WAR IN THE AIR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 898, 19 October 1956, Page 14

WAR IN THE AIR

NEW ZEALANDERS WITH THE ROYAL AIR FORCE: Volume Il, by Wing Commander H. L. Thompson; War History Branch, Departmerit of Internal Affairs. HE second volume of this section of the Official War History deals with the European theatre between January, 1943, and May, 1945. With 446 pages of text, 37 pages of appendices, 62 photographs and 17 diagrams, it is a volume of considerable size. It would be impossible to maintain chronological order over so wide a front. Wing Commander Thompson has therefore divided his subject into types of operation-fighters, bombers, transport, and so on-and has then told the story of each group between the time limits previously mentioned. This gives anyone reading the book from end to end

a feeling of making the same journey time after time, but by a different route. This is not intended as a criticism; the author’s job was to write a comprehensive history and not an easy-to-read story. The most direct appeal will undoubtedly be to those who took some part in the operations. At this distance in time and space from the events described, reading the history produces some odd, almost nostalgic feelings, especially when viewed against the background of knowledge which is currently available about the present state of the art of waging war. To quote an example: In the chapter dealing with Bomber Command it is "stated that in the space of just over one week, four night raids each by more than 700 aircraft were launched, and over 8500 tons of high explosive and ‘incendiary bombs were dropped. If the ‘number of bombers is multiplied ‘by the average crew, and added to that are the -manhours used in building and maintaining the aircraft, engines, equipment, | etc., it will be appreciated that to drop 8500 tons on the enemy required an almost unbelievable amount of human effort. We are now told that nuclear weapons have reached the stage when one bomb dropped by one crew from one aircraft can produce an explosion equivalent to something like 100 times that amount. Similar development has taken place in other branches, so that one is left with the feeling that Wing Commander Thompson’s chronicle could well be one of the last records of human gallantry and sacrifice in making war, and that any future record will be of scientific, impersonal operations in which human fortitude will probably be re- . quired for taking rather than making war. Copious biographical notes, and photographs of a higher standard of reproduction than in the first volume, add to the value of an excellently produced

' reference work.

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