The Fight for the Skies

The true story of Allied fighter action during World War II. It covers all the Western and Mediterranean theatres of war, concentrating on how and where Allied fighters were deployed. All major fighter types are represented in the photographs, including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Gladiators, Tempests and Typhoons, Mustangs, P-38s, P-47s, P-51s, Whirlwinds and Meteors, as well as Beaufighters and Mosquitoes. The activities of these very varied fighter types included escorting daylight bombing raids, fighter-bomber intruder operations into occupied Europe, and ground-attack activities in support of land forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and in North-Western Europe from the Normandy Campaign onwards. Flying fighters during World War II may have seemed glamorous, but it was also appallingly dangerous. More than 22,000 British and American fighter aircraft were lost during the conflict and over 9000 pilots died. Roger A. Freeman's book is as much about the men who flew in battle as it is about the aircraft, their performance, armament and overall effectiveness. More than 270 photographs provide a panorama of the war in the air above Western Europe and North Africa.