Book Reviews

THROUGH ADVERSITY

The British and the Commonwealth War in the Air 1939-45. Volume 1

By Ben Kite

Helion & Company Limited, Unit 8 Amherst Business Centre, Budbrooke Road, Warwick CV34 5WE, UK. 2019. Distributed by Casemate, 10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW, UK. 492pp. Illustrated. £29.95. ISBN 978-1-912866-23-6.

Short Sunderland of 10 Squadron RAAF operating with Coastal Command in 1941. RAeS (NAL).

Sometimes, it takes a long view from someone without ‘skin in the game’ to provide a different insight into a hallowed subject. In this book, Through Adversity – part of the Royal Air Force’s motto – we have a senior British Army officer applying his logical brain to a complex historical episode, and well he does it too.

Through Adversity is Volume 1 of two books which bring Ben Kite’s research and analysis to life. The author takes his research from the founding of the Royal Air Force and its use of reserves with a unique portrayal of the system which allowed a pool of, predominantly, fighter pilots to be ready for the outbreak of war in 1939.

A striking quote right at the beginning of the introduction sets the tone for the narrative. It comes from Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, well-regarded today as a thinking officer, who says: “Before 1939 we really knew nothing about air warfare.” So, this book can be regarded as a journey for the RAF from limited abilities to probably the best equipped and manned air force in the world in 1945. Slessor had learned through adversity. He had learned from disasters over France and the early bombing campaigns against Germany, and how to integrate a citizen force with county Auxiliary squadrons, short service volunteers and regulars – many of those from the ‘old’ Commonwealth of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Ben Kite takes the reader through the RAF of the time. Through the efficient training system – the saviour of Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain which is also covered with a new light shone on it. The battle is well covered without any sentimentality and includes some excellent verbatim from pilots. Ben Kite also brings the air defence of Great Britain neatly together in his approach to the story of night fighters and countering the V1 flying bombs. His narrative helps to understand the connection between anti-aircraft artillery – ‘Ack-Ack’ – and balloons and reminds the reader that the RAF Regiment played its part.

This is a book of immense value with good, clearly argued logic. It should be part of any library for the study of air power in its historical context

That other defence of a fortress island, the Battle for Malta, is well described for its defensive and offensive geographical position, where again good use is made of contemporary reports on such operations as the Battle of Taranto. The same technique is well used throughout the book and nowhere so well as the chapters on the Far East. Often neglected by historians, the losses caused by the lightning advance of the Japanese are highlighted as a reflection of London’s almost racist attitude to the Imperial capabilities which resulted in some almost ludicrous analysis of the Japanese fighting capability. With no radar and obsolete fighters, there was very little hope for the defenders of Singapore. Ben Kite neatly segues into the next phase in the Far East, looking at and giving due prominence to the Australians and the Fleet Air Arm. This book is, after all, about air power and about the role of the Commonwealth.

Bomber Command gets good and insightful coverage. The debate over area bombing versus precision effects at range, like the Augsburg raid of 1942 and the Dam Busters in 1943 finds the author not taking sides but giving excellent analysis of the route out and the strike, including an unusually full account of a typical bomber mission. He concludes the sequence with a description of the return leg for the bomber’s crew once weapons have been released and gives unusual detail of the approach and landing. The developing precision attack capabilities rate their own chapter illustrated with more excellent quality Air Historical Branch photographs – where have they been hidden all these years, we might ask?

Often relegated topics in air power history, Coastal Command, where the risks and likelihood of death were often as high as the much-fêted Bomber Command statistics, are put into perspective. Coastal Command and the Fleet Air Arm were woefully unprepared for WW2, both victims of the internecine warfare between the services in the 1930s. There was also, the author reminds us, the overwhelming belief in the new surface ship technologies which would mean that the Royal Navy would have the upper hand against the main threat, the German submarine. As the author says: “by 1944, the Fleet Air Arm was almost unrecognisable from its 1939 forebears…”

There are interesting and little-known facts which come out too; merchant aircraft carriers, MAC ships, made an incredible 323 Atlantic crossings in 24 months from May 1943. This fact, when linked to Map 12b, enables the Battle of the Atlantic’s importance to be better understood.

The development of Coastal Command technical capabilities, as well as the operational art generated, which laid the foundations for the Royal Air Force’s prowess in the Cold War, shared with Canada and Australia, although from the British side, it is probably needing to be rebuilt in this century.

Utility of air power is well served by this book. It is enhanced by excellent maps which are clear and concise, and by access to the best set of wartime photographs seen for a long time. The author has the Air Historical Branch to thank for the pictures and the access to records which allow accurate and relevant quotes to be peppered throughout the text but used only where they amplify or enhance the narrative. The book’s value is enhanced by the detailed appendices, many drawn from primary, sources as well as publications from the immediate post-war period that will have passed by many researchers.

This is a book of immense value with good, clearly argued logic. It should be part of any library for the study of air power in its historical context. It will no doubt find its way on to the Chief of the Air Staff’s recommended reading list, especially as Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston wrote the foreword.

Paul Beaver
FRAeS

FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERNATIONAL AVIATION LAW AND POLICY

By Benjamyn I Scott and Andrea Trimarchi

Routledge, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon OX14 4RN, UK. 2019. xxix; 297pp. Illustrated. £32.99. [20% discount available to RAeS members via www.crcpress.com using AKQ07 promotion code]. ISBN 978-1-138-58880-6.

Narita International Airport, Japan. Marek Slusarczyk.

