized by 166 Squadron
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Plates