The RAF in a World Transformed, 1945–49
Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 September 2020
Hosted Online from the RAF Museum
This conference will bring together a broad range of academics and scholars to examine how the RAF reacted to a period of widespread changes which effected both the service and the world it operated in.
At the start of 1945 the RAF remained heavily engaged against Germany and faced global commitments. By 1949 the RAF had demobilised a diverse force, adapted to a rapidly changing technological environment, engaged in international co-operation and helped resurrect several air forces. The RAF was also involved in the process of shaping the public memory of its wartime operations as well as attempting to absorb the lessons of the war and convert these into subsequent strategic doctrine.
The Conference consists of an exciting line-up of speakers covering a wide range of areas including panels exploring Industry, Technology and Environmental Perspectives; RAF Operations in South-East Asia; Post-War Operational Design and Policy; and Fostering Air Forces, the RAF and its International Relationships. In addition to these panels, the conference will include papers which present research on The Potsdam raid, 1945; The Search for Missing Aircrew; From War to Windrush; Post-War Female RAF Service; Air Ministry Interpretations of the RAF’s wartime history; and Exercise Thunderbolt: Objective assessment of the Bomber Offensive or the Air Staff view of history?
The conference will feature a keynote address on 'The Flyer Confronts the Post-War Age: Survival, Guilt and Politics' given by Martin Francis author of The Flyer: British Culture and the Royal Air Force, 1939–1949 and Ideas and Policies Under Labour, 1945–1951.
By Adrian Pingstone - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7677688