Ebook: The Man Who Took the Rap: Sir Robert Brooke-Popham and the Fall of Singapore

This is the first biography of Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, a key figure in the early development of airpower, whose significant and varied achievements have been overlooked because of his subsequent involvement in the Fall of Singapore. It highlights Brooke-Popham's role in developing the first modern military logistic system, the creation of the Royal Air Force Staff College and the organisational arrangements that underpinned Fighter Command's success in the Battle of Britain. It challenges longstanding views about his performance as CinC Far East and, based on new evidence, offers a more nuanced narrative that throws light on British and Allied preparations for the Pacific War, inter-Service relations and the reasons for the disastrous loss of air and naval superiority that followed the Japanese attack. It highlights the misguided attempts at deterrence, in the absence of a coordinated information campaign, and the unprecedented security lapse that betrayed the parlous state of the Allied defences.