Tag: Bloomsbury Publishing

#BookReview – Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger during World War II

#BookReview – Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger during World War II

Reviewed by Dr Brian Laslie

Becky Aikman, Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger during World War II. London, Bloomsbury Press, 2025. Footnotes. Hbk. 368 pp.

In her new book, Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger during World War II, Becky Aikman has accomplished two things: First, she has surprised me and proven that I have much to learn regarding the contributions of women aviators in the Second World War. Second, she clearly demonstrates the importance of someone’s immutable characteristics and their agency and story. Without acknowledging these characteristics, the extraordinary efforts taken by specific individuals in the face of prescribed gender roles might be lost.

This new work details the story of American women who defied the odds, stereotypes, gender roles, and numerous other obstacles to support the war effort, but more importantly, to contribute to the war effort by doing something they loved, slipping the surly bonds of earth. As the advance copy, which landed on my desk, notes a group of aviatrixes:

[w]ere denied the opportunity to fly for their country when the United States entered the Second World War. But Great Britain, desperately fighting for survival, would let anyone-even Americans, even women-transport warplanes. Thus, twenty-five daring young aviators bolted for England in 1942, becoming the first American women to command military aircraft.

Before establishing the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and the Women’s AirForce Service Pilots, this select group of women, initially under the leadership of Jackie Cochran, left home to fly in England for Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

Allied women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary service. Their job done, four female ATA pilots (three Americans and one Polish) leaving an airfield near Maidenhead, 19 March 1943. They are from left to right: Roberta Sandoz of Washington; Kay Van Doozer from Los Angeles; Jadwiga Piłsudska from Warsaw; and Mary Hooper from Los Angeles. (Source: IWM (CH 8945))

Aikman clearly shows that these women flyers had what Tom Wolfe later called the same ‘right stuff’ as their male counterparts. The ATA ‘was an organization where renegade behavior was part of the DNA.’ The ATA ‘had established itself as a seat-of-the-pants operation that sometimes tolerated, or even celebrated, eccentrics’ (p. 33). In the same way that Billy Mitchell was known for his early Maverickism, which seeped into the essence of the American flyer, these women also did things in their way, regardless of what the rules said. While this nonconformist and individualist attitude is part of the mythology of the American Flyer, it did not conform to gender roles.

Aikman relies heavily on diaries and surviving papers of the Americans in the ATA. She uses these to significant effect in creating an intimate and personal account, but Aikman quickly points out that this was not a unified Band of Sisters; as found within any unit, there were disagreements, alliances, and competition (p. 84). Still, these few dozen women were doing what they loved to: flying and doing so in every conceivable type of aircraft the British flying services had to offer: 147 different types in total. Detailing too much of the book here would rob you of the story of these ‘Spitfires,’ but suffice it to say that not all of them made it through training, completed their contracts, or even lived to see the United States again.

The end of the war saw the end of the ‘ATA-girls,’ and they returned home. Aikman states, ‘[t]he era when women pilots would fall out mind had already begun.’ (p.271). Except for mention in a few books or self-published memoirs and autobiographies, the American women of the ATA faded into public obscurity. However, their lives after the war remained as varied and vibrant as the women themselves, and Aikman’s telling of their story could not have arrived at a better time. It is here to remind us that the ‘immutable characteristics’ of some individuals are what make their story compelling and worth telling.

This book is the finest in aviation history: a sweeping narrative, deeply researched, and passionately written work that is sure to please and inform its audience. This book will appeal to a broad audience of historians and buffs. However, more importantly, it fills another gap in the historiography of American women flyers in the Second World War and their contributions to the war effort abroad, providing avenues in its copious footnotes for future researchers to follow. Any historian of air power studies or those interested in aviation in the Second World War will want a copy of this on their bookshelves.

Header image: A group of women pilots of the ATA service photographed in their flying kit at Hatfield. (Source: IWM (C 381))

Dr Brian Laslie is a noted air power historian, having authored The Sundowners, Pegasus, and Little Butch: Carrier Air Group Eleven and the War in the Pacific, 1943-1945 (2025), Air Power’s Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam (2021),  Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the US Air Force (2017) and The Air Force Way of War (2015). The latter book was selected for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s 2016 professional reading list and the 2017 RAF Chief of the Air Staff’s reading list. US Air Force Historian and Command Historian at the United States Air Force Academy. Formerly, he was the Deputy Command Historian at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). A 2001 graduate of The Citadel and a historian of air power studies, he received his Masters’ from Auburn University Montgomery in 2006 and his PhD from Kansas State University in 2013.

#ResearchResources – Recent Articles and Books (July 2021)

#ResearchResources – Recent Articles and Books (July 2021)

Editorial note: In this series, From Balloons to Drones highlights research resources available to researchers. Contributions range from discussions of research at various archival repositories to highlighting new publications. As part of this series, we are bringing you a monthly precis of recent articles and books published in air power history. This precis will not be exhaustive but will highlight new works published in the preceding month. Publication dates may vary around the globe and are based on those provided on the publisher’s websites. If you would like to contribute to the series, please contact our Editor-in-Chief, Dr Ross Mahoney, at airpowerstudies@gmail.com or via our contact page here.

Articles

Phil Haun, ‘Winged Victory: How the Great War Ended: The Evolution of Giulio Douhet’s Theory of Strategic Bombing,’ War in History (2021). doi:10.1177/09683445211027596.

