Kubaiyah, a RAF airstrip squeezed between a razor-like ridge and a harsh desert plain, must be defended. But with the Nazis poised to conquer the Middle East and Britain stripped of her allies, Kubaiyah could be lost. Except for absurd, eccentric and gifted Flying Officer Anthony Boumphrey. Armed with only forty planes all of which are training machines and biplanes, Boumphrey leads a brilliant squadron of men against the noxious swarms of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Surrounded by sneering Messerschmitts and the hammer of eighteen-pounder guns, Boumphrey and his 'Belles' battle for their freedom and a place in history.