Royal Air Force
Organization
Found in 21 Collections and/or Records:
File
Literary: News of the World articles by WSC: 2., May 1939 - Jun 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/643
Scope and Contents
Includes annotated proofs, galley proofs, and cuttings from the News of the World for: "Our Rule Britannia Office of State" on the history and structure of the Admiralty, his experience of it during World War I, the replacement of coal-driven ships with oil-powered, the Admiralty yacht, the Enchantress, and praise for the Navy; "The Cinderella of Our Fighting Services" on the War Office, his experiences over demobilisation and mutinies at the end of World War I, and conscription; "Will There...
Dates:
May 1939 - Jun 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: 'Final' proofs., 16 Aug 1948 - 21 Feb 1949
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/183A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes typescript and galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 13 "At Bay" (provisionally entitled "Alone"); Appendix A "Minutes and Telegrams, May -...
Dates:
16 Aug 1948 - 21 Feb 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and Appendices: Master copy proofs., 06 Dec 1948 - 21 Dec 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/181A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State for War]; Chapter 26...
Dates:
06 Dec 1948 - 21 Dec 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: Proofs for William Deakin., 21 Aug 1948 - 30 Nov 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/192A-C
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State for War]; Chapter 26...
Dates:
21 Aug 1948 - 30 Nov 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: "The Second World War", Volume 2 "Their Finest Hour": Book 2 and appendices: 'Starred final' proofs., 22 Oct 1948 - 16 Feb 1949
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 4/185A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes galley proofs of: contents tables for Book 2; Chapter 7 "Back to France"; Chapter 16 "The Battle of Britain"; Chapter 17 "The Blitz"; Chapter 18 "'London Can Take It'"; Chapter 19 "The Wizard War"; Chapter 20 "United States Destroyers and West Indian Bases"; Chapter 21 "Egypt and the Middle East"; Chapter 22 "The Mediterranean Passage"; Chapter 23 "September Tensions"; Chapter 24 "Dakar" [Senegal]; Chapter 25 "Mr Eden's Mission" [Anthony Eden, later 1st Lord Avon, Secretary of State...
Dates:
22 Oct 1948 - 16 Feb 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War and Air: correspondence, much on demobilisation problems., 01 Jan 1919 - 31 Jan 1919
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 16/3
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Lieutenant-General Travers Clarke [Quartermaster-General to the British Armies in France]; Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig [Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders] (2); 1st Lord Milner [Secretary of State for the Colonies]; High Commissioner [?in Siberia, Robert Hodgson]; Lieutenant-General 10th Lord Cavan, Commander-in-Chief, Italy; General Sir Henry Wilson [Chief of Imperial General Staff]; Sir Eric Geddes [Minister without Portfolio]...
Dates:
01 Jan 1919 - 31 Jan 1919
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War and Air: WSC's minutes., 01 Apr 1919 - 28 Jun 1919
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 16/16A-B
Scope and Contents
Includes carbon copies of minutes (some annotated in reply) from WSC to various individuals including: Deputy Chief of Imperial General Staff [Major-General Charles Harington]; Director of Military Intelligence [Major-General William Thwaites]; Deputy Director of Military Operations and Military Intelligence [Colonel George Cockerill]; Master-General of the Ordnance [Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse]; Quartermaster-General [Lieutenant-General Travers Clarke]; Secretary [War Office, Sir...
Dates:
01 Apr 1919 - 28 Jun 1919
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Deputations to the Prime Minister., 21 Jul 1936 - 21 Jan 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/270
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Clement Attlee [Leader of the Opposition] refusing to join the deputations to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin; Osmund Cleverly [Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister]; Henry Pownall [Deputy Secretary], Committee of Imperial Defence; Hastings Ismay [Deputy Secretary], Committee of Imperial Defence] (2).Also includes: extracts from the transcript of the first deputation, including [?] WSC on the Government's failure to expand the air industry and the RAF...
Dates:
21 Jul 1936 - 21 Jan 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Wing-Commander Anderson., 20 May 1936 - 24 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/271
Scope and Contents
Correspondence and notes from Wing-Commander Charles Anderson, Director of Training, Air Ministry, later commander of RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, including: RAF personnel statistics; notes on training Air Observers; a memorandum on RAF training policy in general, including morale, the RAF's function, its readiness for war, reserves, funding, the dangers of over-specialization, the problems of rapid expansion, the shortage and increase in training schools, and specialised training;...
Dates:
20 May 1936 - 24 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Air Defence: Wing Commander Anderson., 27 Jan 1937 - 07 Jul 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/303
Scope and Contents
Includes notes, memoranda and correspondence by and from Wing Commander Charles Anderson [former Director of Training, Air Ministry] and commander of RAF Hucknall [Nottinghamshire], including: Anderson on RAF intake, obsolete armaments and aircraft, poor facilities, the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steel, the difficulties arising from expansion of the RAF, a mass flight over London, German war economics, and building up the RAF Reserve; correspondence and notes by Group Captain...
Dates:
27 Jan 1937 - 07 Jul 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Correspondence etc., 12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/266A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Basil Liddell Hart [Military Correspondent to the Times] on the troop system used in India; "Harold R" [1st Lord Rothermere, earlier Sir Harold Harmsworth] on subjects including 1st Lord Weir's position in defence [as Adviser to the Air Ministry], the likely stop to any battleship programme, pilot training, the likelihood of a quick German victory against Britain and France, German contempt for the British Government, and the Government's refusal to discuss the...
Dates:
12 Jan 1936 - 27 Nov 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open, (folio 93 opened as a 'sanitised' photocopy, original closed on advice of Cabinet Office).
