The collection consists primarily of master copies and research papers for Dean's book on the RAF, The Royal Air Force and two World Wars, foreword by Sir Arthur Travers Harris (London, Cassell, 1979). The research papers contain Dean's correspondence on aspects of RAF history with leading RAF personnel of the period before and during World War Two, in particular with ACM Sir Arthur Travers Harris with comments by him on the text of Dean's book, particularly on sections relating to Bomber Command. There is also a correspondence between Harris and MRAF Sir Charles Frederick Algernon Portal over the issue of bombing targets. Also included are extensive research notes from Public Record Office files and from secondary sources. The collection includes a paper written by Dean on dynamics and optics, 1928; papers relating to the development of airships and the crash of the R101 airship dating from Dean's initial period at the Air Ministry, 1929-1943; texts of lectures and seminars relating to the Civil Service given by Dean at the University of Strathclyde and other colleges and entries and related papers compiled by Dean for the Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, Oxford).

Papers relating to the military career of Gp Capt Montague Ellis Dawson, 1940-2003, including copies of three letters home describing bombing raids, 1940; account, 'The raid on the SCHARNHORST, La Pallice, 24th July 1941', describing a daylight bomb attack on the German cruiser SCHARNHORST for which Dawson was awarded the DFM, with annotated sketch map and navigation log relating to the raid, Jul 1941, and two letters from Harry Drummond, the pilot of the raid, 1970; essay 'An outline of my service experience and some lessons from it', prepared for a course at RAF Staff College, Bracknell, 1950; reminiscences for Dawson's 50th wedding anniversary, including list of Dawson's various postings; copy of obituary, 2003. Also typescript memoir by J Ralph Wood: 'My War Memories', detailing career in the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1939-1944.

Papers of Gp Capt Albert Peter Vincent Daly on his Army and RAF service, 1910-1945; comprising papers on service as Private with 1st Canadian Expeditionary Force, Aug-Dec 1914; notebook 'My Experiences with the British Expeditionary Force, France, 1915' giving account of service with 4th Connaught Rangers, 6-11 May 1915; transcripts of letters to his mother, 1914-1918; copy of Daily Sketch, 13 July 1915, containing paragraph on Daly; papers on service with 8 Sqn and 29 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, Western Front, 1916-17, including account of being shot down by Lt Werner Voss on 1 Feb 1917, and subsequent imprisonment as prisoner of war; cutting from German newspaper (with English translation), 24 April 1918, article by W Scheuermann, 'Richthofen's Last Flight' on the death of Baron Von Richthofen; papers on service with RAF, 1919-1939, including copy of The London Gazette, 1 Aug 1919, containing list of officers granted permanent commissions in the RAF; service with Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission, Bulgaria, 1920; service with 60 Sqn, North West Frontier Province India, 1922-1923, including two "Blood Chits"; and service as Air Attaché, British Embassy, China, 1930, including Chinese passports; account of service in World War Two, as Station Commander, RAF Marham, 1937-1940, St Athan, Wales, 1940-1942; Base Commander, North Africa and Italy, 1942-1944; President of Courts Martial, Italy, 1944-1945; Representative of British Red Cross, Sweden, 1945; photographs of Daly, his decorations and of RAF Marham, 1939, with Fairy Hendons of 38 Squadron and Handley Page Harrows of 115 Squadron

Midshipman's log book, by Currey, 1876-1878, including service on HMS DUKE OF WELLINGTON, Flagship of Adm Sir George Elliot, Portsmouth, Dec 1876-Jan 1877, HMS ALEXANDRA, Mediterranean Fleet, Jan 1877-Aug 1878 and HMS CRUISER, Mediterranean Fleet, Aug-Sep 1878; papers and plans relating to anti-submarine warfare, 1913-1915, including typescript draft text of lecture by Currey entitled 'Hints on organised coast defence v submarines' [1914]; fifty six manuscript naval signals, Aug-Dec 1914, including signals to R Adm, 5 Battle Sqn from the Admiralty on support to be given to operations by Chatham Royal Marine Force at Ostend, Belgium, 26-27 Aug 1914, signals relating to the loss of the battleship HMS AUDACIOUS to a mine in the Atlantic, 27 Oct 1914, and signals ordering RN battlecruisers HMS INVINCIBLE and HMS INFLEXIBLE to sea, 4 Nov 1914 (prior to the Battle of the Falklands Islands, 8 Dec 1914); journal and signal book kept by Mid Richard Reynell on board Currey's flagship, HMS PRINCE OF WALES, 1914-1915.

