Andy Saunders (Andrew Roy Saunders) is an English author and researcher from East Sussex who specializes in military aviation history with particular emphasis on the Battle of Britain and the air war over north-west Europe between 1939 and 1945.
He regularly contributes to the world's aviation press on military history topics and has also written for national newspapers, including “The Mail on Sunday”. He is a former editor of Britain at War magazine, published by Lincolnshire-based Key Publishing.
He was also a programme consultant for the Discovery History series “War Digs With Harry Harris” and is currently involved in a number of projected television documentaries for various production companies working as contributor, researcher or consultant.
In 2001, he pleaded guilty to offences under the Protection of Military Remains Act after recovering the aircraft of Flying Officer George Edward Kosh, a Hawker Typhoon which crashed in 1944 in East Sussex, without a licence. [1] He was given a one-year conditional discharge after the court heard he had committed a technical offence only which related to going ahead with the excavation of the wreckage a month before he had the appropriate Ministry of Defence licence. [2] In 2005 he was the principal contributor and consultant for the Channel 4 documentary “Who Downed Douglas Bader” (Wildfire TV) and more recently has had input to BBC Timewatch programmes (including “Aces Falling”) and to various BBC “Inside Out” programmes as well as “The One Show”, and "Fake Britain".
Many of his written works are published by Grub Street of London, although he has also had one of titles published by the prestigious New York publisher, Random House.
He has been involved with military aircraft preservation and recovery for over forty years, including the recovery from India of two World War One bombers for preservation and flight in the UK as well as the wrecks of Gloster Gladiators from Norwegian mountains for UK museum restoration and display. His experience in this sphere over so many years makes him one of the most knowledgeable experts in his field, resulting in frequent demands for input to written works, research, films and documentaries.
He is the founder of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. [3]
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.
The Big Wing, also known as a Balbo, was an air fighting tactic proposed during the Battle of Britain by 12 Group commander Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and Acting Squadron Leader Douglas Bader. In essence, the tactic involved meeting incoming Luftwaffe bombing raids in strength with a wing-shaped formation of three to five squadrons. In the Battle, this tactic was employed by the Duxford Wing, under Bader's command.
Air Vice Marshal James Edgar Johnson,, DL, nicknamed "Johnnie", was an English Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace who flew and fought during the Second World War.
Royal Air Force Tangmere or more simply RAF Tangmere is a former Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain.
Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock was a British and Irish flying ace who served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War. Mannock was a pioneer of fighter aircraft tactics in aerial warfare. At the time of his death he had amassed 61 aerial victories, making him the fifth highest scoring pilot of the war. Mannock was among the most decorated men in the British Armed Forces. He was honoured with the Military Cross twice, was one of the rare three-time recipients of the Distinguished Service Order, and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
No. 35 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force.
No. 40 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1916 at Gosport as No. 40 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and was disbanded for the last time in 1957. The squadron also included many non-British members, including volunteers from the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force.
Tangmere is a village, civil parish, and electoral ward in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. Located three miles (5 km) north east of Chichester, it is twinned with Hermanville-sur-Mer in Lower Normandy, France.
Air Vice Marshal Edward Barker Addison, was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer who served as Air Officer Commanding No. 100 Group from 1943 to 1945 during the Second World War. The group jammed Axis radar and communications systems from the air and Addison was its only commander.
Norman Leslie Robert Franks is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II.
Air Commodore John Marlow Thompson, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and a flying ace of the Second World War. He is credited with having destroyed at least eight enemy aircraft.
Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 was a Luftwaffe night fighter-wing of World War II. NJG 5 was formed on 30 September 1942 in Döberitz.
The Battle of Britain Bunker is an underground operations room at RAF Uxbridge, formerly used by No. 11 Group Fighter Command during the Second World War. Fighter aircraft operations were controlled from there throughout the War but most notably during the Battle of Britain and on D-Day. Today it is run by Hillingdon Council as a heritage attraction with attached museum. The museum was opened in 1985, with an above ground visitor centre opened in March 2018.
The term Bath Blitz refers to the air raids by the German Luftwaffe on the British city of Bath, Somerset, during World War II.
Caesar Barrand Hull, DFC was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace during the Second World War, noted especially for his part in the fighting for Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, and for being one of "The Few"—the Allied pilots of the Battle of Britain, in which he was shot down and killed. From a farming family, Hull's early years were spent in Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Swaziland. He boxed for South Africa at the 1934 Empire Games. After being turned down by the South African Air Force because he did not speak Afrikaans, he joined the RAF and, on becoming a pilot officer in August 1936, mustered into No. 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere in Sussex.
The term Exeter Blitz refers to the air raids by the German Luftwaffe on the British city of Exeter, Devon, during the Second World War. The city was bombed in April and May 1942 as part of the so-called "Baedeker raids", in which targets were chosen for their cultural and historical, rather than their strategic or military, value.
Wing leader, or wing commander (flying), denotes the tactical commander of a Commonwealth military wing on flying operations. The terms refer to a position, not a rank, although the role was usually taken by an officer ranked wing commander. The position was also distinct from the commanding officer of the wing, generally a higher-ranked officer. The first wing leaders were appointed in 1941, and the position remained in use until the 1960s.
Wing Commander Ian Richard Gleed, nicknamed "Widge," was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace credited with the destruction of 13 enemy aircraft during the Second World War. He served in the Battle of France and Battle of Britain before being shot down and killed over Tunisia. Gleed published a fictionalized memoir, Arise to Conquer, in 1942.
Peter Parrott was a World War II era pilot who flew fighter aircraft during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. He later became a test pilot in the RAF, retiring in 1965. Despite being awarded the DFC and AFC, he was famous as being the face of a recruitment campaign to encourage people to join the Royal Air Force. When his medals were sold in 2022, the auction house was quoted as saying "..he did more in 1940, aged just 19, than most people experience in a lifetime."