In October 1939 Cross was appointed Officer Commanding No. 46 Squadron, conducting flying missions over Norway. Ordered to return to the United Kingdom in June 1940, his pilots achieved the seemingly impossible task of landing all their Hurricanes on the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious without arrestor gear, along with ten Gloster Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron. Their success was short-lived because on 8 June 1940 HMS Glorious and her two escort ships were attacked and sunk by the German battleship Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Cross was one of only three officers and 41 other ranks rescued out of the three ships' companies. He had spent nearly three days and nights on a float in freezing temperatures before being rescued by a Norwegian fishing boat. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After recovering from frostbitten feet during the Battle of Britain (as a controller) he was appointed Officer Commanding No. 252 Wing in the Middle East and then took over No. 258 Wing before reverting to command of No. 252 Wing. In January 1943 he was made Air Officer Commanding No. 212 Group and in February 1943 he took over No. 242 Group receiving promotion to temporary group captain in July 1943. He became Air Commodore, Training at Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Air Force in March 1944 and Director of Overseas Operations (Tactical) in June 1944. The book is in very good condition and includes the London Gazette for the award of his DSO in 1942. This award has been personally signed by Kenneth Cross.