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Saturday 23 February 2013

Book Review: Supermarine Spitfire

Supermarine Spitfire. Dr Alfred Price. Ian Allen Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978 1 85780 324 2.  128 pages. £19.99

This nicely presented book in landscape form is all about the Spitfire, the iconic aircraft of the Second World War.  It contains many illustrations both historic and current, but is not a coffee table book.  Dr Alfred Price not only holds a PhD in History but also has extensive experience of flying so brings to the work both knowledge and feeling for the Spitfire.  This is a technical book which accessibly takes the reader through all 24 variations of this machine – the use of the Rolls Royce Merlin and Griffon engines for example - and their pilots.  It is arranged chronologically beginning with its predecessors.  The book has few Essex references: reference to RAF Hornchurch, Rochford and North Weald in connection with the Second World War, and the latter airfield listed as the location for two of the 23 surviving airworthy craft in the UK (47 worldwide).  This is a book for those interested in military history.  

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