This is probably the jewel in the crown of the Robert Wright collection. In 1974 Fred Winterbotham produced this controversial account of the very secretive Ultra story. Permission to release some of the Ultra documents had only just been given for the first time since the war and this was the first full account to be released. The book was dedicated and given to Robert Wright as a thank you for his support. As Robert was Dowding’s aide during the Battle of Britain he would have been privy to the information coming from Ultra. Hugh Dowding was extremely careful to use the information very wisely to ensure the enemy were not aware of the allies having access to their secret transcripts. There is a whole section on the Battle of Britain in the book, describing the information available to Dowding at the time. The book also contains an original pencil drawing remarque of Fred Winterbotham by Steve Teasdale. The book is in very good condition with little browning/spotting and slight wear to the dustjacket. The book spine and boards are bumped to the edges. The book also comes with some notes on the book and page references by Robert Wright ( see photos) and Winterbotham’s obituary. First editions of this book in good condition are scarce, signed editions are virtually unheard of - but to have the provenance from someone who was there reading the secrets at the time of the Battle of Britain is amazing history, never to be repeated.
Frederick William Winterbotham CBE (16 April 1897 – 28 January 1990) was a British Royal Air Force officer (latterly a Group Captain) who during World War II supervised the distribution of Ultra intelligence. His book The Ultra Secret was the first popular account of Ultra to be published in Britain. James Holland credits Winterbotham with responding to a letter from Barnes Wallis with a desperate cry for assistance ("help oh help") with a letter of his own, in February 1943. Winterbotham's letter ensured the chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, knew of the Wallis plan, and took a favourable view of it. Portal overrode the resistance of Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, to Wallis' proposal, and the Dambusters raid, code-named Operation Chastise in May 1943, was approved.