Papers of Gp Capt Henry John Cundall on his RAF service, 1937-1961, comprising photocopies of flying log books, Jan 1937-Oct 1960, and file of papers on RAF service, 1937-1961. Log books include outline record of service, 1937-1960, details of ranks held, awards, and types of aircraft flown; file of loose papers includes photocopies of RAF College Cranwell examination papers for Flight Cadets, Apr 1938; Bomber Command training transfer card, Dec 1938; Royal Aircraft Establishment graph of speed; certification green cards for Cundall as a pilot, 1951 and 1956; notes on 'Morale and leadership' in the RAF, Jan 1951 note on the correct recording of flying times for pilots' flying log books [1952]; Chart of ranges of Meteor 7 aircraft, according to altitude and condition, [c.1952]; Checklist for Canberra B2 and T4, [c. 1956]; 'Drills for abandoning Canberra aircraft in extreme emergency' [c.1956]; press cutting from The Times, 31 Jul 1961, 'Constant preparedness at missile station', re Bloodhound missiles at RAF Watton, Norfolk, quoting Cundall as Commanding Officer; letter of appreciation from AM Sir Hector McGregor, Fighter Command HQ, Bentley Priory, 31 Oct 1961, on Cundall's retirement; press cutting from The Sunday Times, 16 Jan 1983, 'Operation Oboe: flying heroes 40 years on', referring to Cundall; press cuttings from Eastern Daily Press, 3 Feb 1995, 'The Wooden Wonder goes to war' and 'Mosquito master of skies: hazardous missions from Norfolk', relating to launch for The men who flew the mosquito, by Martin Bowman (Patrick Stephens, Sparkford, 1995); Note on minimum weather requirements for flight clearance for pilots holding white certification cards and green certification cards, [1951]; Graph of static thrust and RPM for an Rolls Royce Avon engine, [1950s]

Records of the Civil Defence (Emergency) Committee, Court of Common Council, comprising minutes, 1939-1944 and committee papers, 1939-1940.

Records of the Civil Defence Committee, Court of Common Council, comprising minutes, 1935-1968; committee papers, 1935-1957; report books, 1935-1947; letter books, 1939-1940; press cuttings and circulars regarding air raid precautions and bomb disposal, 1935-1944.

Records of the Middlesex County Council Civil Defence Department relating to activities during the Second World War, 1939-1945, including air raid log books, situation reports, damage logs and register of claims for compensation; correspondence on civil defence matters with the London Civil Defence Region, the Home Guard and other local and military authorities; civil defence demonstrations and exercises; bulletins and instructions; and schedules of requisitioned property.

Publications, mostly official, relating to UK defence policy, notably, defence expenditure, and equipment procurement, 1960-1990, including ninety-seven editions of House of Commons Official Report. Parliamentary debates (Hansard) (HMSO, London, 1964-1990) and thirteen editions of House of Lords Official Report. Parliamentary debates (Hansard) (HMSO, London, 1975-1990); fifty, mainly UK and USA official printed reports, 1960-1989, including Navy estimates, 1960-1963, Statement on the Defence Estimates (HMSO, London, 1966-1973, 1975-1981, 1988-1989); reports from the House of Commons Defence Committee, 1981-1989; reports relating to specific issues, notably strategic nuclear deterrence, 1973-1982, and the Falklands conflict, 1982-1987. Newspaper cuttings, 1968-1992, mostly relating to Malta, 1968-1972; Soviet seapower in the Mediterranean, 1969-1972; International naval affairs, 1970-1971; South Africa, 1970-1971; the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988; the Falklands conflict, 1982; US intervention in Grenada, 1983; Soviet defence policy, 1984-1988; NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), 1984-1990; UK, US and European defence policy, 1984-1992; the US bombing raid on Libya, 1986; the Gulf War, 1991.

