Patricia Ruff talks with her brother Jack Waterfall about the creation and writing of the book about the The Battle of the Heligoland Bight took place on 18 December 1939 and is now regarded as a turning point in the war following heavy losses for the Royal Air Force during the disastrous daylight raid.

Jack Waterfall, 75, from Ely, Cambridgeshire, who organised the event, had never heard of the battle until he was researching his uncle, who died while serving in the RAF in 1940.

The Heligoland Bight is an area near the German ports of Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven.

The Air Ministry decided to launch an attack on German ships there to prevent them from supporting U-boats in the North Atlantic.

On 18 December 1939, 24 Wellington bombers from RAF stations in Honington and Mildenhall in Suffolk and Feltwell in Norfolk were sent to sink or damage as many ships as possible.

The targets were strictly military ones only and civilian casualties had to be avoided. The only way to ensure accuracy was for the mission to take place in daylight.

There was a belief that bombers flying in close formation in daylight could defend themselves against fighter aircraft. That theory was about to be tested.

"The action was such a disaster for the RAF, with the loss of half of the 24 bombers sent and 57 airmen killed," said Mr Waterfall.

"In the spring of 1940, Bomber Command changed to night operations, which by many is regarded as a turning point in the war."

Mr Waterfall was unaware of the story until he teamed up with a cousin to find out what happened to their uncle, Sgt JH Waterfall, who went missing in action over Germany in 1940.

"With the help of German contacts we traced our uncle's grave and I was shown a really dramatic painting of Wellingtons being shot down, which turned out to be the Battle of Heligoland, which I had never heard of," he said.

"After seven years of research, we had tracked down most of the relatives of the men involved in the battle, and we published a book, Daylight to Darkness, and launched a website to mark the event."

Members Coffee & Collections November 2025 - Allan Winn talks about Land Speed Records and Brooklands by Nonesuche Media

David Richards at Brooklands on 7th October 2025 talking about his life in Motorsport and Prodrive.

David Richards CBE first gained prominence in motorsport by navigating Ari Vatanen to the World Rally Championship in 1981. David then established ProDrive which, over 40 years, has won events and championships across multiple motorsport disciplines including rallying, touring cars, Le Mans and Dakar. Colin McRae and Richard Burns both drove ProDrive cars to World Rally Championship success. In 1998 David became chief executive of the Benetton Formula One team and later was brought in to run the BAR Formula One team, guiding it to second place in the 2004 Formula One constructors championship, driven by Jenson Button. David continues to oversee ProDrive automotive and engineering projects, and combines this with chairing the Board of Motorsport UK.

In the pipeline for nearly a decade, 2025 saw the publication of "Formula 2 – The Glory Years". The book celebrates the wonderful era of the European Formula 2 Championship, which began in 1967 and concluded in 1984. Formula 2 pitted emerging heroes against the greats of the day and in its earlier years virtually all the top F1 drivers — names like Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson and Bruce McLaren — battled with young chargers in races that thrilled huge crowds at the best European circuits. We welcome to Brooklands Simon Taylor talking with Chris Chitty, Bob Constandurous and Ian Phillips who covered this epic era of motorsport.

Double World Sportscar Champion and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell is also part of the panel. Derek finished second in the 1970 European Formula 2 Championship driving a Brabham, and he also raced a works Ferrari in Formula 2.

BMtv's Gareth Tarr talks with Sir William's grandson Michael Quinn and author Giles Chapman about the compilation and delivery of the book.

This is a Jaguar book with a difference. In 1969 Sir William Lyons gave an address to the Institute of the Motor Industry under the title ‘The History of the Jaguar and the future of the Specialised car in the British Motor Industry’. Delivered just after the launch of the seminal XJ6 saloon, it is a captivating personal account that explains how he built up Jaguar and what, in his view, made Jaguars special and distinctive. His extensive text forms the heart of this book, supported by a vivid array of archive photographs and rounded off with a preface by Michael Quinn (Sir William’s grandson) and an epilogue by Giles Chapman (the book’s originator and compiler) examining Sir William’s lasting legacy and the future of the great British brand he created. Here, uniquely, is the essence of Jaguar by the man who started it all, and who so rarely aired his thoughts in public.

