Close Call: RAF Close Air Support in the Mediterranean Volume I defeat in France to el Hamma 1939-1945: RAF Close Air Support in the Mediterranean; ... France to el Hamma 1939-1943 (Close Call, 1)

Bit of a curates egg. Have not read full text, but am told it is excellent.However, I'm finding it hard to get past the poor selection of images and the ludicrous captions.For example, a photo (page 133)of a ground based anti aircraft gun emplacement "appears to be a Bren gun" The gun is obviously a Vickers K. Maybe the caption writer has a problem with Vickers, (page 174) a hitherto unknown version of Hurricane 11D 'fitted with 37mm anti tank guns". Should be 40mm Vickers.Page 50, we have a description of the Defiant and 264 Squadron long discredited. The Defiant suffered no more losses than any other RAF fighter and 264 Squadron were no more optimistic in their claims than any other unit, allied or axis.The Defiant was deployed on front line for a further 7 weeks until withdrawn to North. They did not 'revert' to night fighter role, as they had never been deployed as night fighters previously. Three line caption, and three errors!I am more impressed by Christopher Shores and Peter Smiths books which cover similar if not precisely the same topics and timescale.

An ideal book for those interested in this area of WWII history, with many historians concentrating on mainly the RAF's fighter and bombing battles in Western Europe. The book is a useful tool for those interested in this sphere of warfare, and helps in tracing the Squadrons and some of the background on their movements and their assisting the ground forces.

Excellent title from hikoki. The quality of text and images are superb. Looking forward to book 2

Close Call: RAF Close Air Support in the Mediterranean Volume 1: Defeat in France to el Hamma 1939-1943Author: Vic FlinthamPublisher: Crecy/HikokiISBN: 9781902109640Binding: hardbackDimensions: 297mm x 210mmPages: 192Photos: 200RRP: £29.95The latest book I’ve received under the invariably excellent Hikoki imprint goes back to the WWII period, so it’s slightly outside of my area of speciality as I’m primarily a follower of the post war and Cold War era. But that does not detract from my ability to assess this new title and it is clear from the first glance that the standard of production and presentation is exemplary. I’m a big fan of the clean, modern style used in Hikoki books and this one is no exception. Text (which has a pleasing typeface, not the old-fashioned Times New Roman) is liberally interspersed with charts, maps, tables, colour profiles and a plethora of photographs, all optimally reproduced. The fact that some of the photographs chosen are rare contemporary colour images is to be applauded.Having said that the subject matter is outside of my particular area of focus, it appears from a preliminary scan through to be a thoroughly well researched account of a fascinating and less well-known area of air warfare. It describes the crucial role played by support units through some the most important campaigns of the war and includes first-hand accounts from some of the airmen that served there. It starts off with detailed summary of the development of air support from the dawn of aviation up to the outbreak of WWII, moving through detailed accounts of operations in the Low Countries during the early war years and then into many of the North Africa campaigns. Italy will be covered in a later second volume.

The author and publishers alike are to be congratulated for producing such an appealing and worthwhile work on this facet of aviation history. Despite my main sphere of interest being a little more recent, it will find a welcome place on my already full shelves. I’m sure it will go down extremely well with all students of this era of air warfare and I have no hesitation in recommending wholeheartedly.