Robert Wright (1906 – 1992) was a historian and biographer of Hugh Dowding, the RAF's commanding officer in the Battle of Britain. Wright served as Dowding's personal assistant during the Battle. In his book Dowding and the Battle of Britain (1969) Wright was one of the early proponents of the Big Wing conspiracy theory that blamed Trafford Leigh-Mallory and the British Air Ministry for Dowding's removal from command at the end of the battle. Many of Wright's claims, some based on Dowding's faulty recollections, have been repudiated by witnesses and documentary evidence, but his allegations have proven popular and persistent over the years.
Prior to becoming a champion of Dowding, Wright co-wrote the biography of Dowding's rival and replacement at Fighter Command, Sholto Douglas in two volumes titled: Years of Combat and Years of Command (1966).
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“How prone we are to come to the consideration of every question with heads and hearts pre-occupied! How prone to shrink from any opinion, however reasonable, if it be opposed to any, however unreasonable, of our own! How disposed are we to judge, in anger, those who call upon us to think, and encourage us to enquire! To question our prejudices seems nothing less than sacrilege; to break the chains of our ignorance, nothing short of impiety!”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)