Do not miss this chance to add these books to your collection!
The complete "Series 3 - Air" (4 Volumes) part of the Australia in the War of 1939 - 1945 collection! Excellent to show to friends that share your interest of Military History, or simply enjoy knowing they are on your bookshelf and not someone elses! Has black and white photographs, black and white maps, and glossy, coloured & highly detailed maps also. Do not let the opportunity to buy these highly collectable items all at once pass you by.
Australia in theWar of 1939–1945 is a 22-volume official history seriescovering Australian involvement inthe Second World War. The serieswas published by the Australian War Memorial between 1952 and 1977, most of the volumes beingedited by Gavin Long.
The Air series covers theoperations of the Royal Australian AirForce during the war, including the experiencesof thousands of members of the RAAF who were trained through the EmpireAir Training Scheme (EATS) and served with the RoyalAir Force. The series was written by DouglasGillison who was regarded as Australia's leading aviation journalist and servedin the RAAF during the war, George Odgers, a journalist who had served in the Army and Air Forceand John Herrington, a trained historian who had served in RAF and RAAFmaritime patrol squadrons. Odgers' volume covered only RAAF operations againstJapan, Gillison and Herington covered the diverse experiences of the EATSgraduates who served in over 500 British squadrons. Herington wrote acomprehensive short history of British air warfare, with a focus on the smallnumber of Australian squadrons and the main activities of Australian personnelin RAF units. Gillison and Herington also wrote about how EATS operatedand its implications for Australia. Herington's account of EATS is generallyconsidered superior to that provided by Gillison, whose account is regarded asrelatively uncritical of the scheme.
Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942 (1st edition,1962, Douglas Gillison)
This volume isconcerned mainly with the air war against Japan from December 1941 to the endof the first quarter of 1943 when air superiority was first wrested from theJapanese. It describes particularly the experiences and achievements of theAustralian airmen who fought as integrated RAAF units or as members of units ofthe British and American air forces in Malaya, Burma, the East Indies and underGeneral MacArthur in the South-West Pacific.
In both time and geography the scope is wide. The opening chapters describe thegenesis of the Royal Australian Air Force, its history between the wars and theproblems of the development of the force in Australia and the Far Easterntheatre before the Japanese onslaught opened.
It has been necessary to look back to the very beginnings of aviation inAustralia - as far back as 1909 - and to extend the frame of the whole pictureto include all the essential outside influences. There is thus a concentrationon 43 months of war set within an over-all time span of more than 30 years
Volume II – Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945 (1st edition, 1957, George Odgers)
This volume describesthe operations and the problems of the RAAF in the War against Japan from April1943 until the end of the war - the period in which the Allies possessed airsuperiority in the Pacific. At the beginning of this phase the RAAF wasproviding a major part of the air forces of the South-West Pacific Area. Laterit began to play a less important role, so much so that discontent developedamong aircrew and some of their leaders believed the force was not beingassigned worthwhile duties.
The book tells not only of the widespread and varied operations of theAustralian squadrons in the SWPA and Australian individuals in Burma but of thedifficult problem of allocatimg command responsibilities within a force part ofwhich was assigned to General MacArthur and part controlled by the Minister forAir through his Chief of the Air Staff.
The story of Japanese reactions to Allied air operations has been told with thehelp of enemy records which put familiar events in a new light.
Volume III – Air WarAgainst Germany and Italy, 1939–1945 (Re-print, 1962, John Herington)
This volume describes the part played by increasing numbers ofAustralians in the first four years of the air war in Europe and the MiddleEast. In 1939 there was one Australian squadron in England and there were some400 Australians in the RAF. At the end of 1943 there were about 15,000Australian airmen serving in the war against Germany and Italy, a proportion ofthem being in eighteen Australian squadrons. Since the Australians were sowidely dispersed - almost every RAF squadron contained some - the author hasoutlined the story of the air war as a whole, assessing its achievements andexamining the commanders' policies in the light of German and Italian as wellas British documents. At the same time he has illustrated the general narrativewith accounts of the experiences of individual Australian crews.
The integration of Dominion contingents within avast Commonwealth air force produced a variety of problems, political,administrative and psychological. The frank and authoritative exposition ofthese problems from the point of view of one of the smaller partners in theEmpire air force makes this volume, in part, an important contribution to thehistory of British Commonwealth relations.
Volume IV – Air PowerOver Europe, 1944–1945 (1st edition, 1963, John Herington - LIKE NEW CONDITION)
This volume continues and concludes the story of Australianairmen who served in the war against Germany and Italy. In this period generallyabout 15,000 Australians were serving in or beside the RAF, a proportion ofthem being in 18 Australian squadrons and the remainder in a large number ofRAF units.
The volume opens with an account of the plans and preparations forthe invasion of Europe and then describes the operations in support of theadvancing Allied armies, the accompanying strategic bombing offensive, theceaseless work of Coastal Command and the varied operations in theMediterranean zone.
The book concludes with an account of the problems of organisation and rehabilition overcome during the unscrambling and repatriation of the Australian contingent, and with a chapter on the experiences of evaders and prisoners of war.