Recorded at his home on 5th August 2025, Karl talks with BMtv's Gareth Tarr about his latest three volume set of books "POWER UNLEASHED. TRAILBLAZERS WHO ENERGISED ENGINES WITH SUPERCHARGING AND TURBOCHARGING".

Award-winning author Karl Ludvigsen takes the reader behind the scenes of the roller-coaster ride of supercharging, turbocharging and even more exotic power-boosting inventions throughout automotive and aviation history. Supercharging in all its forms is the most exciting feature ever created to go under the bonnet of a motor car. Blowers were rare yet highly desirable devices in their early heyday of the 1920s and ’30s, an era in which compressors graced supremely glamorous and race-winning cars. They also won respect from aviators eager to exploit high altitudes.

Prolific use of forced induction in the air in World War II brought forth the many engineering geniuses who populate these pages. Having seemed abandoned on land, supercharging found new acolytes who perfected blowers for road and track. They rescued the turbocharger to open new avenues for high-pressure boosting in the 1970s and ’80s. Into the 21st century turbocharging has found its way into more and more cars to enhance both performance and fuel efficiency.

Power Unleashed is a three-volume work of astonishing depth and detail. Greatly respected for his ability to communicate information while telling a compelling story, Karl Ludvigsen explores the global saga of supercharging and turbocharging. Complete with reader-friendly technical descriptions and magnificent illustrations, he introduces the fascinating individuals who bet their businesses on boosting. This is a landmark work in the histories of the automobile and aeroplane.

Recorded at his home on 5th August 2025, Karl talks with BMtv's Gareth Tarr about his chequered career in the automotive industries and as an author spanning 60 years. In this part he talks about the Porsche, Mercedes and Ferrari book collections.

The author Crispian Besley is in conversation with Harry Sherrard.

People lie, cheat, steal and even kill for a variety of reasons, one of which is to go motor racing, a particularly expensive and egotistical sport. Join author Crispian Besley as he shares salacious tales from the track as featured in his award-winning book.

‘Driven to Crime’, was the result of years of research, and it encompasses not just those who have been ‘driven to crime’ in order to pay for their sport but also characters within motor racing who have been involved in wrongdoing. From true stories of deceit and crimes of drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement, robbery, fraud, murder, and money laundering, Crispian

lifts the lid on his investigations and misdemeanours at all levels, from drivers, designers and mechanics to team owners, entrants, and sponsors.

BMtv's Gareth Tarr talks with the author John Brooks about the creation of this volume. Officially licensed with the ACO, the organisers of the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race, this authoritative book is the eighth title in Evro’s acclaimed decade-by-decade coverage of the world’s greatest motor race. As described by Motor Sport magazine, this multi-volume set covering every race since 1923 is ‘one of the modern age’s finest reference series’. Each year is exhaustively covered in magnificent photographs, a detailed and insightful commentary, and full results data. Written and photographed by an aficionado of Le Mans in the modern era, this latest instalment covering Audi’s decade of supremacy will be treasured by all enthusiasts of sports-car racing.

We welcome to Brooklands John Mayhead, award-winning author of "Goldie – the amazing story of Alfred Goldie Gardner, the world's most successful speed record driver". Despite suffering severe injuries in the First World War and ongoing disabilities, Goldie Gardner became a successful Brooklands racer between the wars. But it was his record-breaking that came to define him, driving diminutive MG based specials to a host of speed records before and after the Second World War. Of the book, one reviewer wrote "A captivating read which really transports you back to the sounds, smells and emotions of an early – and lethal – era of motorsport."