This book follows the operational use of the Spitfire starting in Australia, moving into India, then onto Rangoon, The East Indies, and then with the last mission being flown on 10 August 1945. The last mission that day was a search for a Mosquito in distress.

The author takes you on a journey as the book goes along, using many first-hand accounts and after-action reports. It is interesting to read about how these pilots had thought that they had encounter one type of Japanese plane only to find out through the author’s research that it was a different type. Just goes to show how in the heat of combat everything becomes a blur and you just start relying on your training.

The book is loaded with period black and white photographs showing these aircraft in action. There are nine pages of color drawings of many of the aircraft used, with four aircraft per page. At the end of the book is a narrative of each of these aircraft and who flew them. There is also a chart in the appendices that goes over the different aces and their claims.

I highly recommend this book for the Spitfire fan. If you are a modeler, this book is wealth of information. The author also covers the use of the “pointed long wing spans” and the problems that were caused by their use and how they were changed to the “standard elliptical ones”.

I would like to thank Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review this book.