Every day for nine months from September 1944 to the end of the war,
young British, Commonwealth and Norwegian airmen flew from Banff
aerodrome in northern Scotland in their Mosquitoes and Beaufighters to
target the German U-Boats, merchantmen and freighters plying along the
coast and in the fjords and leads of southwest Norway, encountering
the Luftwaffe and flakships every step of the way. This Scottish
strike wing fought in some of the bitterest and bloodiest attacks of
the war, all at very low level and at close quarters. Their
contribution to winning the war was crucial and while the cost in
precious lives and equipment was in the same proportion as Bomber
Command, they inflicted far greater damage to the enemy in relation to
their losses. With Group Captain The Hon. Max Aitken, DSO DFC as
station commander, Banff was eventually to become the base for a total
of six Mosquito squadrons (including 235, 248 and 143), together with
B Flight of the elite 333 Norwegian Squadron, and would team up on
missions with the nearby Dallachy Beaufighter strike wing (404 RCAF,
455 RAAF, 489 RNZAF and 144 Squadrons). A Separate Little War, then,
is a well researched and detailed history of a microcosm of Coastal
Command. Supported by many photographs, maps and charts, the vast
majority never published before, the author has drawn on the personal
accounts of, amongst others, British and Norwegian pilots, ground crew
and civilians which augment the official sources, to give a
compelling, accurate and fascinating depiction of an aerodrome at war.
It is a subject which will be of great interest and value to the
general reader and to those students of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine,
RAF and former Commonwealth Air Forces, the Polish Air Force and of
maritime air operations during World War Two.
Read more
The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe 1944-1945
Product details
ISBN
9781909166707
Published
2014
Publisher
Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors, LLC
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Author