Air Power Supremo

Air Power Supremo written by William Pyke and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 280

Sir John Slessor was one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished wartime

commanders and incisive military thinkers, and William Pyke’s comprehensive

new biography reveals how he earned this remarkable reputation.

Slessor, a polio victim who always walked with a stick, became a First World War pilot in the Sudan and on the Western Front and a squadron and wing commander in India between the wars. When aerial warfare was still a new concept, he was one of the first to develop practical tactics and strategies in its application. In the Second World War, as the Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command during the Battle of the Atlantic and the RAF in the Mediterranean during the Italian and Balkan campaigns, he made a remarkable contribution to the success of Allied air power. Then, after the war, as a senior commander, he established himself as one of the foremost experts on strategic bombing and nuclear deterrence. That is why this insightful biography of a great British airman and his achievements is so timely and important as we enter a new era of strategic doubts and deterrence at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

William Pyke follows each stage of Slessor’s brilliant career as a pilot and commander in vivid detail. In particular he concentrates on Slessor’s writings, from his treatise on the application of air power in support of land armies to his thinking on nuclear deterrence and Western strategy.

Well, this was a book that was full of surprises, having not read the info about the book from the back I had just gone by the front cover so I expected something detailed, dry and about an ‘office’ man. But I was quite wrong in that what this book provides us with is a story about a wily, courageous and distinguished fellow. A pilot in the first world war and during the inter-war years, he would eventually fly during the second world war and become an instrumental person in aerial tactics and the introduction of the new heavy planes of the nuclear weapon future. This was an enjoyable read and it was nice how the author took a linear approach to the book, I would certainly recommend this book about a man who had many talents and stories to tell.