Paul Bingley

Paul’s first book, US Air Force Bases in the UK, retraced the concrete paths of 50 of the UK’s past and present American air force bases. The book examines how the so-called “special relationship” has helped shape the land we see today.

His next book, Essex: A Hidden Aviation History, uncovered the many forgotten (and oft-ignored) tales behind the county’s many memorials, museums and markers. From Essex’s links to the origins of the Supermarine company, to the UK’s largest known surviving group of Royal Flying Corps buildings on a former First World War aerodrome; Essex: A Hidden Aviation History is the perfect pointer.

It is Paul’s passion for the American Eighth Air Force that drove him to co-author his most recent book, Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force’s 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the 381st Bombardment Group, Bomb Group has been widely praised as “vivid”, “extraordinary” and “sure to become a WW2 aviation classic.”

Paul has described writing Bomb Group as “penance” for not knowing he lived just nine miles from the former Eighth Air Force base at Ridgewell – the Essex home of the 381st Bomb Group. For a self-confessed aviation geek, it was an awkward discovery.

He has since made up for it by becoming chairman of the Ridgewell Airfield Commemorative Museum – a small, award-winning museum dedicated to remembering Essex’s only long-term heavy bomber base.