This was a fun book for me (as a history nerd). The introduction was interesting as it explained why Poland had to choose a European built aircraft vs an American built aircraft (American aircraft needed a higher-octane fuel which was not available in Poland).

The first part of the book is a bit dry. I wish the authors had tied events in Poland (i.e. the German invasion and defeat of the Polish Military) into events listed in the book. We learn that the Polish Pilots operated from various French aerodromes, but no real discussion is made of how the French integrated the Polish Pilots/Units into their order of battle. The combat narratives are short, and I wish they had been expanded too.

The next section is much better, and very valuable to a model builder. Black and white photo’s showing camouflage schemes, aircraft, and unit markings. The black and white photos are supplemented with a good narration describing the colors used, something appreciated by a model builder. There are many photos of the planes and a lot of those are closeup photos showing paint and markings.

This is followed up with illustrations of the various planes and the proper (for that plane) camouflage scheme and various national markings (some planes had the Polish National emblem; some had a mix of Polish and French National markings while others had French markings).

Finally, there is a list of aircraft by Serial Number, underwing numbers (i.e. squadron number), unit assigned, and the pilot (or pilots) who flew the plane. This would assist the modeler in building a specific aircraft.

This book is a great reference source for anyone building a model of the Morane Saulnier MS.406 in either French or Polish markings.

In closing, I would like to thank Casemate books for providing IPMS with this book for review.