Classic Publications

2nd Tactical Air Force, Vol. 3 From the Rhine To Victory, January - May 1945

by  Christopher Shores and Chris Thomas

Reviewed By  Stephen Bierce, IPMS# 35922

MSRP: $54.95 ISBN: 1903223601 To preamble: I first "met" Christopher Shores' writing when I received AIR ACES as a birthday gift in 1984. So I've known his work for a while now. In addition, I've been a fan of the Hawker Typhoon ground-attack plane since I built the Airfix 1/72nd scale kit as a grade school boy. So when this book came up for review, I was very eager to get it. This is the third and last volume of a set, detailing the evolution and campaigns of the air army that supported the 21st Army Group in northwestern Europe. This volume in particular is about the times following the new year of 1945, as the Western Allies advanced from Belgium and France through Holland into northern Germany. [ED.Note: The IPMS Review website contains reviews of Vol.1 and Vol.2.] The main body of this book is the war diary: each day is given a few paragraphs (sometimes a couple pages) describing the actions fought, followed by a tally of aircraft lost (with crews' names, aircraft serial numbers and squadrons identified) as well as victory claims (also with crew names and aircraft information). With the pace of the conflict as intense as it was at that time, hardly a day went by from New Year's to the surrender of the Third Reich that there wasn't a battle or skirmish or dogfight somewhere in the 2nd TAF's area. In addition to the diary, there are accounts from the airmen themselves, and short bios of some of the more prominent air commanders and aces of the 2nd TAF. Finally, this volume contains the errata for the previous two volumes, and a directory of the 2nd TAF's subunits (the Groups and Wings), their commanders, and where their bases were located at which time. The 2nd TAF was predominantly a Royal Air Force unit, although it also included squadrons of Free French, Czechs, Poles, Norwegians and Commonwealth citizens (Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders). As the mission of the 2nd TAF was air support for the ground war, the assigned aircraft were predominantly fighter and ground-attack planes, plus North American Mitchell medium bombers, Douglas Boston light bombers, deHavilland Mosquito multi-role airplanes, and Auster lightplanes in the Forward Air Control role. Many of the squadrons operated from forward airfields very close to the fighting. By the war's end, a squadron of Gloster Meteor jets was assigned to the 2nd TAF, and so this unit is also covered by this book. The greater focus of this book is on the fighter type airplanes, including the aforementioned Typhoon, Hawker Tempest, Supermarine Spitfire (both the Merlin and the Griffon engined types), Allison engined North American Mustangs and the Mosquito night fighters and fighter-bombers. So there are dozens of photos in this book of the above machines, in operation or being ministered to by their riggers, fitters, fuelers and other crewmen. In addition to the photos are a number of high-quality airbrush drawings... among the best I've ever seen. They're a far cry from the examples of the same aircraft found in FLYING COLORS. The candid nature of the photos look to me to be very inspirational for modelers who want to try vignette projects. The ones of airmen looking over the flak damage their plane took and wondering how they made it back to base... of ground crew waving to a flypast of their comrades... of a pilot lounging in a lawnchair with a stein of beer after a sortie. This content really makes the book special. There is plenty of information in this book, but (like AIR ACES) 2nd TACTICAL AIR FORCE is meant to be browsed rather than taken wholesale. Yes, you can match a plane's serial number with its squadron and its pilot, but that's not really the aim of the book. It's hard to think of a 600 page, three-book set as an "introduction" or a "summary", but with the enormity of the subject, that's what this book is. It's not the scope of the content, or the detail, but the harmonic combination of the content, both words and pictures. If your interests include the late air campaigns of World War Two in Europe, this book is well worth having. Thanks to Marie Norton of Specialty Press for my review copy. To buy a copy, or to get more information about this and other books in the product line, call 1-800-895-4585 or visit www.specialtypress.com. There is a $4.95 S&H fee if ordered from Specialty Press.

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