Clark, Freddie. Agents by Moonlight: The Secret History of RAF Tempsford during World War II. Stroud: Tempus, 1999. Clark, Freddie. Agents by Moonlight: The Secret History of RAF Tempsford during World War II. Stroud: Tempus, 1999.
From publisher: "The Special Duty Squadrons of the Royal Air Force risked everything during World War II, as their skilled men were constantly put in harm's way as agents in occupied Europe. This extensively illustrated book tells their story, and includes appendices on losses and further references."
Clayton, Aileen. The Enemy Is Listening: The Story of the Y Service. London: Hutchinson, 1980. New York: Ballantine, 1982. [pb]
Clark comment: The RAF "Y" Service was the tactical signals intelligence intercept organization. Chambers notes that The Enemy Is Listening represents the "memoirs of a British radio-intercept operator in WWII." It is "interesting because of the stress the job and the war lay on professional and private lives." Constantinides says that Clayton "provides more details than have ever been published ... on the RAF Y Service -- its personnel, problems, and organization as well as its operational work."
Cox,
Sebastian. "A Comparative Analysis of RAF and Luftwaffe Intelligence
in the Battle of Britain, 1940." Intelligence and National Security
5, no. 2 (Apr. 1990): 425-443.
Sexton points to this article as a "rare study of the problem of inaccurate or exaggerated enemy loss claims."
Cox, Sebastian. "The Sources and Organisation of RAF Intelligence and Its Influence on Operations." In The Conduct of the Air War in the
Second World War, ed. Horst Boog, 553-579. Oxford: Berg, 1992.
Ehlers, Robert S., Jr. Targeting the Third Reich: Air Intelligence and the Allied Bombing Campaigns. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2009.
According to Chun, Parameters 40.1 (Spring 2010), the author "traces the development of photographic and signals intelligence use and its impact on the strategic bombardment campaign over Europe in World War II.... The book illustrates how air intelligence shaped and guided senior leadership to bomb some of the most valuable Third Reich targets." The reader is given "a well-researched and detailed evolution of both the British and American air intelligence capability." The book provides "a fine addition to a better understanding of the impact of the Combined Bomber Offensive and the role that air intelligence had in its actions."
Peake, Studies 54.2 (Jun. 2010) and Intelligencer 18.1 (Fall-Winter 2010), notes this this is the first history to focus on "target selection and damage assessment.... This is a splendid book that adds much new material to the history of air intelligence."
Goulter, Christina. "The Role of Intelligence in Coastal Command's Anti-Shipping Campaign, 1940-45." Intelligence and National Security 5, no.
1 (Jan. 1990): 84-109.
This article surveys the role of intelligence in the RAF's effort against German merchant shipping. In contrast to the anti-submarine war, the anti-shipping offensive relied less on signals intelligence and "more upon intelligence derived from photographic reconnaissance and agents in the Occupied Countries." However, Enigma intercepts were particularly important in assessing the battle damage resulting from Coastal Command's attacks.
Grayson,
William C. Chicksands: A Millennium of History. [UK]: Shefford Press, 1992.
Surveillant 2.6: The "later chapters include ... contributions of the RAF Y [Intercept] Service to the allied victory in" World War II "and Chicksands various secret missions.... [T]he 'American era' which began in 1950 ... revolves around the USAF Communications Security units."
Hamilton, Alexander. Wings of Night: The Secret Missions of Group Captain Charles Pickard. London: Kimber, 1977.
Constantinides: Pickard flew missions infiltrating and exfiltrating agents from German-occupied Europe. Wings of Night "is good on some aspects of the air support provided intelligence operations in World War II." See also, McCall, Flight Most Secret (1981).
Jones, Kevin. "From
the Horse's Mouth: Luftwaffe POWs as Sources for Air Ministry Intelligence during the Battle of Britain." Intelligence and National Security
15, no. 4 (Winter 2000): 60-80.
"For an intelligence art still in its infancy, the Battle of Britain was a godsend to POW-derived intelligence and its ability to contribute significantly to a campaign's outcome. With a steady stream of subjects literally falling from the skies..., A11(k) [the Air Ministry intelligence section responsible for POW interrogation] was able to produce detailed and effective intelligence quickly enough for it to be of immediate operational and tactical use."
Jones, R.V.
1. "An Early Epic of ELINT." Journal of Electronic Defense 6 (Jun. 1983): 75-76.
According to Sexton, this is a brief account of the "discovery of Luftwaffe night fighter radar frequencies by a RAF wireless intelligence unit."
