Close support for the Army by the Royal Air Force evolved during World
War II from a state of near non-existence to becoming a fully integrated
part of the battle plan. Nowhere was cooperation more refined and better
developed than in the Mediterranean theater.
In this first of two volumes, the author traces the evolution and
development of close air support, beginning during the final year of the
Great War, via the doldrums of the inter-war years, to the point where
the RAF was criticized heavily because of its apparent absence at
Dunkirk. The rise and demise of Army Cooperation Command is examined in
detail, followed by the first systematic close air support in East
Africa and the various campaigns in the Western Desert.
Reference has been made to logbooks, diaries and autobiographies of many
of those who were there. Complemented with maps, diagrams and hundreds
of photographs, it provides a comprehensive account of this neglected
aspect of operations in World War II.