| Beam Benders |
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| Royal Air Force BEAM BENDERS 80 (Signals) Wing 1940-1945 (ISBN 1 85780 040 0: Midland Publishing 1997: Softback. PRICE now �7 (incl.p/p). Available from author via e-mail (see below). |
| Click below for more information on Laurie Brettingham and his books; |
| Contact Information: Name: Laurie Brettingham Email: |
| In the Second World War, after the evacuation from France in 1940, Britain stood alone against the might of the German war machine. As part of the defence of Britain, a highly-secret specialist R A F radio unit, No.80 (Signals) Wing, was created to interfere with the navigational radio signals of the Luftwaffe bombers. It was involved in the delicate art of deception, charting and calibrating the German beams and, without raising suspicion, appearing to 'bend' them sending the raiding bombers off course from the cities and other strategic targets. |
| 'Beam Benders', which tells the story of the Unit, reveals a fascinating and largely unknown aspect of the Second World War. It explains, often with use of diagrams and drawings, the technical aspects of radio countermeasures in an easy-to-follow manner which are woven into the overall story with extracts from official archives and many personal recollections. |
| Comments 'I send you my congratulations...I have been browsing in it with great interest, and am grateful for the detail you have succeeded in putting on record...I wish all success to you and your book.' Professor R V Jones, Scientific Intelligence, Air Ministry, 1939-45. 'Mr. Brettingham has managed to overcome at least some of the secrecy that surrounded the camera-shy 80 Wing, and his book is lavishly illustrated from private photographic collections.' 'Defence Lines, May 1998' 'A well-researched and very readable account of the specialist R A F No.80 Wing...It provides also something of the social history of the 1940s and what it was like...in a specialist organisation on a 'need to know' basis.' Pat Hawker, 'RADCOM, Magazine of the Radio Society of Great Britain', August 1997 'You have given me much information that was, of necessity, denied to us during the war. I had no notion of the huge size of No. 80 Wing and I suspect most members had no idea that an air element even existed. Security was tight but not all that evident. Information was just not thrown about. Alan H. Thomsett, Pilot, 1473 Flight/No. 192 Squadron 'Books on the subject of wartime communications are something of a rarity and valued by people like me for the insight they give into communications during World War Two.' Brian Watson, Radio Amateur and Radio Officer for Morecambe and Heysham Air Training Corps. Fascination book! I read it from cover-to-cover...I'm beginning to realise the secretive nature of 80 Wing. It certainly makes your books worthwhile. Geoffrey Thompson. [Beam Benders] ...probably the best book covering Meaconing in detail. Ian Brown, www.raf.commands. |
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