Researching a book from an era with no living eyewitnesses is lonely. With no friendly folk happy to talk over a cup of tea and a slice of cake, my only companions are my fellow researchers, silent and serious, in archives and libraries around the world. Nonetheless, the time I spent in the National Air and Space Museum Archives in Suitland, Maryland, was enlivened by the lunchtime conversations with all the staff, whom I found to be not only convivial, but courteous and knowledgeable. Likewise, the staff at the RAF Museum in Hendon, London, went out of their way to be of assistance. My heartfelt thanks to these two venerable institutions.
My research was also aided by the diligence of the staff at the New York Public Library, the Colindale Newspaper Library, the British Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Kristin Ecuba warrants special praise for translating several documents from German into English with such rapidity and skill, and my agent, Gail Fortune, deserves a hearty pat on the back for her conviction and sound advice.
Lastly I thank my publisher, George Gibson, and my editor, Michele Lee Amundsen, who with their faith and foresight allowed this book to take wing.
Gavin Mortimer
Montpellier, August 2008