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Inventions and suggestions., Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/278
Scope and Contents
Correspondents on defence inventions and suggestions from the general public include: Richard Powell [Assistant Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty] (3); Desmond Morton [Director, Industrial Intelligence Centre]; Sir Christopher Bullock [Permanent Secretary], Air Ministry; Ralph Assheton [later 1st Lord Clitheroe]; Colonel George Turner [former Superintendent, Design Department, Royal Arsenal]; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thoroton on the advantages of Admiralty control of the...
Dates:
Nov 1935 - 31 Jul 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Defence: Memoranda etc., 14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/268
Scope and Contents
Includes: memorandum by Desmond Morton on subjects including German propaganda on French military aviation and the Soviet army, and notes [added to file in January 1996] on a speech by the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence [Sir Thomas Inskip, later 1st Lord Caldecote], rebutting Inskip's claims for military production; memorandum by Sir Philip Gibbs on the inefficient state of the RAF, and its need for expansion; press cuttings from the Figaro, with an article on the Anglo-French crisis...
Dates:
14 Feb 1936 - 26 Oct 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Political: Defence: miscellaneous correspondence and papers., Feb 1947 - Sep 1951
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/36
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: A V Alexander [later Lord Alexander of Hillsborough], Minister of Defence [until February 1950] (3); George Ward; Antony Head (3); Arthur Henderson [later Lord Rowley, Secretary of State for Air]; 1st Lord Cherwell [earlier F A Lindemann] (2); Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon]; David Hunt [Private Secretary to Prime Minister Clement Attlee] (2); Captain Alan Hillgarth [earlier Alan Evans] on Soviet forces in Europe and Soviet affairs (7); James Thomas [later 1st Lord...
Dates:
Feb 1947 - Sep 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Public and Political: General: Private and Personal: Correspondence T - Z., 29 Jan 1945 - 20 Dec 1948
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/157A-B
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Robert Tasker; General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, apologizing for missing WSC's visit to Metz [France]; Charles Taylor [MP for Eastbourne]; Myron Taylor; James Thomas [later 1st Lord Cilcennin, MP for Hereford and Vice-Chairman, Conservative and Unionist Party] (3); "Tommy", Charles Thompson [former Personal Assistant to WSC] on subjects including applying for a post at the Jockey Club, and books and photographs for WSC (9); 6th Lord Rosebery [earlier Lord...
Dates:
29 Jan 1945 - 20 Dec 1948
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and source material., 28 Jul 1936 - 10 Dec 1936
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/119A-B
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speeches (28 and 29 July, Secret Defence Deputation to the Prime Minister [Stanley Baldwin]) on the relative strengths of the British and German air forces, the war making capacity of British and German industry, British air training facilities, and German power to bomb British cities.Notes for WSC's speech (5 November) on supporting the League of Nations, collective security, and policy towards Germany and Italy. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5800-4.Notes for WSC's...
Dates:
28 Jul 1936 - 10 Dec 1936
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and source material., 27 Jan 1937 - 24 May 1937
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/123
Scope and Contents
Rough notes for WSC's speech (27 January) on air defence, comparing British and German air strength. Source material includes copy of Hansard for 12 November 1936 containing WSC's speech ["The locust years"]. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5825-7.Notes for WSC's speech (4 March) on the defence loan bill, praising its long term nature, but expressing concern over Britain's defences in the immediate future. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5830-5.Notes for WSC's speech (11 March)...
Dates:
27 Jan 1937 - 24 May 1937
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: speech notes and source material., 22 Feb 1938 - 24 Mar 1938
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/128
Scope and Contents
Notes for WSC's speech (22 February) on [Anthony] Eden's [later 1st Lord Avon] resignation as Foreign Secretary, Eden's achievements, relations with Italy, and past foreign policy mistakes, which includes the phrase "This has been a good week for Dictators". Source material includes text from the Daily Telegraph on the Italian view of Eden, and a cutting on German reaction to international press criticism. Published: Complete Speeches VI pp 5911-7.Rough notes for WSC's speech (28 February)...
Dates:
22 Feb 1938 - 24 Mar 1938
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Speeches: House of Commons: Speech notes and source material., 23 Apr 1942 - 02 Jun 1942
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 9/184A-C
Scope and Contents
Speech notes for WSC's speech (23 April) in secret session on the war situation including: Japan's entry into the war; setbacks including battleship losses; defence of the Admiralty over the escape of the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau; events and operations in the Far East, the Middle East and the Soviet Union; air battles including the bombing of Germany; and aircraft and ship production. Also includes correspondence from: Maurice Dean [Assistant Under Secretary of State,...
Dates:
23 Apr 1942 - 02 Jun 1942
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 20 Oct 1941
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/20/43-57
Scope and Contents
Letter from WSC to President [Franklin Roosevelt] outlining various plans and proposals concerning: attacking the German and Italian armies in Libya; French North Africa; Norway; British contributions to the Soviet war effort; defending Great Britain from a possible German invasion; placing United States forces in Northern Ireland [Ulster]; the command structure in the Middle East and the roles of the Air Force and Navy; the effect of victory in Libya on Italy and Turkey; landing tanks; the...
Dates:
20 Oct 1941
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Unknown
"War Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Weekly Resume (no.56) of the naval, military and air situation from 12 noon September to 12 noon September 26th, 1940", 27 Sep 1940
Unknown
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 23/6/86-99
Scope and Contents
Summary of events including: attempted landing at Dakar by General [Charles] de Gaulle; U boat activity in the North Atlantic and shipping losses; operations by German raiders; information about the disposition of German and Italian troops; events in Greece, Yugoslavia [later Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia], Bulgaria, the Mediterranean and the Middle East; air attacks on Germany (including Berlin) and on invasion ports in France and...
Dates:
27 Sep 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open