The AIR-BRITAIN Militarv Aviation Historical Quanerlv

Bookshelf
Fighter Aces!
By Alex Revell - Pen & Sword - £19.99 -
ISBN 1848841 77 9
The prolific output of Pen & Sword in the aviation field
continues with biographies of two brothers named
Constable Maxwell. Both were distinguished fighter pilots
but differed from each other in that Gerald was a pilot in
NO.56 Squadron, flying S.E.5As, during the First World
War. His official total of victories mounted to 27 plus some
that were not confirmed.
Michael was 23 years younger than his brother and
joined the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1935. He
served in the Cameronians until his application for an RAF
commission was granted in October 1939.
After training at NO.9 FTS at Hullavington, he was
posted to NO.7 B&GS at Stormy Down for advanced
training. Being from an aristocratic family with many useful
connections, he inevitably arrived in April 1940 at North
Weald to join his brother's former squadron, No.56, then
flying Hurricanes.
During May he was flying sorties over Belgium to help
cover the evacuation from Dunkerque and was shot down
by Bf 109s. He abandoned his aircraft and was just in time
to get on to a ship back to base. He then went through the
Battle of Britain until posted to an OTU in February 1941 .
Gerald. in the meantime, had been recalled and became
Station Commander at Ford. Michael converted to night
fighting at 60 OTU and joined 604 Squadron on October
1941. The rest of his war was twin-engined fighters,
Beaufighters and Mosquitoes.
This is an unusual account of two very different brothers
in two World Wars.
Lawrence of Arabia's Secret Air Force
By James Patrick Hynes - Pen & Sword - £19.99 -
ISBN 184884 2666 X
This is a book based on the diary for Fit Sgt George Hynes
who was serving with X Flight, a detachment of No.47
Squadron. As such, it is an interesting memoir of his time
in the desert maintaining the handful of aircraft operating
on the right flank of the British and Commonwealth army
that was advancing up through Palestine to Lebanon and
Syria.
It is difficult to connect X Flight to Lawrence as it was
engaged in reconnaissance and bombing to the east of the
Jordan and while if provided transport on occasions to
Lawrence, its operations were defined by the RFC and
RAF and were not restricted only to supporting the Arab
army that eventually won the race to be first into
Damascus.
George Hynes seemed to be worth his weight in gold by
keeping X Flight aircraft in the air, being a very good
mechanic. There was not too much gold available to him
as the RFC accountants seemed to have lost track of X
Flight and a lot of pay never arrived. Pursuing the question
after the end of the war met with a stone wall and George
was short of several thousand pounds.
He met Lawrence a couple of times and after three years
in desert conditions, the war ended and he was shipped
back to the UK, first in a crammed ship to Taranto where,
after waiting for a train to take them to the Channel ports,
the other ranks were crammed into freight cars and
chugged across Italy and France to Cherbourg for twelve
days in freezing temperatures with little food. Some
190
passengers did not survive the trip and after waiting for a
cross-Channel ship, he eventually arrived at Blandford
Camp where personnel awaited posting. Not surprisingly,
he did not choose to re-enlist in the RAF'
The buzzwords in the title, Lawrence and Secret, seem
to have been for publicity purposes as X Flight was not
secret and had only a passing connection with Lawrence.
Luftwaffe Over Scotland
By Les Taylor - Whittles Publishing - £16.99-
ISBN 978-184995-000 - 8
This little book (softback 17 cm x 24 cm) of 141 pages
deals thoroughly with a hardly-visited subject - the German
air raids on Scotland throughout the Second World War. It
will dispel a number of my1hs held by many outside
Scotland about the Phoney War, reveal how many 'firsts'
and 'lasts' took place in Scotland and not England and the
ex1ent to which Scotland was being attacked by the
Luftwatfe over the nine months before the Battle of Britain.
The author deals in detail with the air defences of
Scotland and the methods employed by the Luftwaffe both
in the major raids on Clydeside and the great many others,
particularly in the North East over 'Hellfire Corner'.
Comprehensive tables cover air raids, casualties and
German aircraft losses. Well written and illustrated, it is a
very readable addition to the bookshelf. [IPVJj
The Royal Air Force at Home
By lan Smith Watson - Pen & Sword - £30.00 -
ISBN978-1-84884-157 -4
An unusual book on the Royal Air Force Displays and how
they have been organised over the years from 1920 until
they were cancelled just before the outbreak of World War
Two.
The background of the decisions to hold such 'Pageants'
covers a wide variety of opinions from the Air Ministry,
from Trenchard down. Committees decided what to show,
always with safety in mind. ACCidents were not good
publicity. However, the response was huge and vast
numbers of cars converged on Hendon.
Post-war, the 'At Home' day was instituted and large
numbers of stations and airfields opened their gates to the
local populace every year. Although there were many RAF
stations, attendance was low at many as the crowd appeal
of a cookery school was hit by the fighter station several
miles away.
The change to 'Battle of Britain Days' established a
pattern whereby stations exchanged aircraft to provide a
variety of types at each venue and a contrasting air
display. Despite the title, USAF aircraft were welcome
guests at each and visitors arrived from Nato air forces.
Tables are given of attendees from 1965 at the more
important stations. These have naturally shrunk in
numbers as units were disbanded and airfields closed
down.
The result is a combination of policy and Sight-seeing
information with an inSight into the organisation required
and the problems that resulted. It opens up the many
problems of the work that every display required from its
resident airmen and is a very interesting mixture of facts.
MiSSing Believed Killed
By Roy Conyers Nesbit - Pen & Sword - £12.99 -
ISBN 978-1-84674-169-27
This book covers six aircraft that famously disappeared.
One was an operational loss during the Second World War
but the others were well-known people.
Aeromi/itaria - Winter 2010