Papers of Ivor Bowen, 1926-1973, relating to his career in aeronautics, comprising manuscript volume entitled 'Bomb and Bombsight figures'; photographs, some captioned, relating to a long haul flight to Singapore, 1946, including exterior and interior details of plane and an aerial view of Singapore; Air Ministry Laboratory report, 'Bomb ballistics experiments, Orfordness, 1926', written by L C Bygrave and Ivor Bowen, including aerial photographs, photographs of recording equipment, bomb at moment of release, cine film stills of explosion, detailed technical drawings of recording equipment and periscopic bomb sight, and graphs of time lags, trail angles and fall times of bombs; publications relating to aeronautics including Air Ministry manuals, chiefly on air navigation, 1926-1941; typescript draft handbook, 'Aircraft compass installations', by C S Hudson, for publication by HMSO, [1949]; patents issued to General Precision Laboratory, USA, 1956-1959; lecture text, 'The development of visual landing for flight simulators' by G M Hellings, Chief Scientist, General Precision Systems Ltd, Oct 1961; technical product descriptions including for Miniature Inertial Navigation System (MINS), produced by Kearfott Division, USA and Kearfott C702519001 floated rate-integrating gyro, Aug 1962; performance data for floated rate-integrating gyro King II, produced by Kearfott Division, USA, Dec 1962; offprint articles on aeronautics, 1962; memoranda and minutes of meetings of the Air League, 1963-1973; 'Unservile State Papers, no 15: A Defence for Britain' by Anthony Paice, Liberal Publication Dept, [1966]; letter from I J Bettison, General Equipments Ltd, Adelaide, Australia, 3 Jun 1963, on selling flight simulation training systems; and 'extracts from the technical supplement to the annual report of the Aeronautical Research Council', 1 Apr 1965.

'Low level Beaufighters over Burma: a review of the low level attacks carried out during September by 27 and 177 Beaufighter Squadrons', an official report including photographs and map, written by Baldwin in 1943.

Records of the London County Council Architect's Department relating to Emergency Wartime Measures, including Rescue Service orders to contractors to carry out urgent emergency works, 1940-1941; papers relating to the reorganisation of the Rescue Service, 1942; central office arrangements, 1939-1941; notes for the guidance of rescue parties in the London Civil Defence Region, 1940; Rescue Service physical training instructors, 1939-1943; staffing of the War Debris Survey and Disposal, 1941-1942; Architect's Department emergency staff arrangements, 1938-1939; staff matters relating to the closing down of the Rescue Service, 1945-1946; proceedings and report of Departmental Committee on Staffing and Organisation of the Architect's Department, 1942-1943; report of the Departmental Committee on the Utilisation of Staff and the Elimination of Non-Essential Work, 1942; meetings of Principal Officers in Architect's Department, 1942-1944; Special Course in Air Raid Precautions run by the University of London in conjunction with Ministry of Home Security, May 1940; assistance to Civil Defence services by the Home Guard, 1944; working papers used in preparation and final draft of the War History of the Architect's Department, 1945; lists of awards for gallantry awarded to the Heavy Rescue Service, 1939-1945; Rescue Service Circular Memoranda numbers 1 to 891, 1939-1945; Rescue Service General Orders numbers 1 to 176, 1941-1945.

Records from the Paddington District Surveyor's District, 1940-1945, including index book of war damaged premises; incident record books; War damage Survey notebooks; orders to contractors in relation to dangerous structures; Borough Council's demolition or works orders; incident report forms; incident reports on work done (includes those attended outside Paddington under mutual assistance arrangements); dangerous structure notices under Defence Regulations; daily returns of incidents; schedules of areas suggested for future redevelopment. Also tracings of maps showing damage caused by individual flying bomb and rocket incidents in Stepney, 1944.