History

During World War II, after the Germans had invaded France, the Italians decided to get involved, and they took part in the final stages of the German assault. Once things had settled down, the Italians began expanding to the South. They had already occupied parts of Africa, but continued their advances into Greece.

The British Royal Air Force had already begun their bombing offensive against the Germans, using Hampdens, Whitleys, and Wellingtons, and later found that four engine aircraft were more appropriate for long range bombing, and supplanted and later replaced these types with Stirlings, Halifaxes, and Lancasters.

Operation Colossus was an airborne commando raid into Italy early in the war to interdict a particular aqueduct vital to the towns in the ‘heel’ of Italy. The operation is not very well known and this book is a welcome addition to anyone’s WWII library as it fills a void not covered in other publications. Author Lawrence Paterson spends a great deal of time at the beginning of the book relating the story of the creation and training of the UK’s airborne forces, going into some detail as to the people and personalities involved as well as the training and equipment used. If you have any interest in airborne forces, you will find this part very interesting and even if you don’t, it is written in a very readable manner, so it will hold your interest.

This is a new publication from Mushroom Models Publications. The book opens with a brief description of the operational use of the Mirage III/5 family of aircraft. Like the F-104 Starfighter, the F-4 Phantom and the MiG-21, the Mirage III/5 was widely exported to nations around the world ranging from Argentina to Zaire and has participated in many conflicts over the years, in some cases on both sides of the fight. There is also a note from the author about the profiles he included, which are intended to illustrate aircraft from the nations that flew Mirages. Most of the schemes are for operational aircraft with a few commemorative schemes and test aircraft included as well. Each page has a side profile of one aircraft with a brief description listing the unit it was assigned to, the date of the image, the colors and weapons depicted.