The latest publication of the ‘Aviation Fundamentals’ series aims to provide an engaging introduction to international aviation law. To achieve such an aim, the services of two promising aviation lawyers – Benjamyn I Scott and Andrea Trimarchi – are used, who bring a refreshing approach to the analysis of black-letter aviation laws.

The publication is divided into 12 parts that examine selective aspects of international aviation law. Following the introductory Chapters (Chapters 1-2), the publication covers the basics of public international air law, namely the Chicago Convention 1944, the structure and decision-making of ICAO and key aspects of air services agreements (Chapter 3 to 5).

It then moves to a review of the aviation security conventions (Chapter 6), followed by three chapters (Chapters 7 to 9) on fundamental private law issues, namely the legal framework of passenger and third parties’ claims against airlines and the insurance issues underlying such claims. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with competition law in the aviation industry and the regulation of environmental issues, respectively. The concluding Chapter (Chapter 12) investigates the future and introduces suborbital transportation and its legal implications.

The publication presents international aviation law in a way that balances ‘depth of content with ease of readability’

The publication presents international aviation law in a way that balances ‘depth of content with ease of readability’. It is relevant for entry-level students of aviation with interest in (but not necessarily background knowledge of) law. It is written in plain English and the text is accompanied by several helpful diagrams and explanatory sections. For the curious minded, the publication provides a set of thought-provoking questions and a list of reading materials at the end of each chapter. Furthermore, the publication is a valuable supportive aid to teachers. It can be used as a starting reference for students, as well as a map for designing lectures, especially when both public and private law aspects are to be covered in the same course. This reviewer can only propose that a chapter on aircraft finance is included in the second edition of the publication.

All in all, the book is highly recommended for use by ‘teachers and for youth beginning their journeys in aviation’.

Dr George Leloudas
Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law Swansea University

SPY PILOT

Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident and a Controversial Cold War Legacy

By Francis Gary Powers Jr and Keith Dunnavant

Prometheus Books, 59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228, USA. 2019. 296pp. ISBN 978-1-63384694 (e-book) ISBN 978-1-633884687 (hardcover).

After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on 1 May 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on 6 May, above. The NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency’s face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft. This caused embarrassment for several top NASA officials. NASA.

I found this a very interesting and well researched book.

It is written by Keith Dunnavant and Francis Gary Powers Junior, the son of the ill-fated Lockheed U-2 pilot shot down near Sverdlovsk in 1960. There is a forward by Nikita Khrushchev’s son Sergei and, as expected, the book seems intent to bring honour to the USSR and to Francis Gary Powers, whom many felt had let the side down during his capture and the show trial that followed.

The story describes the nature and background of Powers prior to his pilot training with the USAF and his subsequent enrolment as a CIA U-2 pilot. Clearly, he was an ordinary boy from farming country who did not have an Ivy-League level of education but loved flying and the life that surrounded it.

The narrative is very personal and contains many letters from Frank Powers to his wife and family and the responses to those letters. From these one can gather that he had a very troubled married life prior to his flight, and this begs the question as to his mental suitability to participate in such a mission at a time when it seems Soviet surface-to-air missile (SAM) technology was accelerating. These family difficulties followed him after repatriation in exchange for Colonel Rudolf Abel. Nevertheless, the CIA seemed (in the book) to have been content to allow the flight to proceed and thus meet, in their view, clear intelligence imperatives regarding an ICBM gap. Whatever the truth about the dialogue that went on between the CIA and the White House, the flight was authorised.

The book covers the events surrounding the point of shoot-down, the interrogation and the trial in as much detail as possible. Despite this, the possibility for various explanations of the true event remain.

The aftermath of the incident clearly had a mixed impact upon public opinion and this in turn appears from the book to have sullied further the personal relationships between Francis Powers, his family and friends.

There would seem to be no doubt that he died feeling he had been unfairly crucified by some parts of the system.

The mystery of the actual event when Powers was over Sverdlovsk remains. If, for example, the aircraft was spinning out of control and the G-forces precluded, in Power’s mind, ejection, how did he overcome these forces to release from the seat and climb out of a cramped cockpit in order to parachute to safety? This is not explained in the book but none can argue that such a feat was impossible. Only Powers knew the actual truth. Then there is the question of how the camera magazines remained intact after such a catastrophic descent and how the Soviets processed the special film used, when it was rumoured only Kodak Eastman had the secret technical know-how. This all adds to the mystery and controversy that will continue.

The story describes the nature and background of Powers prior to his pilot training with the USAF and his subsequent enrolment as a CIA U-2 pilot

Whatever happened, as the book explains, there followed a plethora of claims and counter-claims. It was clearly to the Soviet advantage to have the U-2 shot down at 70,000ft by their improved SAM systems, thus, preserving sovereignty over their territory. Equally it was to the CIA’s advantage to show that they hadn’t obtained authorisation for a flight, when they knew, or at least suspected, that the planned altitude was vulnerable. Powers was, as the book shows, the ‘piggy in the middle’ of all of this.

The authors have gathered a lot of data and provided a good reference index to support their claims that Powers was truthful and not a traitor to his country. Yet there will still be conspiracy theorists who believe otherwise. As the book shows, following the author’s energetic pursuit of his father’s honour, many awards and concessions were forthcoming – albeit grudgingly.

In summary, and as mentioned above, it is an interesting book that covers the Powers family perspectives on an international Cold War incident and, as such, is of interest to all aviation and political history aficionados.

Geoffrey Oxlee
OBE
Former Commanding Officer of The Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre