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Posted

My recent research bender, would welcome more, especially about the air campaign and from German/Italian sources. It does seem like it's pretty under-written-about.

Max Hastings' Operation Pedestal book

Yes it's Max Hastings with his eternal obsession on proving (shocker) that the Allies often fucked up, but still a pretty good read and it's basically impossible to tarnish USS Ohio.

Malta Spitfire Pilot by Denis Barnham

Actually really liking this one because it's completely unvarnished; Barnham was a sensitive artist type (six kills though) and there's a lot of grim air combat scenes (where the Brits often end up getting the worst of it) accompanied by him rhapsodizing about the sun-dappled hills and why is man so cruel to man, etc. He ended up being transferred out as a nervous wreck after ten weeks, I think. The prologue is written by his wife and it's really good.

George Buerling's book -- not bad although it seems like he showed up after the worst of it (and for two weeks vs. Barham's ten). 

 

Posted

Hi Angrybk

If you want a really good overview of the Malta based air war from both sides for the period 1940 - 43 I'd recommend Chris Shore's (and others) two classics:

Malta - The Hurricane Years and Malta - The Spitfire Year.

They have an incredible amount of detail (e.g.  you want to know the names of all the pilots who flew Sptifires off HMS Furious during Operation Bellows?), but I found them very readible too.

Been around since the 1990's (picked up my copy of Spitfire Year at the shop in the RAF Museum at Hendon in 1993!). Not cheap these days but still a very good source.

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Hurricane-Years-1940-41-Hardcover/dp/0897472071

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Spitfire-Year-Christopher-Shores/dp/094881716X

 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, Captain Hurricane said:

Hi Angrybk

If you want a really good overview of the Malta based air war from both sides for the period 1940 - 43 I'd recommend Chris Shore's (and others) two classics:

Malta - The Hurricane Years and Malta - The Spitfire Year.

They have an incredible amount of detail (e.g.  you want to know the names of all the pilots who flew Sptifires off HMS Furious during Operation Bellows?), but I found them very readible too.

Been around since the 1990's (picked up my copy of Spitfire Year at the shop in the RAF Museum at Hendon in 1993!). Not cheap these days but still a very good source.

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Hurricane-Years-1940-41-Hardcover/dp/0897472071

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Spitfire-Year-Christopher-Shores/dp/094881716X

 

 

Seconded, the author(s) wrote a bunch of books about various air campings. 

Posted

Thanks everybody and now I have more stuff to dive into! 

By the way the Operation Pedestal literature from the US side is hilariously US-centric; "the Brits were about to give up but thank god there was an American to man the fourth machine gun on the Ohio!" etc. That's why I fucked up and called it "USS Ohio" on my first post..

Posted
12 hours ago, Captain Hurricane said:

Hi Angrybk

If you want a really good overview of the Malta based air war from both sides for the period 1940 - 43 I'd recommend Chris Shore's (and others) two classics:

Malta - The Hurricane Years and Malta - The Spitfire Year.

They have an incredible amount of detail (e.g.  you want to know the names of all the pilots who flew Sptifires off HMS Furious during Operation Bellows?), but I found them very readible too.

Been around since the 1990's (picked up my copy of Spitfire Year at the shop in the RAF Museum at Hendon in 1993!). Not cheap these days but still a very good source.

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Hurricane-Years-1940-41-Hardcover/dp/0897472071

https://www.amazon.com/Malta-Spitfire-Year-Christopher-Shores/dp/094881716X

 

 

Ah you beat me to it!
There's no historical aviation writer like Christopher Shores.

Posted

Well there is Charles Bowyer. Been reading his book on No2 Group, and its excellent.

There was a series of books, of which I have only one called 'History of the Mediterranean air war', which I note Shores was one of the authors. Basically excellent, based on the sole volume I have.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Mediterranean-Air-War-Five/dp/1911621971/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2ETM84D8AHTD6&keywords=history+of+the+mediterranean+air+war&qid=1700467769&sprefix=history+of+the+mediterranean+ai%2Caps%2C849&sr=8-2

Posted

One of the successful submarine commanders operating from Malta was Lieutenant Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, VC, DSO & Two Bars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wanklyn

His submarine sunk 128,353 tons of enemy shipping, including rare achievement of sinking 3 Italian submarines. 

