No.133 (Eagle) Squadron 1941-1942 Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

RAF-in-Combat has released a new series of studies entitled RAF, Dominion & Allied Squadrons at War: Study, History and Statistics. This new series is similar to their Famous Squadrons series but these new titles are published in A4 format where Famous Squadrons were published in a smaller booklet format. In addition, it looks like this publisher has departed from the ISBN book catalog numbering system as many small companies have to save cost and hassle given that most of their titles are sold directly from the website rather than through bookstores and other stockists where the ISBN would be needed. This all means that the these new titles cost less!

In this title, the author takes a look at the operations of 133 Squadron, of of the three famous Eagle Squadrons manned by American volunteers to help defend Britain before the US officially entered the war. This title provides a summary of the creation of these squadrons and their eventual disbanding as these American flyers were pressed into USAAF service. This title covers one of the more tragic units that experienced unfortunate losses to non-combat circumstances including four that crashed on a ferry flight and six that were lost in bad weather over Europe. One survivor evaded capture and made it back to the UK, others spent the rest of the war in POW camps.

Coverage in this title includes:

• Squadron History
• Appendix I: Squadron Commanders and Flight Commanders
• Appendix II: Major awards
• Appendix III: Operational diary (number of sorties per month)
• Appendix IV: Victory list
• Appendix V: Details of aircraft losses on operations
• Appendix VI: Details of Aircraft losses in accidents
• Appendix VII: Aircraft Serial Numbers & Letter Codes (including mission totals for multi-engine aircraft)
• Appendix VIII: Nominal roll (Captains only for bomber and seaplane units)
• Appendix IX: Roll of Honour
• Color Profiles

The title is nicely illustrated with color profiles of representative aircraft from the squadron, photos of many of the pilots and men assigned to 133 Sqn, as well as period photographs of squadron aircraft.

The format of this title is very well done and provides the aviation historian and modeler alike with excellent information to answer questions or as a starting point for further research. This title is highly recommended and I certainly hope to see many more in this format in the future!

My sincere thanks to Phil H. Listemann for the review sample.