After the Battle of Britain, the UK was in a position to finally go on the offensive in the air; at least in some small way. They started off with small raids that were designed not only to engage the Luftwaffe as much as possible, but also to cause damage to the German war infrastructure. These attacks grew as time went on and more units were formed or moved from air defense duties. The German bombing campaign continued during this time period, but at a much reduced rate, allowing more units to be used for offensive duties.

With the introduction of the US into the war, in late 1942, the RAF added escort duties to the jobs performed by Spitfire squadrons until such a time as USAAF units were able to take over many of those duties. As many of you know, the initial USAAF fighter squadrons were equipped with Spitfires before moving to US types, but their exploits have been covered in other books in this series so this concentrates on those squadrons attached to the RAF.

During this time period, the equipment used by Spitfire squadrons went from the Mk II to the Mk V and finally to the Mk IX. Each upgrade was pretty much an engine improvement, though there were upgrades in other aspects of the airframe as well. Also during this time, Fighter Command ceased to exist, to be replaced by the 2nd TAF for mobile operations on the continent after the upcoming invasion of France. The other major command was the ADGB, which was tasked with air defense duties. This change in commands came at the end of 1943, which also happens to be the end date for this book. I was particularly interested in the section on the Dieppe fiasco.

 Typical of the series, we are provided with the usual combat stories and reports as well as a look at how the air offensive increased and changed over time. This is all accompanied by the usual great selection of photos of both pilots and planes. There are also a ton of full color profiles, presented in a landscape format to provide for larger images. It makes for an excellent read and a look at an aspect of the air war about which most of us knew something, but not really the entire picture. This one is something that I can highly recommend to Spitfire boffins and enthusiasts of the air war in Europe as well as fans of the series.

 July 2016

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