The Normandy Air War, 1944

The Allied air forces of WWII come dramatically alive in this photographic history of D-Day and the invasion of France.

In the months preceding the Normandy landings, Allied air forces played a vital role in blinding and isolating German forces in northern France. During the campaign, they supported the Allied armies in their push inland, most notably by hampering the march of Hitler’s panzer divisions and controversially bombing the ancient Norman cities of Caen and Rouen.

Anthony Tucker-Jones’s photographic history is a vivid introduction to the Allied air offensive, illustrating the many famous types of aircraft employed by the RAF, USAAF and Luftwaffe. Allied bombers, such as the Halifax, Lancaster, Fortress, Liberator, Havoc and Marauder; as well as fighters and fighter-bombers, such as the Lightning, Thunderbolt, Mustang, Spitfire and Typhoon, are shown in ample detail.

These images of the air war over northern France bring home in a graphic way the nature and conditions of combat flying over seventy years ago, and they emphasize the contribution of air power to the campaign.