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Sub Hunters: Australian Sunderland Squadrons in the Defeat of Hitler's U-boat Menace 1942-43
1943 was the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, when the balance of forces, technologies and tactics turned irrevocably against Germany's U-boats. The victory thus obtained not only secured Britain's transatlantic lifeline to the United States, but in so doing enabled the vast build up in military forces in Britain necessary to launch D-Day in June 1944. The Allied battle to defeat the U-boat menace was a combined effort by the naval and air forces of several Allied nations, and this is the story of one part of that effort during the decisive mid-war period. Nos 10 and 461 Squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force flew Sunderland flying boats from bases in Wales and Devon as part of RAF Coastal Command; these two sister squadrons flew long-range daylight missions over the eastern Atlantic, patrolling Britain's southwest approaches. They hunted and killed U-boats transiting between their mid-Atlantic hunting grounds and their bases in Bordeaux, and fought furious air battles over the heaving seas of the Bay of Biscay, against Luftwaffe Ju88 long-range fighters tasked specifically with shooting them down. These two Australian squadrons established a combat record second to none.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 18, 2021
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December 10, 2024
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the U-Boat war. A well written juxtaposition to any book about U-boats and the Battle of the Atlantic, as this interesting aspect is normally only lightly touched on in other books. (Keep in mind this is not a high level view of Coastal Command, but more squadron centric)
Usually in U-boat books there is talk of increased plane patrols and radar detections forcing tougher logistics requirements on U-Boats, but here there is the details of the Anti-U-boat tactics, like flooding radar signals, returning to a sub an hour later, depth charge design etc.
And to think of the effect that could have been attained if Sunderlands had been given ASDIII like their night hunting brothers or if german air command had assigned more fighters.
Other topics covered that I was not fully aware of prior was German manipulation of bomber command IFF squaks, giving them something akin to radar to hunt bombers.
The Aussie humour and nonchalance from the airmen themselves is also great as always and as an Australian it was great to hear what I would sadly call a little known but very detailed history of Sunderland Squadrons.
Usually in U-boat books there is talk of increased plane patrols and radar detections forcing tougher logistics requirements on U-Boats, but here there is the details of the Anti-U-boat tactics, like flooding radar signals, returning to a sub an hour later, depth charge design etc.
And to think of the effect that could have been attained if Sunderlands had been given ASDIII like their night hunting brothers or if german air command had assigned more fighters.
Other topics covered that I was not fully aware of prior was German manipulation of bomber command IFF squaks, giving them something akin to radar to hunt bombers.
The Aussie humour and nonchalance from the airmen themselves is also great as always and as an Australian it was great to hear what I would sadly call a little known but very detailed history of Sunderland Squadrons.
Displaying 1 of 1 review