The author has produced a rare detailed account of the Desert Air Force in WWII. Historians have placed their main focus on the land battles and the commanders, particularly on Montgomery and Rommel, but the air battles were vital to victory – Highly Recommended.
NAME: The Desert Air Force in World War II, Air-power in the Western Desert 1940-1942 FILE: R2490 AUTHOR: Ken Delve PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 160 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War II, World War 2, Second World War, North Africa, tank battles, desert warfare, air war, fighters, bombers, anti-tank aircraft
ISBN: 1-84415-817-9
IMAGE: B2490.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/mkxbgm4 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The author has produced a rare detailed account of the Desert Air Force in WWII. Historians have placed their main focus on the land battles and the commanders, particularly on Montgomery and Rommel, but the air battles were vital to victory – Highly Recommended. North Africa tended to depend on hand-me-downs from the European Theatre. The Desert Air Force faired no better than the British and Commonwealth Armies. In 1940, biplanes still flew as frontline aircraft, but they frequently faced biplanes flown by Italians. As more modern aircraft began to arrive, they were often diverted to some other battle in Greece or Crete, where they were in insufficient numbers and rapidly defeated. By 1942, North Africa was still lacking the most modern equipment, but was rapidly catching up on the aircraft that had been performing so well in the European skies. This was fortunate because the Africa Korps had arrived with standard frontline German aircraft. Aircraft that were less popular in other theatres were sometimes ideal in the desert and aircraft that worked well in Europe required modifications to cope with the sand and the temperature ranges of North Africa. There was also pioneering as the Desert Air Force was required to act as flying artillery in a war of fast movement across large open spaces. This included the arming of Hurricanes with two powerful cannon that could deal with German armour. The author has provided a comprehensive review and described the aircraft, the flyers, the equipment, the tactics and the battles. This is the most detailed and accurate book yet published on Allied air operations in North Africa leading to the battle of El Alamein and a roll back of German forces matching the Soviet actions after Stalingrad. This wealth of information is given depth by the inclusion of lengthy annexes.