Stubbington's book is a refreshingly original approach on a much visited topic. His respect for the bravery and devotion to duty of the men of Bomber Command is evident on every page. This book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Bomber Command or in intelligence. Modern students of warfare will also find much interest in the relationship between intelligence and airpower.

African Armed Forces Journal - July 2010

This forensic and incisive book by Wing Commander John Stubbington takes a comprehensive view of the intelligence - or lack of it - provided to Bomber Command during the Second World War...

... This is a most insightful book. It draws on a wealth of original research and uses a wide range of sources, and it will inform the historiography of ULTRA and wartime intelligence, and also the controversial history of Bomber Offensive.

Daly History Blog - James Daly

This is a volume that requires careful study by anyone with an interest in Bomber Command and its operations. Its 446 pages are crammed with information on the background of intelligence available to Bomber Command.

Aeromilitaria, Autumn 2010

'Kept in the Dark' is a fascinating historical revelation which looks into the very heart of British and Allied Intelligence during World War II, specifically in the context of planning, control and implementation of the combined bomber offensive against Germany.
This book analyses the different but complementary bombing strategies pursued by the British and the Americans. The broadly accepted current arguments have been that the U.S.A.A.F. went for industrial targets by daylight 'precision' bombing whereas Bomber Command conducted night area bombing of city targets. These 'myths' are turned on their head and show -for the first time - the truth of the matter.
Wing Commander Stubbington has shown that the American 'precision' bombing was not so precise as was claimed. He does this by analysing the aims, the methods, the
results, the evaluation of damage done by various methods - and his conclusions are beyond cavil.
'Kept in the Dark', supported as it is by the most painstaking research, makes for one of the most masterly examinations of the whole question of the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. If there have been any doubts in people's minds about the absolute necessity of the Allied strategic bombing offensive and the ways in which it was carried out, this book provides the conclusive answer to them.
John Stubbington graduated from the R.A.F. Technical College in 1961. His career was in Electronic and Defence Intelligence. He worked with Bomber Command, The Electronic Warfare Support Unit, Support Command Signals HQ and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. He lives near Alton in Hampshire.

L.D.B

Kept in the Dark by Wing Commander John Stubbington. Too often wartime bomber crews were put into unnecessary peril through imprecise and unthinking demands from the highest levels of government, infighting and jealousies between different departments in Whitehall and even within the Armed Forces themselves. This book goes to the very heart of British intelligence at the time - but have things improved?

Pennant Magazine