John Basil Collier (1908–1983) was a British writer of books of military history, particularly military aviation, World War II and military and political strategy. Collier became a full-time professional writer in 1932. Before the war he was a novelist, travel writer, critic and broadcaster. He was in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

from 1940 to 1948, as a staff officer in

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

to 1944. He worked in the Fighter Command HQ underground operations room and handled secret Ultra material from

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

. He assembled information about German long-range weapons, going to France and Belgium in late 1944, to investigate captured sites. He wrote that he was From 1944 to 1945 he was at

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...

headquarters in Versailles. At the end of the war in Europe he was appointed Air Historical Officer, Fighter Command. After leaving the RAF in 1948, he went to the Cabinet Office as a historian and wrote the official history volume ''The Defence of the United Kingdom''; giving his address in the preface as

Falmer Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer ...

, Sussex. Since 1957 he has been a free-lance writer on military topics. In 1964 he was married with three children and living in Sussex. His books ''Barren Victories'' and ''The Lion and the Eagle'' emphasize the importance he saw in the "Anglo-Saxon" alliance of Britain and America. A review of his ''A Short History of the Second World War'' by Dr Holley criticised his "partisan" overly British viewpoint and his reliance largely on secondary sources and on British sources, even for the war against Japan, where American forces predominated. A review by

Robert Blake Robert Blake may refer to: Sportspeople * Bob Blake (American football) (1885–1962), American football player * Robbie Blake (born 1976), English footballer * Bob Blake (ice hockey) (1914–2008), American ice hockey player * Rob Blake (born 19 ...

of a later biography of

Sir Henry Wilson Field Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet, (5 May 1864 – 22 June 1922) was one of the most senior British Army staff officers of the First World War and was briefly an Irish unionist politician. Wilson served as Commandant of the S ...

said that Collier's attempt to rehabilitate Wilson in his 1961 biography ''Brasshat'' carried little conviction, because of his uncritical admiration for Wilson.

References

Personal information from his books ''Barren Victories, The Battle of the V-Weapons, Hidden Weapons'' and ''The Lion and the Eagle'' (dust jackets).

Works

* ''Jam Tomorrow'' (1935, novel) * ''Local Thunder'' (1936, novel) * ''To Meet the Spring'' (1937, travel) * ''Catalan France'' (1939) * ''Leader of the Few: the authorised biography of Air Chief Marshal

Lord Dowding Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally ...

of Bentley Priory'' (1957) * ''The Quiet Places'' (1957, travel in England) * ''Heavenly Adventurer: a biography of Sir

Sefton Brancker Air Vice Marshal Sir William Sefton Brancker, (22 March 1877 – 5 October 1930) was a British pioneer in civil and military aviation and senior officer of the Royal Flying Corps and later Royal Air Force. He was killed in an airship crash in 1 ...

'' (1959) * ''Brasshat: A biography of Field Marshal

'' (1961) * ''The Defence of the United Kingdom'' (1962, Official history) * ''The Battle of Britain'' (1962, Batsford's British Battles series) * ''Barren Victories: Versailles to Suez 1918–1956'' (1964) * ''The Battle of the V-Weapons 1944–1945'' (1964) * ''A Short History of the Second World War'' (1967) * ''The War in the Far East 1941–1945'' (1969) * ''The Lion and the Eagle: British and Anglo-American Strategy 1900–1950'' (1972) * ''The Airship'' (1974) * ''A History of Air Power'' (1974) * ''Japan at War: An illustrated history of the war in the Far East'' (1975) * ''Japanese Aircraft of World War II'' (1979) * ''Arms and the Men: the arms trade and governments'' (1980) * ''Hidden Weapons: Allied Secret or Undercover Services in World War II'' (1982) {{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Basil 1908 births 1983 deaths British military historians British travel writers Historians of World War II 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British historians Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers