About

Throttle to Bottle was a side project that came from my research of the Dowding System and its role in the Battle of Britain. I have spent the last six years combing diaries and primary documents to gain a better understanding of the how the Air Defense system worked. This research led to a collaboration with a friend in IT to build an interactive simulation of the Filter Room, the heart of the Dowding System. You can see that in action here: https://www.dowdingsystem.com

Throughout this research, I would run across accounts of the squadrons pilots and the WAAFs living it up in the pubs and nightclubs of wartime England. It is perhaps unique in history that the battle was fought by day by men and women who would return home in the eveings to the very towns and villages that they had grown up in. That strange circumstance, and the wistful, desperate feeling that they did not have long to live, led to an intense camaraderie and stories every bit as compelling and revealing as the traditional tales of combat.

I decided to document and tell those stories, and research the pubs and nightclubs of wartime Britain where they happened. Throttle to Bottle is the result of that research. Please help record and tell this history. If you have stories about the pubs in this archive, or know of a pub that has not been recorded, please use the Submit a Pub link at the top of this page to contribute.

General Interest Books about the Battle of Britain

1. Dempster, Derek and Derek Wood. The Narrow Margin: The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power, 1930-1940 (Pen & Sword Military Classics Book 22)

2. Prior, Robin. When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940. Yale University Press, London, 2015.

3. Bungay, Stephen. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. Aurum Press, London, 2000.

Wartime Diaries and Biographies

1. Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. (Penguin World War II Collection)

2. Brickhill, Paul. Reach for the Sky: Story of Douglas Bader, D.S.O., D.F.C. Cassell Military Paperbacks

3. Forrester, Larry. Fly For Your Life: The Story of "The Immortal Tuck, D.S.O, D.F.C. and Two Bars. Frederick Muller, Ltd., London, 1956.

4. Deere, Alan. Nine Lives. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1959.

5. Donahue, Arthur G. Tally-Ho!: Yankee in a Spitfire. Macmillan Comapny, New York, 1944.

6. Neil. Tom. Scramble: The Dramatic Story of a Young Fighter Pilot's Experiences During the Battle of Britain & the Siege of Malta