Though not as much a 'backwater' as the CBI, the Mediterranean theater of operation was not the main focus of the Allies during WWII. Well, not the main focus of the US, though it is well known that Churchill thought that a lot more effort should have been spent there vice northwestern Europe.

Anyway, with the North African invasion of late 1942, the Germans had yet another area of concern, especially following the defeat at El Alamein just a few days prior. Into that campaign was sent the 82nd Fighter Group. Initially formed on the P-38 and with a rather high contingent of sergeant pilots, it was first shipped to England, but very soon it was sent to North Africa. Much to the displeasure of most crews, what was really needed were its aircraft to make up for losses with other groups. With most of its planes now in other hands, they still managed to pull some missions until replacements arrived in early 1943. By then it was decided that mere enlisted people could not be fighter pilots in the USAAF so all the sargent pilots were promoted to 2nd Lt. An odd decision since just about all the other warring powers had no trouble with enlisted pilots, many of whom were quite successful. But I digress.

Flying the 'smooth cowling' P-38 E/F/G models, the 82nd soon got into the swing of things performing both escort and ground attack missions, but mostly escorting bombers. Soon pilots started racking up scores and aces were made. The thing about the Med is that it just wasn't chock full of enemy aircraft as were other fronts. This was particularly true towards the end of the war when EA were very rarely sighted and most 'kills' were on the ground.

The 82nd stayed with the P-38 until the end of the war, eventually getting the much better P-38J, though never having the opportunity to fight with the even better P-38L, most of which went to the Pacific. Still, the 82nd produced a respectable number of aces as well as pilots who went on to achieve ace status with other units.

In this book by Steve Blake, we get a good look at the 82nd from inception until the end of the war. Its early days of training in the US as well as its exploits in North Africa, Sicily and Italy are covered in some detail. We get to meet the pilots of the unit, read of some of their more interesting exploits and see period photos of these men and their aircraft. Typical of the series, the research is very well done, something we have come to expect from Osprey titles.

It all makes for a great read and thanks to the superb selection of period photos and the fine collection of full color profiles, we get a more complete picture of this unit's WWII operational history, making for an excellent book for the historian and modeler alike. One that I can easily recommend to you.

September 2012

For more on the complete line of Osprey books, visit www.ospreypublishing.com. In the US, it is Osprey Direct at 44-02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101., where you can get a catalogue of available books.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.