2. "Scientific Intelligence of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War." In The Conduct of the Air War in the Second World War: An International Comparison, ed. Horst Boog, 580-95. Oxford: Berg, 1992.
McCall, Gibb. Flight Most Secret. London: Kimber, 1981.
This book is about Group Captain Charles Pickard and the infiltrating and exfiltrating of agents from German-occupied Europe. See also, Hamilton, Wings of Night (1977).
Mendelsohn, John, ed. Covert Warfare: Intelligence, Counter-intelligence and Military Deception During the World War II Era. 18 vols. New York: Garland, 1989.
This multivolume work consists of photo reproductions of documents from the National Archives.
Vol. 18: Cover and Deception by the Royal Air Force in World War II. Intro., Robin E. Cookson.
Nesbit, Roy Conyers, and Jack Eggleston. Eyes of the RAF: A History of Photo-Reconnaissance. Stroud: Sutton, 1996.
For Twigge, I&NS 14.2, this book's breadth -- from the origins of UK photoreconaissance before World War I to the present day -- means that "only a superficial view of the capability and significance of British aerial reconnaissance" is presented. However, the illustrations "provide a visual narrative often ... superior to the text." Coverage of operations by RAF reconnaissance squadrons in World War II is "well informed and illuminating."
O'Dell, Rob. "To What Extent Did Royal Air Force Employment of Electronic Warfare Contribute to the Outcome of the Strategic Night Bomber Offensive of World War II?" Air Power Review 10, no. 1 (2007): 97-118.
Royal Historical Society Database: "Covers all aspects from navigation equipment and radar aids, through signals, communication and electronic intelligence gathering."
Peskett,
S. John. Strange Intelligence: From Dunkirk to Nuremberg. London: Robert Hale, 1981.
Constantinides identifies Peskett as an RAF air staff intelligence officer during World War II whose work included a stint in Hut 3 at Bletchley Park. Nevertheless, the author adds little to our knowledge of the RAF's science and technology work. "It is a light account largely of his travels during and shortly after the war."
Puri, Samir. "The Role of Intelligence in Deciding the Battle of Britain." Intelligence and National Security 21, no. 3 (Jun. 2006): 416-439.
For the RAF, "[t]he operational contribution made by intelligence was highly significant simply because enemy attacks could only be repelled if they had been anticipated." For the Luftwaffe, however, "[t]he faulty intelligence that was supplied proved highly detrimental."
Staerck, Christopher, and Paul Sinnott. Luftwaffe: The Allied Intelligence Files. Dulles, VA: Brassey's, 2002.
Tate, Air & Space Power Journal 19.1 (Spring 2005), finds that "the authors have produced a fine historical document. They include both background information and ... detailed data" on various German aircraft. Their "analysis addresses [each] aircraft's war record, performance characteristics, and intelligence history -- the latter reflecting the amount of actual information we had on German aircraft during the war."
Streetly, Martin. Confound and Destroy: 100 Group and the Bomber Support Campaign. London: Macdonald and Jane's, 1978.
According to Constantinides, this book is about the role of the RAF group in electronic warfare operations in support of the RAF's bomber command in World War II. "Streetley's language is often technical, and he presumes a minimum technical knowledge by his reader." R.V. Jones' The Wizard War and Clayton's The Enemy Is Listening provide "more information on and a greater intimacy with the general subject." Sexton comments that Confound and Destroy contains "a wealth of technical information on Allied and German equipment."
Stubbington, John. Bletchley Park Air Section Signals Intelligence Support to RAF Bomber Command: Combined Bombing Offensive 1943-1945, with the 8th US Army Air Force: Including Y-Service Special Intelligence and No. 100 (Bomber Support) Group Radio Countermeasures. Alton, Hampshire: Minerva Associates, 2007.
Tickell, Jerrard. Moon Squadron. London: Mann, 1956. New York: Doubleday, 1958.
Clark comment: This book is about the use of aircraft to infiltrate and exfiltrate agents into and out of German-occupied Europe. Constantinides calls Moon Squadron an "early, tentative work on the subject." See also: Hamilton, Wings of Night (1977); and McCall, Flight Most Secret (1981).
Verity, Hugh. We Landed by Moonlight: Secret RAF Landings in France 1940-1944. London: Ian Allen, 1979. Rev. ed. Manchester, UK: Crecy, 1998.
From publisher: The author "flew many of the missions recounted in We Landed by Moonlight and was probably the most outstanding pick-up pilot of them all."
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