Pen & Sword Books, LTD

Air War East Africa 1940-1941; The RAF vs. the Italian Air Force

by  Jon Sutherland & Diane Canwell

Reviewed By  Pablo Bauleo, IPMS #46363

MSRP: $39.99 ISBN: 978 1 84415 816 4 Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Review Copy Supplied by Casemate Publishing (U. S. distributor): www.casematepublishing.com Air War over East Africa covers the details of an obscure and often forgotten front of WWII - the battle for the Horn of Africa in 1940-41. The air contingents used in this 8-month campaign were relatively modest in number using mainly pre-war designs: SM.81, SM.79, Fairey Battle, Gloster Gladiator, Fiat CR.32 plus handful of Fiat CR 42 and Hurricanes, for example. The book appropriately connects the air battles/missions with he ground movement counterparts or the strategic importance of the strike. Most of the narrative is a little bit impersonal, chronologically enumerating air strikes and missions. Whenever possible, however, quotes from the airmen involved in the missions are included, which spices the reading a bit. Most of the narrative is related from the Allied point of view. The book includes a list of RAF victory claims, but not a list from the Regia Aeronautica. The book has 60 black and white pictures, about half of them of the aircraft involved in the campaign, but no aircraft profiles. If you are after a book to get reference pictures/profiles for your next model, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are interested to learn about the battle for the Horn of Africa, then this book is for you. This book is a very well researched study of the forgotten battle for the Horn of Africa. Recommended to all history aficionados. I would like to thank Casemate Publishing for the review sample.