This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Allied landing at Dieppe, France, on 19 August 1942, one of the most controversial battles of the Second World War, which also involved extensive air operations to provide direct support for the amphibious assault and to defend the troops and the fleet against the Luftwaffe. This book is a tribute to the 1st Polish Wing, Fighter Command’s most successful wing during the operation. The wing provided 10% of the Spitfire squadrons engaged in the battle, suffered 3.5% of losses and was credited by Fighter Command with 17% of all enemy aircraft destroyed. Nos. 303 and 317 Polish Squadrons were the top-scoring units that day. Notably, they achieved this while still flying the Spitfire V variant, while some Fighter Command squadrons already had the much improved Mk IX. Several hundred of carefully selected and extensively captioned images depict Spitfires of the five Polish squadrons, as well as the men who maintained and flew them in support of the Dieppe landings.

The two volumes describe Spitfire Vs used by Polish pilots in Britain during 1941-1945. Vol. 2 will cover 315-318 Squadrons plus allied units. The books include listings of losses and of officially credited victories. Each volume has about 200 photographs (many of which have not been published before) and 36 color profiles (plus top and bottom views of representative aircraft).

This book describes in detail the camouflage and markings of the day fighters used by the Polish Air Force from 1939 to 1947. Aircraft of Polish, French, British, American, Soviet, and German origin are shown. The writing team includes the well-known quartet of distinguished Polish aviation historians: Kopanski, Belcarz, Gretzyngier, and Matusiak. The illustrators are Artur Juszczak, Karolina Holda, Robert Gretzyngier, and Robert Grudzien. This profusely illustrated book includes many historical photographs and color profiles showing the colors and markings carried by the aircraft. Detailed color notes and precise description and illustration of national markings over the period complete a book that will be invaluable to aircraft enthusiasts, historians, and modelers.