This volume, then, is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in north-west France [...]

The fourth volume in this momentous series commences with the attacks on the Italian island fortress of Pantelleria which led to its surrender and occupation, achieved almost by air attack alone. The account continues with the ultimately successful, but at times very hard fought, invasions of Sicily and southern Italy as burgeoning Allied air power, now with full US involvement, increasingly dominated the skies overhead.

The successive occupations of Sardinia and Corsica are also covered in detail.

 

This volume, then, is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in north-west France. In its pages are found what can justifiably be considered the story of ’the soldiers’ air force’.

Frequently overlooked by more immediate newsworthy events elsewhere, their struggle was often of an equally Homeric nature.

 

With regards to the long-range tactical role of the Allied heavy bombers, only the period from May to October is examined herein, while they remained based in North Africa. Thus the period from November 1943 when the US 15th Air Force was formed to pursue the strategic air offensive against the Reich, together with the RAF’s 205 Group of night bombers, will be covered in a future (sixth) volume.

Volume Five will deal with the rest of the tactical war in Italy and Greece, over the Adriatic and Aegean, and with the entry into the South of France to join forces advancing southwards from Normandy.

 

 

Christopher Shores lives in Dorset and is a prolific and much acclaimed writer on military aviation history, now working at the head of a formidable team of dedicated researchers, each an expert in their own right. In this particular volume he has been able to call on the resources of Giovanni Massimello (Italian), Russell Guest (Australian), Frank Olynyk (American), Winfried Bock (German) and historian Andy Thomas, to give as complete a picture as is possible of the struggle for supremacy in the skies.

Front cover painting by Barry Weekley: One of the outstanding but lesser recognised participants in the Mediterranean air war was the Bristol Beaufighter. This tough, pugnacious multi-role aircraft gave particularly valuable service as a night fighter. Undertaking this testing task it provided the main nocturnal protection to the ships of the invasion fleets and those subsequently providing the follow-up supplies and reinforcements. Quantities were later supplied to the USAAF to build their own night- fighter force, while in other roles Beaufighters hunted ships and aircraft on and over the sea lanes by day, armed with cannons, torpedoes and latterly with rocket projectiles.

The performance of the night-fighter crews was particularly noteworthy, for in little more than a month they were credited with more than 100 bombers shot and most of these victories were gained by the a typical Beaufighter