The incarnation of the Air Force ethos. Guy Gibson and crew at Scampton before the Dams raid. The threatening Lincolnshire sky seems to hint at the losses to come. (© Imperial War Museums, TR 1127)
Hugh Trenchard inspects men of the RAF Regiment. Though long-retired, the ‘Father of the Royal Air Force’ continued to exert strong influence, directly and through former protegés. (© Imperial War Museums, CH 8705)
When war came, it was the RAF that recruits flocked to. (Photo by M. McNeill/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
While the WAAF offered women the prospect of fulfilment and adventure. These are camera gun technicians. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Hugh Dowding with some of his Fighter Boys (Douglas Bader at right) at the war’s end. The Battle of Britain fixed the RAF permanently in the nation’s affections. (© Imperial War Museums, CH 16283)
Much more than a wonderful fighter. The Spitfire would become an eternal symbol of graceful defiance. (Photo by Fg Off. B. J. Daventry/IWM via Getty Images)
Some of the Few. George Barclay (second from right) with 249 Squadron comrades. (ww2images.com)
‘The beau ideal of the Fighter Boy.’ Like many survivors of the battle, Paddy Finucane would be sacrificed by Douglas and Leigh-Mallory’s policy of cross-Channel raiding. (Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)
‘Sawn-off Lockie.’ Eric Lock, one of the highest-scoring aces of the battle, drawn here by Cuthbert Orde, was another victim. (© Imperial War Museums, ART LD 2363)
The youngest of the wartime service chiefs, ‘Peter’ Portal was also the most impressive: brilliant, driven and extraordinarily self-possessed. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)
Bomber Command’s stout overlord. Arthur Harris looking unusually reflective. (© Imperial War Museums, TR 1092)
The supreme instrument of the bombing cult. With the AVRO Lancaster, the RAF could finally deliver on its promises. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Flying in a bomber was the aerial equivalent of fighting in the trenches. In the spring of 1942 aircrew prepare to board a Short Stirling. More than 55,000 would die. (Photo by Charles E. Brown/IWM via Getty Images)
The Vickers Wellington served from the first day of the war to the last over land and sea. Nearly 11,500 were built – more than any other British bomber. (Photo by Charles E. Brown/Royal Air Force Museum/Getty Images)
Architects of victory. In North Africa and Italy, Arthur Tedder would forge the tactics that put air power at the centre of Allied success. (© Imperial War Museums, TR 1487)
Architects of victory. In North Africa and Italy, Arthur ‘Mary’ Coningham (bottom) would forge the tactics that put air power at the centre of Allied success. (© Imperial War Museums, TR 1497)
Sardonic, humane and a star of the Mediterranean air war. Neville Duke snapped by Cecil Beaton. (© Imperial War Museums, HU 112294)
Land-air co-operation in action: a Martin Baltimore of 55 Squadron silhouetted above a salvo of exploding bombs, dropped in a joint attack with the USAAF on Rommel’s armour during the Battle of Alamein. (© Imperial War Museums, CM 3844)
Unsung heroes. Short Sunderland and crew. Coastal Command’s role in the existential struggle of the Battle of the Atlantic was often overlooked. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Depth charges from a sub-hunting Sunderland of 422 Squadron RCAF rock a U-boat in March 1944. (© Imperial War Museums, C 4287)
British industry was harnessed to the needs of the RAF. Here the de Havilland factory is churning out one of its most brilliant and versatile products – the Mosquito. (© Imperial War Museums, TR 1426)
Ground crew working on a Bristol Beaufighter of 89 Squadron at a remote airstrip. The Burma campaign relied utterly on air power to succeed. (© Imperial War Museums, CF 511)
Percy Pickard like Guy Gibson was a favourite of RAF propaganda. Like Gibson, he insisted on returning to ops, and died in action. (© Imperial War Museums, HU 98865)
Pilots of 132 Squadron with their CO Geoffrey Page (holding map) prepare to attack targets in France in the run-up to D-Day. (© Imperial War Museums, CH 12889)
The RAF was a multinational, multi-ethnic force. Polish pilots of 303 Squadron. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
And some of the 400 West Indian aircrew volunteers.
Though relations with the Army improved steadily throughout the war, the Air Force would get a large share of the blame for the debacle at Arnhem. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Arming a Typhoon during the Normandy campaign. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Slaughter in a country lane. The devastating result of a ‘Tiffy’ rocket attack on a German column in the Falaise Pocket. (© Imperial War Museums, CL 910)
Job done. Hitler’s Berchtesgaden retreat after a last-minute visit by Bomber Command (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Airmen in Austria studying literature for the 1945 General Election. The democratic spirit of the wartime RAF would be echoed in the outcome. (© Imperial War Museums, CL 2980)
It’s a lovely day tomorrow … (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)