The Birth of British Airpower: Hugh Trenchard, World War I, and the Royal Air Force

The Birth of British Airpower describes how Hugh Trenchard, a man with few leadership skills, became a much-loved and inspirational commander who laid the foundation for British airpower on the Western Front in World War I and created the preconditions for the establishment of the world’s first independent air service, the Royal Air Force. Author Peter Dye explores how friendship can overcome significant personal and character deficiencies and how, by assembling the right senior leadership team, Trenchard achieved greatness.

The book also examines how the development of airpower doctrine in World War I owed as much to chance as to careful planning and how air superiority was achieved only through sustained effort, underpinned by an effective and responsive logistic system. Finally, it explains how the ethos of the postwar air force was built around these experiences and the collective effort of all those involved in the air war.

Peter Dye is a graduate of Imperial College and Birmingham University. He served in the Royal Air Force for over 35 years and was awarded the OBE for his work during the First Gulf War, retiring as an Air Vice-Marshal. He was Director General of the Royal Air Force Museum from 2008-2014. He has been an Honorary Research Fellow at Birmingham University, a Visiting Lecturer at Wolverhampton University, and a Verville Fellow at the National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C. Dye lives in Weymouth, England.