Volume III – Air War Against Germany and Italy, 1939–1943 (1st edition, 1954)

This volume describes the part played by increasing numbers of Australians in the first four years of the air war in Europe and the Middle East. In 1939 there was one Australian squadron in England and there were some 400 Australians in the RAF. At the end of 1943 there were about 15,000 Australian airmen serving in the war against Germany and Italy, a proportion of them being in eighteen Australian squadrons. Since the Australians were so widely dispersed - almost every RAF squadron contained some - the author has outlined the story of the air war as a whole, assessing its achievements and examining the commanders' policies in the light of German and Italian as well as British documents. At the same time he has illustrated the general narrative with accounts of the experiences of individual Australian crews.

The integration of Dominion contingents within a vast Commonwealth air force produced a variety of problems, political, administrative and psychological. The frank and authoritative exposition of these problems from the point of view of one of the smaller partners in the Empire air force makes this volume, in part, an important conribution to the history of British Commonwealth relations.

• Contents, Illustrations, Maps, Diagrams, Graph, and Preface (pages i - xvii )
• Chapter 1 – The First Ten Months (pages 1 - 32 )
• Chapter 2 – The Battle of Britain and the German Blockade (pages 33 - 51 )
• Chapter 3 – First Libyan Campaign (pages 52 - 75 )
• Chapter 4 – Greece, Syria and the Western Desert (pages 76 - 106 )
• Chapter 5 – Problems of the Empire Air Scheme (pages 107 - 128 )
• Chapter 6 – Fighter Squadrons in 1941 (pages 129 - 146 )
• Chapter 7 – Development of the Air Offensive at Sea: May to December 1941 (pages 147 - 167 )
• Chapter 8 – Bomber Command: June 1941 to February 1942 (pages 168 - 192 )
• Chapter 9 – Second Libyan Campaign (pages 193 - 219 )
• Chapter 10 – The Struggle in the Mediterranean: March to September 1942 (pages 220 - 261 )
• Chapter 11 – The Air War at Sea: January to September 1942 (pages 262 - 297 )
• Chapter 12 – Experiments in Bombing Technique (pages 298 - 335 )
• Chapter 13 – Fighter Command in 1942 (pages 336 - 355 )
• Chapter 14 – African Campaigns: September to December 1942 (pages 356 - 384 )
• Chapter 15 – Conquest of Tunisia (pages 385 - 413 )
• Chapter 16 – The Crisis in the Atlantic (pages 414 - 445 )
• Chapter 17 – Early Pathfinder Raids (pages 446 - 474 )
• Chapter 18 – The Radar Bombing Offensive, 1943 (pages 475 - 501 )
• Chapter 19 – Fighter Command: January to September 1943 (pages 502 - 522 )
• Chapter 20 – National Aspirations (pages 523 - 559 )
• Chapter 21 – The Invasion of Sicily (pages 560 - 580 )
• Chapter 22 – Hamburg – The Last Raids on Italy – The Struggle Against Night Fighters (pages 581 - 608 )
• Chapter 23 – The Holding Campaign at Sea, 1943–44 (pages 609 - 634 )
• Chapter 24 – Berlin and Other Long–distance Raids (pages 635 - 663 )
• Appendix 1 – British, American, German, Italian and French Service Aircraft, 1939–45 (pages 664 - 697 )
• Appendix 2 – Abbreviations and Definitions (pages 698 - 700 )
• Index (pages 701 - 731 )