The Air War at Sea in the Second World War

The Air War at Sea in the Second World War Martin W Bowman Eye witness accounts of wartime bring an added dimension to even the most well-known wartime actions, and provide the vital contemporary perspective on the action. The author Martin Bowman, who specialises in air war books with over 100 published, uses eye witness accounts to cover selected air battles in the European and Pacific theatres. The book opens with accounts of the Norwegian campaign, the RAF Hampden raids, an RAF pilot flying Hurricanes who landed on the Glorious just before she was sunk, and a harrowing tale of survival. Taranto, which remains an extraordinary action, is covered in a chapter called “Bi-planes against Battleships”. Swordfish feature prominently in the book; the attacks on the Bismarck in the most appalling weather conditions with 30ft seas, saw one Swordfish being swamped on landing but as the pilot recalls “the bottom of the fuselage had been shot away by Bismarck’s gunfire so it soon drained.” In the heroic attacks on the Channel Dash the Swordfish was described as “slow as a cart horse compared with a motor car (German fighters)” and all 18 aircrew were lost. The German attack on Illustrious in the Mediterranean demonstrated the worth of the armoured deck; her Captain’s letter shows the immense strain the ship’s company worked under to save the ship. Coastal Command accounts of the Catalina shadowing Bismarck and Sunderland attacks on U-boats are quite properly included. The Pacific War section opens with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the American efforts to defend the harbour. A fascinating account of Dutch seaplane encounters with the Japanese is one of the more unusual tales of the Pacific War. The Coral Sea battle – unique in being the first sea battle where neither opposing fleet saw each other, was followed by the Midway battle resulting in the Americans neutralising Japanese carrier power. Further actions off the Solomons resulted initially in heavy damage to the American carrier fleet, but the loss of experienced Japanese aircrew was disastrous. With new Essex class-carriers and new aircraft, the Americans achieved naval air superiority. The Brtish Pacific Fleet carriers offered a “capability the US planners could not ignore,” and with their armoured decks were able to soak up kamikaze attacks and remain operational. The final throes of the war saw the unsuccessful mass kamikaze attacks by some 700 aircraft off Okinawa. Seaborne air power proved decisive, and whilst most of the actions in this book have been written about and analysed, what makes this book different are the eye witness accounts, be they an American Ensign Corsair pilot describing his first sight of the Japanese mainland or the attacks by Sunderland on a U-Boat at “an angle more suitable to a Stuka”- this is real history. The author is to be congratulated on pulling together a wonderful collection of reminiscences.