'Meticulously researched and rich in human and social as well as military interest, Defiant fills a crucial gap in our understanding of that most perilous time'

David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain

Defiant is a startling new narrative of the Battle of Britain, which reveals the surprising truth about the battle's forgotten fighter, the Boulton Paul Defiant.

To date, next to nothing has been written about the third British figher which lined up alongside the much vaunted Spitfire and Hurricane against the all-conquering Luftwaffe in 1940. Yet it is a squadron of Defiants which holds the record for shooting down the most German aircraft in one day.

The families of the Defiant aircrews believed that their brave husbands, brothers and sons had fought and died in vain, but the truth is that their vital contribution to the battle over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain has been all but erased from the official history. By writing from their unique perspective, Verkaik helps to set the record straight.

'Verkaik is an excellent guide, making his case with a restrained passion, taking us through the inter-war rearmament before cataloguing the muddled thinking, the political infighting, the inter-service and personality rivalries. His research was clearly a labour of love, leaving no Whitehall paper or airman's letter unturned in his search for the truth, and he never forgets the human dimension behind the losses'
Simon Humphreys, Mail on Sunday

'Firmly establishes the aircraft's role in those crucial aerial battles of 1940 and elevates the brave aircrews who fought and died in their forgotten Defiants'
David Fairhead, director of Spitfire

'A revisionist case for an unsung aircraft, the Boulton Paul Defiant . . . the forgotten fighter of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain; the effectiveness as well as the courage of its crews is overlooked in standard accounts'
The Times