Spies In The Sky, Taylor Downing

On a vist to Capel Le Ferne a few years ago I picked up this fascinating book detailing the battle of aerial intelligence during the second world war.

While much has been made of the work at Bletchley Park and the breaking of the Enigma code by the boffins that worked on Ultra. Not much has been said about the work at and equally important country estate and the work carried out there. This book sets out to change that detailing the important work carried out at Medmenham and the photo interpreters there and the hours they spent analysing photos of Europe taken by some of the most daring pilots in the RAF.

The story of those daring photo reconnaissance pilots is also detailed in this book often flying alone and unarmed over axis territory these pilots had nothing but their skills to keep them alive. Often arriving only hours after a bombing raid with and enemy set on revenge for the horrors that lay beneath them these pilots had to conduct the vital job of securing the intelligence needed to assess results and out line the continuing strategy.

Its well worth a read and outlines lesser known part of the second world war with the information reading as if its benign told to you by the persons involved and gives new perspective on some of the most famous parts of the conflict.