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Polish Wings 13
Supermarine Spitfire IX
1942-1943

by Wojtek Matuseak

 

S u m m a r y :

Title and Author:

Polish Wings 13: Supermarine Spitfire IX 1942-1943
By Wojtek Matuseak

Media:

96 pages in A4 format, many never before seen period photos interspersed with some colour shots, 35 full colour profiles by Robert Grudzien.

ISBN:

978-83-61421-35-1

Price:

MSRP: GBP 12.99 (GBP14.50 inc post in UK from MMP)

Review Type:

First Read

Advantages:

The text, in English, is very readable, some very interesting photos and spectacular profiles.

Disadvantages:

Limited text but sufficient to convey the point.

Conclusion:

Reasonably good Mk. IX Spitfires in all three major scales have recently come on to the market and Polish RAF Squadrons have featured high on decal sheets. Well, now we have an excellent reference for both with more to come.

 


Reviewed by Glen Porter


HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com

FirstRead

 

Polish Wings is published through Stratus which is a sister publisher or at least works very closely with Mushroom Model Publications that we know and love. This one, No. 13, covers the two Polish units who flew Mk. IXs in the period 1942-1943, the 1st Fighter Wing at Northolt and “Skalski’s Circus in the MTO. A future book, No. 15 will cover Polish Mk. IXs 1944-1946.

The first Poles to fly Mk. IXs were from among the British ferry organization and several of these were women. Now, considering the sexist attitude that existed towards women at that time, imagine the thoughts of the fighter pilots of No. 64 Squadron, when on the 11th/12th of July 1942, BR601 landed and out stepped the young and quite attractive Stefania “Barbara” Wojtulanis. Hmmm!

The 1st Polish Fighter Wing operating from Northolt consisted of seven Polish Squadrons, 306, 315, 316, 303, 302, 317 and 308. These are covered in this order with a short text, B&W photos of pilots and their aircraft plus several profiles for each Squadron. The photos are all of extremely good quality, many showing the differences of some of the earlier Mk. IXs and there are some very clear shots of the wear and tare on spitfire props.

Towards the end of the book, there is a section on the Polish Combat Team (Skalski’s Circus) in Africa. This was a dozen or so Polish pilots operating as an independent flight as a part of No.145 Squadron RAF, sometime known as the Polish Fighter Team. Again, lots of very good photos, a 4 view art-work of  ZX-5, a profile and colour photo of ZX-1 and then a very interesting piece on the possible colours of ZX-6 including the artists impression of the aircraft in three different schemes and an argument for each. The subjects of the front and back covers are also two aircraft from this Polish flight.

 

 

C o n c l u s i o n

 

Whether you’re into Polish subjects or not, the quality of the photos and art-work in this book makes it worthwhile for any one interested in Spitfire IXs in any scale.

Thanks to MMP Books for the sample

Review Copyright © 2011 by Glen Porter
This Page Created on 19 June, 2011
Last updated 19 June, 2011

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