THIS BOOK BEGAN LIFE as a single volume to tell the story of Luftwaffe maritime operations. However, the more I delved into the story the more I realised just how expansive was the topic I was trying to cover. This is not just the story of the Kriegsmarine’s attempt at creating a Fleet Air Arm, but also the metamorphosis of those units and other more orthodox bomber formations that gravitated towards specialising in maritime strikes using either torpedo, mine or bomb. Likewise, the story cannot begin at 1939 and the outbreak of war. Nor can it really be told from 1935 and the unveiling of both the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to the world, but a brief look as far back as the First World War is necessary to give a sense of where the entire impetus for German naval aviation began. Thus, one book became two. This volume splits the story in late 1942, and will pick up where I left off in the second volume to follow.
There are many people I would like to thank for help and support during the researching and writing. First, my wife Anna Paterson, who has enough work to do in her jobs as a professional proof reader and editor without me hassling her for advice. My kids James and Megan are always very supportive of whatever hare-brained scheme I come up with next, as is my mother, Audrey ‘Mumbles’ Paterson and Don ‘Mr Mumbles’. That kind of familial support can never be overstated.
I am also indebted to all at Seaforth Publishing, with their constant hard work and willingness to let me get on with whatever comes up. I have dealt with Rob Gardiner and Julian Mannering since the days when they were Chatham Publishing, and have the highest regard for everything that they do and the great books they manage to create out of pages of jumbled manuscript.
This is my first foray into the world of the Luftwaffe, and it was quite an eye-opener. As always, the more you learn the more you realise you don’t know. As well as pages and pages of original documents available through the National Archives of the UK and USA and the Bundesarchiv in Germany, there is also a phenomenal amount of knowledge freely shared by people on the internet, for which I am very grateful. It is easy to sneer at internet sources, as for every gem there is the equivalent lump of coal (if not more than one), but it can be a very valuable resource for connecting with people who have made the study of certain subjects one of their life’s great passions. As with printed books, there is never any replacement for your own independent verification, but it can be a fantastic starting point, if not more. There are myriad forums discussing the Luftwaffe and its role in the Second World War, dealing with everything from strategic operations to the minutiae of uniforms and decorations. Though I am often just a bystander in many of these ‘conversations’, they have been both informative and enlightening and push your deeper research in directions that may not have seemed so obvious before. I will list some of the most informative in the Bibliography, though the list will be by no means complete.
Likewise, thank you to the many authors who have written fascinating books about the Luftwaffe, without whom I would not have known where to begin.