Brian Cull's definitive `Fighters over Malta: Gladiators and Hurricanes 1940-1942' is a highly detailed account of the gallant band of RAF and Commonwealth pilots who flew Gladiators and Hurricanes in defence of Malta between June 1940 and April 1942, when help in the guise of Spitfires finally arrived. Most of the Hurricanes which held this tiny outpost of the British Empire in the heart of Axis-dominated territory had been flown from the decks of aircraft carriers or from bases in North Africa, while a handful of fighter pilots arrived by Sunderland flying boats or other aircraft in transit from the UK via Gibraltar. Many of these pilots were inexperienced and quickly paid the supreme price, particularly when the Messerschmitt pilots of the elite 7/JG26 arrived in Sicily in early 1941, and later in the year when more from JG53 made their presence felt. A number of important personal diaries and journals have come to light, and these have been widely quoted to provide the atmospheric background, the thoughts and the hopes of some of the Hurricane pilots who defended Malta. Not all of the diarists survived, but their impressions provide a fitting tribute to their courage, aspirations and fears. Much of the early period of the air defence of Malta is enhanced by the personal experiences of Flt Lt (then Sgt Plt) James Pickering AFC, who flew Hurricanes with 261 Squadron.

Plt Off Oliver Ormrod, better known as 'Sonny' to his RAF compatriots due to his youthful appearance, was just four days past his twentieth birthday when he was killed in action after his Hurricane was shot down. During his brief fighting career at Malta in February to April 1942, he was credited with only two enemy aircraft destroyed, although he shared in the destruction of three others. Ormrod also claimed three 'probables' and at least six damaged. A total of a dozen successes at a time when the Hurricane was completely outclassed by Bf 109Fs of JG53, his bravery and valour were recognised by the award of a DFC. Although extracts from Ormrod's diary have appeared in various publications over the years, the editors/authors now offer the complete story of his brief period of combat in the skies over Malta. He was one of many young lives lost in the effort to safeguard Malta and he was there when only Hurricanes were available to combat the Luftwaffe's onslaught. This is his story...

This volume carries on where FIRST OF THE FEW finished, in the same style and format. 10 July-the official first day of the Battle of Britain-witnessed increased aerial activity over the Channel and along the eastern and southern seaboards of the British coastline. The main assaults by ever-increasing formations of Luftwaffe bombers, escorted by Bf109s and Bf110s, were initially aimed at British merchant shipping convoys plying their trade of coal and other materials from the north of England to the southern ports. These attacks by the Germans often met with increasing success although RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes endeavoured to repel the Heinkels, Dorniers and Ju88s, frequently with ill-afforded loss in pilots and aircraft. Within a month the Channel was effectively closed to British shipping. Only a change in the Luftwaffe's tactics in mid-August, when the main attack changed to the attempted destruction of the RAF's southern airfields, allowed small convoys to resume sneaking through without too greater hindrance.

By the end of 1941, following its participation in the Battle of Britain, 249 was posted to Malta. Having been informed that its pilots would be required to fly from the deck of an aircraft carrier, intensive practice flights took place with two Hurricanes fitted with long-range tanks, making shortened take-off runs from an airfield runway. And that was that. The following month, having been ferried to Gibraltar, the aircraft were off-loaded on to the 'Ark Royal' and all 20 safely reached Malta. This was the beginning of 249's Mediterranean adventure in the defence of Malta. Spitfires would follow early in 1942 and by the time it moved to a new theatre of operations, 249 had claimed 245 air victories in the skies over Malta, producing many ace pilots such as 'Screwball' Beurling, Laddie Lucas, Johnny Plagis, John Lynch, to name but a few.

806 Squadron was formed in early 1940 and was equipped with Skuas and Rocs, both outdated as fighters and dive-bombers, the latter hampered by a gunner's turret and most unsuited for modern warfare; however, 806 was fortunate to have at its head the volatile but skillful and aggressive Lt-Cdr Charles Evans, a 30-year-old born-leader with ten years' experience flying with both the RAF and Royal Navy. With the aid of his equally experienced senior observer, Lt Desmond Vincent-Jones, the young fledgling pilots, mainly straight from training school, were soon receiving expert instruction. Having survived early ops over Norway and Dunkirk, 806 was selected to fly the new fleet-fighter, the underrated Fulmar, with which it went to war in the Mediterranean aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and won its spurs. The young pilots, led by the CO, wreaked havoc amongst the Italian navy's spotter seaplanes and bombers. This is their story.

Following the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, at which the Americans refused to back Britain's plan to invade the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean, to be followed by an invasion of the Greek mainland, a weakened British attempt was made with disastrous results. The Americans wished to concentrate all their forces in capturing Sicily and then invading southern Italy. In this first comprehensive account of aerial operations over the Eastern Mediterranean/Aegean, the first chapter covers the disastrous Hurricane attack on Crete (Operation Thesis), an attempt to divert Axis attention from Sicily; subsequent chapters deal with British landings on the islands of Kos and Leros when Spitfires vainly attempted to hold the Luftwaffe at bay. Meanwhile, Beaufighters flying from North Africa and Cyprus roamed over the Aegean attacking shipping and aerial transports with success but at a heavy cost, until the Germans withdrew from the Aegean and the Greek mainland. In addition, specially modified Spitfires are detailed to combat pressurised high-altitude Ju 87 spy planes used by the Luftwaffe based on Crete, and the Fleet Air Arm with its Seafires, Wildcats and Hellcats over the Aegean. Also, the book includes many first-hand accounts from both British and German aircrew extracted from official reports and memoirs.

The Bristol Blenheim entered Bomber Command service in 1937 and became one of the Command's most important aircraft. On its inception, the Blenheim was fast and sleek, and at the outbreak of war, achieved a number of early firsts. It was the first British aircraft to enter German airspace and attacked warships near Wilhelmshaven. The war, however, showed the Blenheim was outdated and extremely vulnerable to flak and fast Luftwaffe fighters such as the Bf 109 and Bf 110. It suffered horrific losses during the Battle of France: 144 Squadron lost almost its entire bombers in one mission. The fighting in France revealed the Blenheim Mk IV to be under armoured, under armed and slow. Before being replaced by the Wooden Wonder, the mighty Mosquito, the Blenheim soldiered on with almost suicidal consequences for its crews. Blenheims Over Greece and Crete: RAF and Greek Blenheims in Action 1940-1941 covers the operations, often tragic, of the Blenheims during the fighting over Greece and Albania. By the end of the fighting and withdrawal to Crete, all three squadrons had effectively been wiped out, with great sacrifice by the crews involved. One of the airmen involved was No. 30 Squadron's Sgt Lofty Lord whose grandson Simon has amassed much information and photographs, many previously unpublished, from survivors and/or their families. The same three squadrons, with many new crews to replace those lost in Greece, later fought together in Sumatra and Java (the Dutch East Indies) in an endeavour to repel the Japanese invasion. Written by one of the world's leading authorities on Second World War military aviation, this is a gripping account of the heroics of the small band of British and Greek airmen who flew the Blenheims against ever-increasing odds, particularly once the Luftwaffe were determined to decimate them.