John Rhodes

Reflections on the 83rd Anniversary of Battle of Britain Day

“The odds were great; our margins small; the stakes infinite.” —Winston Churchill The Battle of Britain was one of the most remarkable events, not only in World War II, but in recorded military history. There are a handful of stories of small bands of determined men...

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Unsung Heroes

My new book, Trial and Tribulation, is set in the Allied aerial campaign over Europe in 1943. This campaign, a joint commitment of the RAF and the USAAF, was a massive undertaking involving tens of thousands of men, thousands of aircraft, and one of the greatest...

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Trial and Tribulation: Mosquito

An aircraft for all seasons One of the main characters in my new novel, Trial and Tribulation, is the De Havilland Mosquito. Unlike most of the other characters in the book, the Mosquito was—and is—very real. One of the most interesting aspects of technology, I think,...

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Trial and Tribulation: Charlie

This is Remy Martin (above), a Bouvier des Flandres. In real life Rem is a good ole boy with a weakness for well-ripened brie and a willingness to meet a good pinot noir halfway. He is the model for the character ‘Charlie’ who has now appeared in three of my books and...

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Trial and Tribulation

Once again, I have used the incomparable words of Winston Churchill as the title of my next book: Trial and Tribulation, due out in June. The quote is from a speech he gave in August 1941, in which he announced an intensive bombing campaign against Germany and warned...

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