Military Model Scene

Title: Spitfire 1
Author: Tony Holmes
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5767-5

Phoney War and Battle of France, number 13 in the Dogfight series from Osprey. An 80-page soft-cover book. Written by author Tony Holmes, and aided by the artwork from 3 illustrators, Gareth Hector, Jim Laurier and Tim Brown.
This one is spread across 6 chapters, starting with a story from a famous Spitfire pilot, Pilot Office Al Deere. On May 23rd 1940 he tells us of how he and fellow 54 Sqn pilot Johnny Allen flew as escorts to an unarmed trainer, a Miles Master 1, flown by their flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Leathart, to go on a rescue mission to France, and collect Squadron Leader Frank White, CO of 74 Sqn, from Calais-Mark airfield, where he had been shot down while on dawn patrol. Then there is the topic of pilot training, on Tiger Moths, Miles Magisters, Harvards and Miles Masters It goes on to cover the early development of the Spitfire, with different engines and different propellers and more. Looking at The Art of War it considers tactics, particularly the RAF Air Fighting Tactics manual, which was proved to be awkward in actual use, and combat with the Luftwaffe and their looser Schwarm tactics prompted changes. In combat, the Phoney War features early raids on Britain and the RAF response, and then moves on to the Battle of France. The Spitfire squadrons played an active part though there was the impression to those troops on the beaches, and in the navy ships, that they weren't there, but of course they were aiming to stop the Luftwaffe aircraft before they got to their targets at the beaches of Dunkirk. Throughout the book it makes much use of personal accounts of those who took part, recounting events as they experienced them, including not just Spitfire pilots, but even their Luftwaffe opponents.
Illustrated throughout with plenty of archive photos and some of the first class artwork which Osprey are so well known for. These include tactical ribbon diagrams, battlescene artwork, formation plans and more. The Spitfire is always a popular subject and this one does a good job of telling us how they performed in their early combat scenarios with the Luftwaffe, as they in turn learnt how much of a handful the RAF was going to be.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin