No.452 (RAAF) Squadron 1941-1945 Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

RAF-in-Combat has released another installment in their RAF, Dominion & Allied Squadrons at War: Study, History and Statistics series. This series is similar to their Famous Squadrons series but these 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 452 Squadron, the first Australian squadron to become operational in defense of Britain. The squadron began working up its fledgling pilots in worn-out Spitfire Is and upgraded to the Spitfire Mk.II in its early days of operations. 452 Squadron didn't see much action until it was moved to RAF Kenley. Upgrading to the Spitfire Mk.V, 452 Sqn started conducting sweeps over western Europe and accumulating numerous victories though they also experienced a significant number of losses as well.

In early 1942, the Japanese were posing a greater threat to the Austrailian mainland so three Austrailian squadrons, including 452 Sqn, were sent back home to form the 1st Fighter Wing and defend Darwin against the air assaults staging from forward area Japanese airbases.

This title chronicles the history, personnel, and aircraft of 452 Squadron including some nice color profiles of selected aircraft.

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
• Appendix VIII: Roll Call
• 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 452 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.