Posted

Yes,  the late lamented HMS Upholder. Im really hoping now the RN have a deep sea survey vessel, they might just find the time to go and find what happened to the poor bugger.

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Posted (edited)

Would actually re-recommend the Denis Barnham book I mentioned earlier, it's a good read. It's on the Kindles etc. It's obvious the guy is a little nuts but that's part of the honesty of it. 

Edited by Angrybk
Posted

James Holland is always saying how good Malta Spitfire Pilot is, and I really ought to pick it up. I should add that First Light by Geoffrey Wellum is also well worth reading. I think there may only be a chapter, maybe 2, of his time in Malta, but you really get the impression of a young man that is really worn out, getting increasingly careless of death, and is only eventually saved by a major medical problem (He had been breathing pure oxygen so long, he developed a major cyst in his sinus and had to be sent home). The rest of the book is well worth reading because its a realtively rare first hand account (or more accurately, a good first hand account) of what it was like to be a pilot in the Battle of Britain, not to mention a fascinating account about what it was like to train someone up to be a fighter pilot in 1939.

Posted

Ah yes, was a big fan of Derek Robinson back in the day. I gather he later took the Hornet squadron franchise up to the V Force, I really ought to read that one. Somehow Baggy Bletchley even manages to survive the exploding toilet I was gratified to learn.

There was a furore when it came out back in the 1980's. Lots of people saying he was besmirching the Few. Not a bit of it, he was just trying to puncture the hagiography and mythmaking about the Battle of Britain. He showed a bunch of fairly ordinary, somewhat dysfunctional guys, that probably didnt save the country, but won on points because they remained standing. And nearly 40 years later, its difficult to argue with his point.

What did you think of it?

Posted

I liked Piece of Cake a lot, especially the ending. I do think it might have seemed more transgressive when it came out in the 80s, although I think by most point most serious historians at least had a pretty good concept of the actual win/loss ratio, etc.

I do think Robinson's main point (the Royal Navy was primarily responsible for keeping the UK alive and the BoB was sort of pointless) is severely flawed in the light of the revelations by cutting-edge historians over the past few years about the number and capabilities of the Germans' Siebel Ferry fleet. Obviously puts the achievements of the RAF in a whole new light. 

I recently finished his North Africa one ("A Good Clean Fight") -- a pretty good read and quite funny at times, but honestly a bit preposterous at times (P40 squadron operating on its own in the middle of the desert, too many of the characters are complete assholes, etc.) 

Posted
On 12/27/2024 at 10:15 PM, Angrybk said:

I liked Piece of Cake a lot, especially the ending. I do think it might have seemed more transgressive when it came out in the 80s, although I think by most point most serious historians at least had a pretty good concept of the actual win/loss ratio, etc.

I do think Robinson's main point (the Royal Navy was primarily responsible for keeping the UK alive and the BoB was sort of pointless) is severely flawed in the light of the revelations by cutting-edge historians over the past few years about the number and capabilities of the Germans' Siebel Ferry fleet. Obviously puts the achievements of the RAF in a whole new light. 

I recently finished his North Africa one ("A Good Clean Fight") -- a pretty good read and quite funny at times, but honestly a bit preposterous at times (P40 squadron operating on its own in the middle of the desert, too many of the characters are complete assholes, etc.) 

:D

I have no answer to that. Well, not one that wouldnt be scrubbed by the moderators anyway. :)

 

Ive not read that, probably one I ought to catch up on. But you know, the RAF did have a way of promoting arseholes. Look at the near unstoppable rise of Trafford Leigh-Mallory, or the outright veneration of the vexatious Douglas Bader, and the way Dowding and Keith Park were rather airbrushed out of history. Rather like Piece of Cake, I suspect Robinson was inflating things for comedic effect. But it really was a thing in the RAF at the time, its like an RAF board did a test to see what an annoying prick someone was, and if he was in the high score category, they promoted them. :D

 

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