An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 45 author: John C. Hewitt Publisher: Mercier Press (June 2016) www.mercierpress.ie iSBn: 9781781173886 Price: €31.50 H/B This book contains some remarkable research and detail and has a pleasing and easy to read format with plenty of contemporary pictures. I found it a substantial hardback book offering an enthralling and informative read. It's a fascinating and enlightening journey through individual Irish war stories, bringing Dalkey, Clones, Longford, Hamiltonbridge, Ballymoney, Dundrum, Keady, Rathmines, Clogh, Tipperary, Mullaghmore, into the text, adding great interest to the story. My taste and tolerance for aviation literature advanced with my years and I became more aware of the individual pilots' stories which spanned the globe, Antoine de St Exupery, Douglas Bader, Bob Stanford Tuck, Chuck Yeager and then of course Adolf Galland and Erich Hartmann to name a few. You will probably recognise these names, especially those of the RAF, but it became apparent that quite a few Irishmen had also served, fought- and died - in the air battles of World War II. The story of Sqn Leader Eric Esler DFC, born in Donahadee, Co Down filled a gap in my own volume of Air Corps history, when I learnt that it was he who flew the legendary and recently now late-Commander Winkle Brown RNAS to Gormanston in 1945 to retrieve the latest version Junkers Ju88 Night Fighter variant, whose crew had escaped from Denmark as the war ended. A photograph of the crew is hanging in the Officers' Mess in Gormanston Camp to this day. The book contains all the elements of adventure, luck, tragedy, success, endeavour, fear and humour that typify such personal war stories. If you are a student of WWII, if you have an abiding interest in all things aviation, if you have an Irish background or are searching for the details of Irishmen who fought in the air in WWII - then I can highly recommend this book to you! ireland'S aviator heroeS oF World War ii luFtWaFFe eaGleS over ireland Both reviewed by Brig gen Paul fry, goC air Corps & Director of Military aviation author: Justin Horgan & Paddy Cummins Publisher: Horgan Press (October 2016) www.horganpress.com iSBn: 978-0995553002 Price: €35.00 H/B From the outset it is apparent that the authors of this book have worked hard over a long time to compile a quality product and the proof is there for any reader to appreciate. The late Paddy Cummins would be proud to have his name associated with it and Justin Horgan has rendered to Paddy's family a fine and enduring tribute to his memory and their friendship. Justin and Paddy clearly painstakingly trawled through every Irish, German and British archive available looking for material on air operations over and around Ireland during the course of World War II. This rich volume containing meticulous detail about the missions, crews involved and the various circumstances that contrived to arrange for their arrival on the shores of Ireland during 'The Emergency'. The entire book is laced with contemporary photographs, some obtained from the crews themselves many years after the war, some even dedicated to one or other of the authors. Of particular interest to many will be the story of the Ju88 which flew in from Denmark in the dying days of the war, landing at Gormanston. A top-of-the- range night fighter, it was duly collected by the famous Commander Eric 'Winkle' Brown RNAS and flown to England for analysis. The only surviving memory of this event in Gormanston is a black and white picture in the Officers' Mess, reproduced in the book on page 283. I found the chapter concerning the German War Cemetery in Glencree very interesting and moving; it's an illustration of how two nations combined to commemorate with dignity the German dead of both World Wars I and II in a central and fitting context in the Wicklow Mountains, beside the modern-day Reconciliation Centre. This is a fascinating and enthralling production with a great range of photographs and extracted contemporary notes, records and logs. It tells in a very readable fashion the human stories behind the aircraft and the missions of the various Luftwaffe crashes in the State during The Emergency years and is recommended as a quality addition to any aviation readers' book collection.

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