There are times when a book is to entertain, there are times when a book is to inform, and there are times when a book is to be used for research. This one falls squarely into the latter category. It isn't something that you can sit down and just read from page one to the end. It is one that is used for research or when one simply wants to sit down for a while and peruse the pages, gathering snippets of information here and there.

One thing for sure, this is a book that has had a great deal of time and effort expended into getting things right.

The 224 pages contain information by date, then squadron, then it lists the crew, the aircraft and its fate. It could be something as mundane as being blown to smithereens while sitting on the ground or burning during some sort of maintenance snafu (in which case there would be no crew listed). The aircraft could have been lost on a training flight or a transit flight or in combat. In all those cases information as to what happened, where and the outcome of things will be listed.

This book is theater specific and covers both the Middle East and Mediterranean theaters. It is divided into chapters and covers up to the end of 1942. Just to give you a quick idea of the chapters there is: September 1939 to June 1940. Then it goes into the various actions of fighting the Italians. In 1941, the Germans get involved and there are sections on Greece, Iraq, Syria and the fight back and forth across Northern Africa, culminating at the German defeat at El Alamein. The final section covers the Allied landings in North Africa and we are left at the end of 1942 with the Germans in general retreat and getting boxed in.

There are no photographs but there are maps of bases and a listing of linked and joint squadrons. This all ends with an incredible tale of a crew walking back out of the desert after they were shot down.

Overall, a book that is both interesting and well researched. Though I would have enjoyed it to be listed more by aircraft/serial, I can fully understand why it was done as it was and one just needs to get used to the way it is arranged. An excellent research reference.

June 2007

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