The Stirling Story / Michael J Bowyer

Conceived in the shadow of looming war, when the RAF's bomber force was largely made up of obsolete and outmoded aircraft, the Stirling became the first British four-engined 'heavy' bomber of the Second World War. Developed, tested and brought into service in the first desperate years of the Second World War, the arrival of the Stirling marked a turning point in the aerial warfare of that conflict, the moment when the Allies went on the offensive against the German homeland. In the years that followed Stirling squadrons were at the forefront of the developing tactics of the Allied bomber campaign - target marking, pathfinding, electronic navigation, the thousand bomber raids etc. - that were ultimately to lead to the utter devastation of so many German cities. Despite this leading role the Stirling has never enjoyed the standing of the Halifax and the even more celebrated Lancaster. Handicapped by an unrealistic peacetime design specification, it could not match the performance of its more famous successors and was withdrawn from frontline service as deliveries of Lancasters and Halifaxes gathered momentum. However, even then the Stirling proved to be versatile and adaptable as a glider tug, transport in secret SOE operations, and later as a civilian transport in the immediate post-war years.The Stirling Story is the culmination of years of exhaustive research by one of the world's foremost aviation authors. From original design specification and testing, through its development, introduction to service, developing marks and later adaptations the full story of the Shorts Stirling bomber is told with the aid of eyewitness accounts from the designers, production workers, engineers and above all the crews of the Stirling. Much more than the history of just one aircraft type, The Stirling Story is the story of RAF Bomber Command emerging from obscurity and failure to become a devastatingly effective weapon of war. It is an essential work of reference that no serious military aviation enthusiast or war historian can afford to be without, as well as a fascinating read for anyone with any interest in, or connection with, the Shorts Stirling.'