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Description
British Imperial Air Power examines the air defense of Australia and New Zealand during the interwar period. It also demonstrates the difficulty of applying new military aviation technology to the defense of the global Empire and provides insight into the nature of the political relationship between the Pacific Dominions and Britain. Following World War I, both Dominions sought greater independence in defense and foreign policy. Public aversion to military matters and the economic dislocation resulting from the war and later the Depression left little money that could be provided for their respective air forces. As a result, the Empire’s air services spent the entire interwar period attempting to create a strategy in the face of these handicaps. In order to survive, the British Empire’s military air forces offered themselves as a practical and economical third option in the defense of Britain’s global Empire, intending to replace the Royal Navy and British Army as the traditional pillars of imperial defense.
ISBN
9781557539403
Publication Date
6-2020
Publisher
Purdue University Press
City
West Lafayette
Keywords
Royal Navy; British Empire; military history; RAF; World War I; World War II; aviation; air defense; air defence; imperial defense; imperial defence; aviation technology; Pacific campaign; Oceania; aircraft; airplanes
Disciplines
Military History
Recommended Citation
Spencer, Alex M., "British Imperial Air Power: The Royal Air Forces and the Defense of Australia and New Zealand Between the World Wars" (2020). Purdue University Press Book Previews. 55.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_previews/55