Air MinistryCritiques

The "bible" for Air Control was the Air Publication 3024. It regulated and standardized the control, procedures, and communications between the burgeoning numbers of aircraft from many hundreds of airfields in WWII. The Americans copied this manual verbatim and distributed it to all USAAF and other aircrew for training in the British system. This half-sized volume of AP 3024 was produced by the Training Aids Division of the Army Air Forces.

"The book may be looked on as an introduction to The War In The Air, the Official History of the Royal Air Force...", so reads the Preface.
It is also much more approachable than the multi-volume official history, upon which it draws extensively but does not slavishly copy.
Even if you have a set of the War in the Air this book is worth having.

An interesting piece of wartime propaganda, which was tied into a feature-length documentary film, itself notable for excellent photography, authenticity (it was shot using actual aircrew rather than actors) and an excellent muscial score by Ralph Vaughan-Williams.

This was written and published 1942. What I always find fascinating about volumes like this one that were written during the War and at a time when things were not going well, is the optimism expressed that they were going to win. Germany would be defeated. This volume explains the efforts made & being developed by the Navy & Air Force to rescue aviators who were forced to land in the water off the coasts of England & France. The rescue boats are described within the limits of not revealing too much to the enemy. The rescue floats that were anchoured in the Channel are described and an actual photograph of the interior is included. The real delights here are the many anecdotes of rescues, some coming after the fliers were in the water for days. Great stuff.

What is not revealed in this pamphlet is that the RAF had no rescue system or plans for one in development at the beginning of the war. In fact, there was no rescue system during the Battle of Britain whereas the Germans did have a rescue service combining amphibian planes and fast motor launches to pull downed pilots from the cold Channel to fly & fight another day.

The fascination of this brief volume is that it was written right after, if not during the battle, so it does have immediacy. Surprisingly, it is not entirely one sided. German aviators are often sited for their bravery, especially as the battle reached its conclusion and it became very obvious that attacking England in daylight was very dangerous.

Regarded as the first of a series of 70 (including 2 duplicate titles) of what have become known as "The WWII HMSO Paperbacks." See "A Bibliography Of WW2 HMSO Paperbacks" "WW2 HMSO Paperbacks Collector's Guide" and "Informing The People", all by Anthony James for a comprehensive history of the titles.
This was also the first copy of the series I purchased, for 6d. from a bookshop in Hay-On-Wye England, in 1969. I probably read it at least 10 times in the years up to 2000 and considered it as little more than a "Ripping Yarn" with a little wholesome propoganda thrown in for good measure. It was only after discovering a couple of other titles from the same period that I began to understand that there was more to these publications than meets the eye. I then came upon Mr. James's works which inspired me to attempt to assemble a complete set of the works. Rather like collecting postage stamps some issues were very easy to obtain. As