The Arsenal of Democracy
Aircraft Supply and the Anglo-American Alliance, 1938-1942
A critical re-examination of the conduct and outcome of Anglo-American wartime aircraft supply diplomacy
Through a series of case studies, Gavin J. Bailey reveals new details of how Britain used American aircraft and integrates this with broader British statecraft and strategy. He challenges conceptions that Britain was strategically reliant on the US and reveals a complicated, asymmetrical dependency between the wartime allies.
Aircraft were at the heart of British supply diplomacy with the United States in the Second World War and were at the forefront of the Roosevelt administration's policy of aiding the Anglo-French alliance against Germany. They were the largest item in British purchasing in the US in 1940, a key consideration in the Lend-Lease of 1941 and a major component of several wartime conferences between Churchill and Roosevelt.
Key Features- Challenges the basis of existing historiography in the area
- Adjusts the overall understanding of Anglo-American relations and their diplomacy
1. The Anglo-American Relationship and the Need for Historical Interpretation
2. The Evolution of Transatlantic Aircraft Supply Diplomacy, 1938-40
3. The Diplomacy of Critical Dependency, 1940
4. Lend-Lease and the Politics of Supply, 1941
5. The Limits of Dependency. American Aircraft in Action, 1941-42
6. Heavy Bomber Supply Diplomacy, 1941-42
7. The Problem of Quality. The Fighter Supply Crisis of 1942
8. Collaboration and Interdependency
Appendix: RAF Air Strength by aircraft type on 3 Sep 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942
Unpublished sources cited in text
Bibliography.
2. The Evolution of Transatlantic Aircraft Supply Diplomacy, 1938-40
3. The Diplomacy of Critical Dependency, 1940
4. Lend-Lease and the Politics of Supply, 1941
5. The Limits of Dependency. American Aircraft in Action, 1941-42
6. Heavy Bomber Supply Diplomacy, 1941-42
7. The Problem of Quality. The Fighter Supply Crisis of 1942
8. Collaboration and Interdependency
Appendix: RAF Air Strength by aircraft type on 3 Sep 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942
Unpublished sources cited in text
Bibliography.
Within the long history of the special relationship no moment of solidarity stands clearer than Washington's decision to aid London in the early 1940s. Or so you thought. Writing in sweeping terms, Gavin Bailey forces all who care about Atlantic relations, and aviation, to rethink just how portentous was that moment, and how intimate the Anglo-American alliance.
