This is the twelfth volume of this interesting series and continues with the 1948 Palestine War. This was a period where the war pretty much reached a stalemate after the Zionists had managed to take a fair amount of territory (I say Zionists as while Israel became a nation in May 1948, at the time, they were rarely referred to as Israelis). During the time period covered (12 July to 14 October), the Egyptian Airforce was the predominant air arm. Transjordan, Iraq and Syria did have air forces, but they were small compared to Egypt. The aircraft in these forces were pretty much all WWII era with Egypt's Spitfires in the majority.

This is not to say that the Zionists did not have aircraft as there were a large number of sympathizers who managed to procure aircraft. Many of them came either directly from or through Czechoslovakia. The majority of their pilots were mercenaries from around the world as there was no training system in place. One benefit of this was that these pilots were often WWII veterans with experience in air fighting, something most of the pilots of the Arab League did not have.

During the period covered by this volume, the actually open warfare was fairly brief with some major cease-fires mandated by the UN. These lulls allowed the Zionists to greatly increase their air arm and to repair those damaged earlier. The overall result was that when fighting resumed, the Arab League had lost their air superiority.

As with the previous volume, this one is full of first person accounts either given directly to researchers or from various official channels, such as unit diaries or pilot log books. There are the usual bevy of period photographs along with several pages of full color profiles and some excellent maps to help us follow what was happening on the ground during this time. Another superb history and a book that, especially if you are interested in this subject, I am sure you will like.

 June 2026

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