AIR POWER AND THE ARAB WORLD 1909-1955 VOL.10

By that time, in Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, newly-independent Syria and Lebanon, and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia, significant efforts had already been made to strengthen these countries’ armed forces. Where Egypt, Iraq and Syria were concerned, these efforts included a determination to improve or, in the case of Syria to establish, their air forces. All three air forces had been thrown into the First Phase of the Palestine War (see Volume 9) and, in the view of most subsequent commentators or historians, they had failed to perform as well as their government and populations had expected. However, closer investigation and the removal of layers of propaganda which have obscured the realities of this first Arab-Israeli War show that the Arab air forces performed better than is generally realised. Arguably, they have had their limitations and weaknesses, and these had also become apparent as the fighting intensified and losses began to mount. All this was always clearly pointed out in Arabic sources, both official and unofficial, unpublished or published only with limited circulation.

Volume 10 of Air Power and the Arab World focusses upon day-to-day events on the ground, in the air and at sea during this hard-fought phase. It does so in remarkable detail because the authors had access to previously unpublished Arab official military documents supplemented by translations from Arabic books and articles containing official and personal accounts by those involved. Perhaps the most remarkable such source is the Operational Diary of the REAF’s Tactical Air Force based at al-Arish in north-eastern Sinai, which is available from 8th June 1948 until the end of the Palestine War.

Volume 10 is illustrated by abundant photographs from previously unused, or very rarely used, private and official sources.