A war’s conclusion can impact strategic thinking even when the outcome is misinterpreted or an outlier. For a century, Giulio Douhet in Command of the Air, 1921 and a 1926 revision, has been the prophet for the utilitarian morality of bombing cities to gain decisive victory. His earlier work, Winged Victory: How the Great War Ended, written in 1918, has been ignored where he argued for the interdiction of enemy lines of communication. His theory changes by how the Great War ends with the collapse of the German population’s will. Had it ended differently, he could have reached a different conclusion that could have impacted the development of air power theory in the twentieth century.

Colin Tucker, ‘The Effect of Aerial Bombardment on Insurgent Civilian Victimization,’ Security Studies (2021), DOI: 10.1080/09636412.2021.1951834

Little is known about how air strikes influence insurgent behavior toward civilians. This study provides evidence that air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by counterinsurgency forces were a contributing factor in its civilian victimization. I theorize that air strikes expanded the distribution of insurgent fatalities to include higher-echelon membership and, at the same time, imposed psychological impairments on its fighters. As a consequence, these changes relaxed restraints on civilian abuse at the organizational and individual levels. This theory is informed by interviews of ISIS defectors and translations of ISIS documents and tested through a statistical analysis of granular-level data on air strikes and one-sided violence during ISIS’s insurgency. These findings contribute to our knowledge of insurgent behavior and provide important policy implications in the use of air strikes as a counterinsurgency (COIN) tool.

Books

James Corum, Norway 1940: The Luftwaffe’s Scandinavian Blitzkrieg (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2021).

The Campaign for Norway in 1940 was a pivotal moment in modern warfare. It was the first modern joint campaign that featured not only ground and naval operations, but also airpower as an equal element of all operations. Indeed, Norway was the first campaign in history where air superiority, possessed by the Germans, was able to overcome the overwhelming naval superiority, possessed by the British. German success in Norway was not pre-ordained. At several times in the opening weeks of the campaign the Norwegian and Allied forces could have inflicted a major defeat on the Germans if their operations had been effectively supported. It was, in fact, the superior German use of their air force that gave the Germans the decisive margin of victory and ensured the failure of the Allied counteroffensive in central Norway in April and May of 1940.

The Norwegian campaign featured some firsts in the use of airpower including the first use of paratroops to seize key objectives and the first sinking of a major warship by dive bombers. All aspects of airpower played important roles in the campaign, from air reconnaissance to strategic bombing and ground-based air defenses. The British employed their Bomber Command in long-distance strikes to disrupt the German air and naval bases and the Germans used their bomber force to carry out long-range support of their ground forces. The German ability to transport large numbers of troops by air and the ability to supply their ground and air forces over great distances gave the Germans their first major campaign victory over the Western Allies.

Covering the first true joint campaign in warfare, this book provides a complete view of a compelling turning point in World War II. Featuring an analysis of the cooperation of ground, naval and air forces, this book is intended to appeal to a broad range of readers interested in World War II, and specifically to those interested in the role airpower played in the strategic and operational planning of the Campaign for Norway.

Bill Norton, 75 Years of the Isreali Air Force – Volume 3: Training, Combat Support, Special Operations, Naval Operations, and Air Defences, 1948-2023 (Warwick: Helion and Company, 2021).

The Israeli Air Force grew from humble beginnings to one of the largest and most experienced air combat teams in the world. This came through several major and minor wars with its Arab neighbors, almost continuous military actions short of war, and preparation for power-projection operations unusual for so small a nation. The 75-year history of the Israeli Air Force is, then, a fascinating study of a relatively small military organization working to meet shifting obligations under multiple impediments while being repeatedly tested in combat. Many factors over the decades shaped the air fighting capability, not the least being the demands of the evolving battlefield, uncertain funding, available weapons, and quality of personnel. Tactics and doctrine were, in turn, shaped by government policies, international pressures, and confronting adversaries likewise evolving. When the trials in war or combat short of war came, success was a measure in relevance of the service’s weapons, adequacy of training, and experience of personnel.

As a companion to Volumes 1 and 2 giving the chronological history of the Israeli Air Force, this third volume details special topics underscoring the service’s capability growth. These richly illustrated topics are flight training, photo reconnaissance, aerial refueling, electronic warfare, support of Special Forces, support of the Navy, and the Air Defence Forces. A summary of aircraft that served with the Israeli Air Force is provided, with a photograph of each type and major models. A summary of all IAF air-to-air “kills” is also included. 

Written at a time of historical changes for the air force, and the Israel Defense Forces as a whole, this volume informs understanding of the service emerging and operating in future years. Backed by official and unofficial histories published in the last 20 years, and the unprecedented openness in the past few decades, the author has worked to make this account more accurate and complete than those of the past. It also stands apart from many other books in performing this examination in a more dispassionate and critical manner, without the common hyperbole.

Harry Raffal, Air Power and the Evacuation of Dunkirk: The RAF and Luftwaffe During Operation Dynamo, 26 May – 4 June 1940 (Bloomsbury Publishing: London, 2021).

The evacuation of Dunkirk has been immortalised in books, prints and films, narrated as a story of an outnumbered, inexperienced RAF defeating the battle-hardened Luftwaffe and protecting the evacuation. This book revives the historiography by analysing the air operations during the evacuation. Raffal draws from German and English sources, many for the first time in the context of Operation DYNAMO, to argue that both sides suffered a defeat over Dunkirk. 

This work examines the resources and tactics of both sides during DYNAMO and challenges the traditional view that the Luftwaffe held the advantage. The success that the Luftwaffe achieved during DYNAMO, including halting daylight evacuations on 1 June, is evaluated and the supporting role of RAF Bomber and Coastal Command is explored in detail for the first time. Concluding that the RAF was not responsible for the Luftwaffe’s failure to prevent the evacuation, Raffal demonstrates that the reasons lay elsewhere.