Fighter Operations in Europe and North Africa 1939-1945 tells the story of Allied and German fighter pilots in Europe, over the Mediterranean and in North Africa during the Second World War. The book starts with the early skirmishes as each side tested the other's defences, moves through the Battle of Britain and then the Blitz, when the emphasis switched from single-engined day fighters to twin-engined night fighters, while increasingly fighters were used to sweeps over enemy airfields and lines of communication in occupied France. This overlapped with the need to provide air cover for the besieged island fortress of Malta by day and by night, as well as defensive operations against Axis forces in Crete and North Africa, but as the balance of power changed in North Africa, the Desert Air Force was formed incorporating elements from many Allied air forces, and the emphasis moved to offensive operations in support of ground forces. The invasions of Italy and the South of France also called for fighter cover, initially by carrier-based air craft. The lessons learnt in North Africa were put to good use by the 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force, which accompanied the advancing Allied armies towards and eventually into Germany, achieving all important air supremacy which was a major factor in the Allied victory. The book also covers Luftwaffe fighter pilots as they sought to stop the RAF by night and the USAAF by day, against increasingly overwhelming odds. AUTHOR: David Wragg has published several highly praised books on railway history, and he produced a textbook for the old Chartered Institute of Transport. He has also written on railways for the Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Scotsman, and the Yorkshire Post. His Wartime on the Railways was reviewed by Rail as 'very readable' and by Railways Illustrated as 'as a fascinating insight and also an important record', and Railways Illustrated chose his Southern Railway Handbook as 'Book of the Month'. One of his most recent publications is The Historical Dictionary of Railways in the British Isles. He is also well known as a writer of military history and provide the British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand material for On Seas Contested - The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War, published in 2010 by the Naval Institute Press in the United States and which won the Stonebooks award for "The Best Non-Fiction book on World War II" to have been published that year.' ILLUSTRATIONS: 16 pages of b/w plates
