Duel in the Dark: A Fighter Pilot's Story of the Blitz (Peter Townsend's Air War Collection Book 2)

‘A WAR HERO – DASHING AND DISTINGUISHED’ NEW YORK TIMES

Adolf Hitler’s plan to eliminate Britain from WWII early using the destructive might of the Luftwaffe was thwarted by defeat in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Still determined to force the British to surrender, Hitler launched a relentless night bombing offensive whose objective was to bomb Winston Churchill and his people into submission.

But he reckoned without the formidable courage and fighting spirit of the nation he was trying to conquer…

In DUEL IN THE DARK Peter Townsend blends his own experiences of night fighting in the air war over Britain with stories from ordinary Londoners living with the terror of the Blitz to form an epic account of a country desperately defending itself against a mighty enemy.

DUEL IN THE DARK is the sequel to Townsend’s classic DUEL OF EAGLES, one of the greatest books on the Battle of Britain ever written.

‘Peter Townsend – ace fighter pilot and historian’ Len Deighton

‘Peter Townsend was a dashing war hero’ Anne Glenconner

a previous edition of DUEL IN THE DARK was titled THE ODDS AGAINST US.

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Praise for DUEL OF

‘Remarkable’
Sunday Times

‘A fine book’ Len Deighton

‘The greatest book on the Battle of Britain ever written’ Wayne Davies

‘If I were going to choose a single book to cover the Battle of Britain in a comprehensive manner I would choose Duel of Eagles’
Daily Telegraph

‘A remarkable exercise in research at air-crew levels. He writes of air combat with verve and at times almost with poetry’
Sunday Times

‘Lively and well written … encompasses moments of exhilaration and terror’
Kirkus Reviews

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Peter Townsend was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1914. He trained at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell from 1933 to 1935. He served with No 1 and No 43 Squadron and in May 1940 took command of No 85 Squadron leading it into the Battle of Britain with outstanding skill and determination. Townsend enjoyed an equally distinguished peacetime career, serving as Equerry to King George VI, from 1944 until his death in 1952. Following his ill-fated relationship with Princess Margaret, Townsend began a new life in France where he turned to writing and settled happily with his family until 1995 when he died at the age of 80.