AIR 41/51 on MAAF - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

Mikkel Plannthin · #1 29th November 2006, 22:37

www.raf.mod.uk lists AIR 41/51 as the official history of the MEDITERRANEAN ALLIED AIR FORCES, DEC. 1943-SEPT. 1944. Is anyone familiar with this record, e.g. the level of information on operations etc.?

TIA,
Mikkel Plannthin

Nick Beale · #2 29th November 2006, 23:14

From what I remember, it wasn't very detailed. I have a note that it mentions appendices that would have been interesting but they are not with the file.

AIR41/58 is pretty good though.

Mikkel Plannthin · #3 30th November 2006, 10:41

Thanks, Nick. Just what I needed to know even though it would have been nice if you could have said, that it had all the information in the world on this topic :-)

Mikkel

SteveB · #4 30th November 2006, 17:06

Mikkel

I did not know you had established your website best of luck with that.

I have not checked out AIR41/51 but I have delved into some of these files in the AIR41 series. If you only want details of daily or individual sorties then from my experience these histories will not help you. However they are much more helpful if you want to understand the broad sweep of operations in any command or theatre.

If you know the three volume official history series “RAF 1939-45” by Dennis Richards and Hilary StG Saunders published by HMSO then these files in AIR41 are much more detailed unpublished histories that were abridged and summarised into the official history. In my experience they provide much more background on the military politics of the War; the development of policy and also operational detail linked to new technology/equipment and new tactics. Sometimes the footnotes are a gold mine.

Best wishes

Steve

Mikkel Plannthin · #5 30th November 2006, 18:35

Thank you Steve for this information.

And yes I have established a webiste this fall, to present my findings on Danish pilots and aircrews. I hope to find time to develop it both in terms of content and functionality.

Mikkel

Nick Beale · #6 30th November 2006, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikkel Plannthin

it would have been nice if you could have said, that it had all the information in the world on this topic :-)

Mikkel

For that you might need to look at a few hundred more files in AIR23, AIR24, AIR25, AIR26, AIR27, AIR40 and AIR51!

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