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War in the Air: The Second World War in Colour
Though World War II took place after the development of color photography, nearly all of the familiar images of it are in black and white—which tends to make the conflict feel more distant, more removed from our own lives and history, than it actually is.
War in the Air changes that. Following the success of IWM’s The Second World War in Colour, this book focuses on an aspect of the war that was unquestionably key to the Allied victory: the war in the air. In these pages, we see aircraft and pilots from a number of Allied nations, brought to life again in vibrant color that makes the heroism and sacrifice of the era more palpable than ever. Alongside these rarely seen images, Ian Carter, Senior Curator at IWM, examines how crucial aviation was to winning the war, from protecting the skies and waters of Britain and the Mediterranean to the roles of Bomber Command and the USAAF’s nighttime strikes over Germany. Offering perspectives from the ground and from the air, these powerful images are an incredible document of World War II.
War in the Air changes that. Following the success of IWM’s The Second World War in Colour, this book focuses on an aspect of the war that was unquestionably key to the Allied victory: the war in the air. In these pages, we see aircraft and pilots from a number of Allied nations, brought to life again in vibrant color that makes the heroism and sacrifice of the era more palpable than ever. Alongside these rarely seen images, Ian Carter, Senior Curator at IWM, examines how crucial aviation was to winning the war, from protecting the skies and waters of Britain and the Mediterranean to the roles of Bomber Command and the USAAF’s nighttime strikes over Germany. Offering perspectives from the ground and from the air, these powerful images are an incredible document of World War II.
120 pages, Paperback
Published June 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 12, 2017
This is basically a picture book separated into chapters which each have an introduction that is a couple of pages long, and each picture caption has a little explanation or piece of history to describe the context of the picture, be it about specific regiments or places or people.
I had only seen a couple of colour photos and films of WWII previous to reading this book, so seeing this collection of colour photographs from the War was exceptionally powerful. It makes the events feel so immediate and so recent. Looking at these pictures it honestly feels like it could have happened only a matter of years ago, not 72+ years ago. This is genuinely such an interesting and powerful read and an amazing addition to my collection.
I had only seen a couple of colour photos and films of WWII previous to reading this book, so seeing this collection of colour photographs from the War was exceptionally powerful. It makes the events feel so immediate and so recent. Looking at these pictures it honestly feels like it could have happened only a matter of years ago, not 72+ years ago. This is genuinely such an interesting and powerful read and an amazing addition to my collection.
February 9, 2023
Published in 2019, 'War in the Air - The Second World War in Colour' is a photo album containing 76 excellent colour photos mostly relating to WW2. The pics are mainly drawn from Britain's involvement in WW2 - not surprising given that the book has been published by the IWM but not apparent from the title. The captioning is mostly good, although I found one pic that I suspected was taken immediately pre-war despite the caption attributing it to 1940. Most of the pics have been reproduced in numerous publications, but this does not stop this being a great selection, all printed well in good backing paper.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews