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Published by Helion & Company 2018
Designed and typeset by Mach 3 Solutions Ltd ( www.mach3solutions.co.uk )
Cover designed by Paul Hewitt, Battlefield Design ( www.battlefield-design.co.uk )
Text Alexander Fitzgerald-Black 2017
Images as individually credited
Maps drawn by and Mike Bechthold 2017
Cover painting: 154 Squadron RAF, Operation Husky Tactical Support for the American
Strategic Air Force, Sicily 1943 by Frank A.A. Wootton O.B.E. Cover image reproduced with
the kind permission of the Wotton family. Rear cover photo: Wrecked and damaged Italian
fighters outside bomb-shattered hangars at Catania, Sicily, under the scrutiny of an airman,
shortly after the occupation of the airfield by the RAF. (IWM CNA 1352)
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their
permission for the use of copyright material. The author and publisher apologize for any errors
or omissions in this work, and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be
incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
ISBN 978-1-912174-94-2
eISBN 978-1-912866-98-4
Mobi ISBN 978-1-912866-98-4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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List of Photographs
A formation of US Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bombers and an escort of P-38 Lightnings engaging an Axis air convoy of 35 planes over the Sicilian Straits. Three American planes are shown. The one at the extreme left flying low has just completed attack action while another B-25 is seen overhead at the left. The wing of the third B-25 at extreme right. Twelve Axis air transports almost at water level are under attack in the image. (US Air Force photo 23698 AC)
Squadron Leader John J. Lynch, Commanding Officer of No. 249 Squadron RAF, sits in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark VC at Krendi, Malta, as an airman chalks Maltas 1,000th below his victory tally. One of the aircraft he shot down on 28 April 1943 was the 1,000th enemy aircraft shot down by Malta-based units since the start of the war. Lynch transferred to the USAAF in July 1943 having scored 10 and 7 shared victories with the RAF. (IWM CM 5096)
Fragmentation bombs from B-17 Flying Fortresses cover German and Italian planes, barracks, and buildings at Castelvetrano aerodrome. (US Air Force photo A-52325 AC)
Lieutenant Charles B. Hall sits in his P-40 while pointing towards the German swastika that indicates his first aerial victory, the first for a Tuskegee Airman during the Second World War. (US Air Force photo)
Pantelleria afire. Smoke and dust are kicked up by an Allied air raid on the Italian island fortress. (US Air Force photo 26043 AC)
The ruined roundhouse at Palermo, Sicily. Original caption: Bombs in the roundhouse are worse than a bull in a china [shop]. (US Air Force photo A-26085 AC)
Catania, 11 July: This rail yard is knocked out as 75 Boeing B-17 airplanes unload 874 five hundred-pound bombs from 20,00024,000 feet. (US Air Force photo A-25294 AC)
A photograph originally used in an Axis calendar shows a Junkers Ju 88 against the background of Mount Etna, Sicily. By July 1943 these aircraft were forced to operate from the Italian mainland, restricting their effectiveness. (US Air Force photo 24528 AC)
Wrecked German planes around the hangar at Biscari Airport in Sicily on 13 July 1943. (US Air Force photo B-79527 AC)
Gerbini, 13 June: Explosions and fire rise as Consolidated B-24 Liberators from IX Bomber Command deliver 120,000 pounds of bombs. The fighter plane on the runway is making a futile attempt to take off. (US Air Force photo A-25290 AC)
Wrecked hangar and German planes at an airfield near Trapani, Sicily after complete pulverization by American bombers, 26 July 1943. On the left are a set of wings from a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 while on the right is the fuselage of a Messerschmitt Bf 109. (US Air Force photo 79532 AC)
Shortly after the invasion of Sicily, military illustrator Noel Sickels produced this sketch of an American reconnaissance P-38 Lightning overflying the invasion fleet. Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt would have preferred armed variants of these providing air cover for his landing force. A pair of A-36 Apache fighter-bombers are crossing the coast in the background. (US Air Force photo 24179 AC)
A group of P-38 Lightning pilots at a North African air base on 13 July 1943. They recently accounted for 10 enemy aircraft in a fighter sweep over Sicily. Flight Officer Frank D. Hurlbut is second from left. (US Air Force photo B-25052 AC)
Wing Commander C P Paddy Green, Commanding Officer of No. 600 Squadron RAF, watches from the cockpit of his Bristol Beaufighter Mark VIF at Cassibile, Sicily, as his radar operator, Flying Officer R J Gillies touches up the swastikas on the aircrafts nose, indicating the eight victories they had claimed while flying together as a night fighter crew. Seven of these victories were achieved during three consecutive nights in July over Sicily, four of them in a single sortie. Green had just been awarded the DSO for his skill and leadership of 600 Squadron, which he commanded until the end of January 1944. (IWM CNA 1182)
American GIs look on as a pair of British Spitfires prepare to take off from Comiso Aerodrome, Sicily to fly cover for bombers on a mission over enemy territory, 24 July 1943. (US Air Force photo 80324 AC)
American A-36 Apache fighter-bombers warm up before take off from an airfield near Licata, Sicily on 17 July 1943. A P-40 Warhawk is in the foreground. (US Air Force photo 79528 AC)
Pilots of No. 43 Squadron RAF inspect an abandoned Messerschmitt Bf 109G of VI/ JG53 at Comiso, Sicily. (IWM CNA 1045)