Dr Sarah-Louise Miller is a historian of war and conflict, specialising in intelligence and espionage, air and sea power and the history of women and war. From September 2023 to December 2025, Sarah was a full-time lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London, and taught military education courses at the Defence Academy of the UK. In December 2025, Sarah left full-time academia to focus on public history and publishing, and she is now in a three-year appointment as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies. Sarah received her PhD from the Department of War Studies in July 2022, is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and was elected as a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society in January 2024. She spent several years as a visiting scholar in the University of Oxford’s Faculty of History, and remains a member of Kellogg College, Oxford. Sarah is the author of four books, with three more under contract, and appears regularly on British television and radio, having featured on various documentaries for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky History, National Geographic and PBS. She is currently working on a book about Scotland in the Second World War for Yale University Press (due in 2029), and on a book entitled Islands At War for Oxford University Press (due in 2030).

https://www.sarah-louisemiller.com/

Research Interests

• War and Conflict
• Airpower and Aviation
• Sea Power and Maritime
• Intelligence and Espionage
• WWII History

Sarah’s primary research area is in Second World War history, particularly intelligence, espionage, and air and sea power. She is also very interested in the history of women and war, and has written extensively on women in military intelligence, air power, and sea power. Her first major research project examined the use of intelligence and technological innovation by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, examining how both affected the RAF’s overall strategy and tactics throughout the conflict. This work was published in March 2023 as a book, entitled, The Women Behind the Few. Sarah’s second book, The Lancaster Story, was published in May 2024. This work examines the iconic Avro Lancaster in the context of the many people associated with it, from its’ inception as an idea right up to the use of one of the few surviving Lancasters in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight today. Sarah’s PhD thesis studied the use of intelligence and technology in the Second World War at Sea, focusing on British and American naval intelligence in the Battle of the Atlantic and in the Pacific Naval War. This research was published as a book with Bloomsbury Academic in November 2024. Sarah’s fourth book is currently undergoing publishing with Pegasus Books, and will be released in 2027.  

Selected Publications 

Books

• The Women Behind the Few: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and British Intelligence during the Second World War (released in hardback in March 2023, and in paperback in February 2024) https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/the-women-behind-the-few
• The Lancaster Story (published with Michael O’Mara Books, released 23 May 2024) https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Lancaster-Story-by-Sarah-Louise-Miller/9781789296396
• Women in Allied Naval Intelligence in the Second World War: A Close Secret (My PhD thesis, under publication with Bloomsbury Academic, manuscript submitted, due for release in November 2024) https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/women-in-allied-naval-intelligence-in-the-second-world-war-9781350402249/
• Island Warriors: Fighting For Hawai’i in the Second World War (under publication with Pegasus, due for release in 2027) https://www.sarah-louisemiller.com/books
• Scotland At War (under contract with Yale University Press, due in 2029)
• Islands At War (under contract with Oxford University Press, due in 2030)

Academic Articles

• ‘The Women Who Watched the Waves: The Women’s Air Raid Defense Organisation in World War II Hawaii’ https://bjmh.gold.ac.uk/article/view/1652
• ‘The Women Behind the Few: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and British Air Intelligence during the Second World War’, Aspects of History, Issue 15, April/May 2023
• Review of Peter Kornicki’s Eavesdropping on the Emperor: Interrogators and Codebreakers in Britain’s War with Japan, review commissioned by H Sci-Med-Tech, based at Michigan State University https://www.hnet.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=57654
• Review of Lewis F. McIntyre’s Take Charge and Move Out: The Founding Fathers of TACAMO, commissioned by the Journal of Military History https://www.proquest.com/docview/2727705265
• Review of Peter Harmsen’s War in the Far East: Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943, commissioned by War in History Journal, published in volume 30, issue 3: https://doi.org/10.1177/09683445231183773e

Media Coverage

As both an academic and a public historian, Sarah contributes regularly to television, both in the UK and internationally. Her media appearances to date include:

• BBC, Saving Lives at Sea WWII Special

• Channel 4, Women on the Front Line

• BBC, Who Do You Think You Are (Ralf Little, Ross Kemp and Leighton Williams episodes)

• Channel 4, Fortress Britain with Alice Roberts

• Channel 4, My Grandparents’ War (Keira Knightley episode)

• National Geographic, World War II: Secrets From Above (regular contributor/presenter for series 3 & 4)

• Channel 5, Inside Windsor Castle

• Channel 5, The Midlands Through Time

• The History Channel (Sky), Built For War: WWII

• BBC, Nazis, U-Boats and Spies (both episodes)

• The History Channel (Sky), Secret Weapons of WWII

• The History Channel (Sky), Weapon of the Century

• The History Channel (Sky), Deception: World War II

• The History Channel (Sky), The Bomber: Terror of World War II

• BBC News Channel, D-Day 80 coverage providing expert opinion/commentary on the anniversary commemorations in Portsmouth

• BBC London News, live from the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge providing commentary on the intelligence and deception operations behind D-Day

• BBC Points of View, commentary as an expert on D-Day