The role of the "few", as described by Churchill, during the Battle of Britain has been the subject of much mythologizing both at the time and in the years since.

This book puts Fighter Command in context; describing the lack of funding and attention which it received during the interwar period, until it was almost too late. Taking the myth of the fighter pilot alongside first-hand accounts, this book shows how the war put nervous but brave human beings from all walks of life in the cockpit.

Although the Battle of Britain may not have in itself been the decisive encounter that it has historically been portrayed as, the moral victory won by the RAF, the victory that proved that Germany could be defeated, was just as important as a military-strategic victory.