Battle of Britain Airfields by Philip Birtles,

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CementNotGlue
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Battle of Britain Airfields by Philip Birtles,

Post by CementNotGlue »

Anyone modelling the 1/48 Battle of Britain: Ready for Battle will find this a very helpful reference source. For the rest of us looking for hangars, airfield scenes and vehicles, this is a disappointment.

The photographs are a mixture of welcome little-seen and the boringly well-know; anyone with just a few books on the campaign will be rolling their eyes.

Then there is the title. I'm not sure that small illegible site plans of each airfield justify its label; I cannot make head nor tail of Martlesham Heath. I ought to! Now if those maps had been twice as big and Luftwaffe reconnaissance photos had been included, then this would have become an essential reference source.

Gems include an Aldergrove-based 141 Sqn Defiant. This photo captures its nose.

I like the comprehensive index and individual's brief experiences. Not the biographical details of four well-known shakers. Like much information and pictures, they are equally if not better represented elsewhere. Having said that I see this book in school libraries rather than on modellers' tables.


Ian Allen 2010 £20.00 160 pages
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