Sir John Slessor was one of the twentieth century�s most distinguished wartime commanders and incisive military thinkers, and William Pyke�s comprehensive new biography reveals how he earned this remarkable reputation.Slessor, a polio victim who always walked with a stick, became a First World War pilot in the Sudan and on the Western Front and a squadron and wing commander in India between the wars. When aerial warfare was still a new concept, he was one of the first to develop practical tactics and strategies in its application. In the Second World War, as the Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command during the Battle of the Atlantic and the RAF in the Mediterranean during the Italian and Balkan campaigns, he made a remarkable contribution to the success of Allied air power. Then, after the war, as a senior commander he established himself as one of the foremost experts on strategic bombing and nuclear deterrence. That is why this insightful biography of a great British airman and his achievements is so timely and important as we enter a new era of strategic doubts and deterrence at the beginning of the twenty-first century.William Pyke follows each stage of Slessor�s brilliant career as a pilot and commander in vivid detail. In particular he concentrates on Slessor�s writings, from his treatise on the application of air power in support of land armies to his thinking on nuclear deterrence and Western strategy.