The Desert Air Force in World War II: Air Power in the Western Desert, 1940-1942 Hardcover – June 12, 2017

As I read the introduction for this book, the author explained that it did not attempt to present a comprehensive history of the Western Desert Air Force, but rather provide readers with impressions of its activities. I briefly wondered why Delve set a low bar for his own work, but decided to press on.I discovered the impressions, as defined by the author, consisted of lengthy quotes from eye witnesses to events. At times, these quotes threatened to overpower the narrative. I have two problems with this approach: First - it reduces the historian to a stenographer. Second - IMHO, it demonstrates that the historian has not mastered his subject, hence he cannot explain what is happening and why. That second point is reinforced by the fact that the author concentrates almost exclusively on the British perspective when discussing aerial combat, which serves as a forum for the beliefs/perceptions of the participants rather than fact. In effect, he reduces the Italian and German pilots to anonymous shadows and accepts the Royal Air Force version of events without demure. I subtracted four stars because I consider the above issues to be a serious detractor from a narrative's historical worth.I then added two stars back because the author presents a wealth of facts and other interesting information in the final 50 pages of so of the book. Though I must confess that this section disappointed me as well when the tactical narrative abruptly ended before the Second Battle of El Alamein.Recommended with significant reservations.

This is a very comprehensive and detailed book on the British RAF operations in North Africa against the Italians and then the Germans from early 1940 through August 1942. The text is accompanied by many black and white photos of airplanes, pilots, and aircrew. There are also a few useful maps. The book mostly discusses the air war at the local operational and tactical actions and somewhat at the strategic level involving high-level political and military decisions in London and Cairo. The majority of the text describes air actions at the level of individual airplanes and pilots. Most of the text describes ground attacks with some accounts of semi-strategic bombing of Italian / German ports such as Tobruk, Benghazi, and Derna.I thought the book provided a very good discussion of the evolution of the cooperation between the RAF and the Army regarding ground support. There is also discussion of exotic functions such as the surprising amount of air transport the RAF provided to carry supplies to the forward Army units during the great combat operations such as “Crusader” and also the radio counter measures (RCM) to jam German field radio signals.There are occasionally some interesting statistics such as numbers of prisoners captured, enemy tanks and aircraft destroyed, tons of shipping sunk ,and numbers of enemy coastal transport barges and lighters sunk.Appendix IV describes the Takoradi to Cairo airplane shipping route by which the planes were delivered to the Middle East. Appendix V describes RAF air field or landing ground construction.

The author tells the story of what it was like to be part of the Desert Air Force during a period when ground was taken and lost by both sides at an alarming rate. It's a tale of constant movement back and forth over an inhospitable terrain. Packed with personal accounts and unique photographs, including aircraft that had long been declared obsolete in other theatres, the book manages to convey some sense of what it was like for both aircrew and ground personnel to fight under these conditions. The Appendices contain a miscellany of information, giving details not only of aircraft types, bases and the squadrons involved but also the kind of life the pilots and ground crew lived and gallantry awards received. My only criticism is that the book would have benefited from the inclusion of an overall situation map so you could get some sense of the distances travelled; however, apart from that I would recommend this highly readable account.

Well written aspect of the second world war that is often overlooked

For those who wish to gain a significant insight of the early air war in North Africa campaign will benefit from this book.