He was especially critical of the failure to create a new modern, well-appointed British air-force and the rapidity with which the German Luftwaffe overtook the British RAF from 1935 onwards.
Today, it is also a microcosm of the climate culture wars, thanks to a fierce tussle over the fate of Manston airport a former RAF base that played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain.
If the Queen dies abroad, a BAe 146 jet from the RAF's No 32 squadron, known as the Royal Flight, will take off from Northolt, at the western edge of London, with a coffin on board.
They then expanded to include nearly four miles of tunnels over the course of the war, and that included a hospital section and a combined headquarters for the army and the RAF as well as the Navy.