RISE AND DEFEND - REVIEWS

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The subject of the USAF in Britain has been covered in a couple. of good titles over the past 5 years, notably Mike Bowyer's 'Force For Freedom' (PSL, 1994) and Robert Jackson's 'USAF in Britain' (Airlife, 2000). The scope of the USAF's UK operations was huge, involving something over 100 locations at which significant numbers of US servicemen have been based and with a duration that alrei1dy exceeds 50 years. In this new title, author Curtis (who so recently gave us the first detailed account of the RAF F-86 Sabre) traces the story of just one USAF base in.Britain, at Manston. The sprawling airfield on the tip of Kent that is now titled International Airport was once a bustling USAF front-line air base and home to 3,000 US servicemen. Here, he relates how what was intended as a 60-day deployment to Manston by 25 F-84 Thunderjets in 1948 turned into an eight-year presence as the Cold War got colder and the perceived need to base American forces 'further forward' in Europe became ever more pressing. During the USAF's tenure at Manston the main based types were the F-84 ThunderjetIThunderstreak and several marks of Sabre, including the F-86D

'Sabre Dog' which is referred to by pilots in this volume as the 'Sabre Dawg' - a nice touch. The chapter structure is broken down by unit; as: well as the resident fighter Groups/Wings, Manston hosted Air Rescue untts equipped with such exotica as the SA-16 Albatross amphibian and the lifeboat-carrying SB-29 Superfortress. Where this volume really excels is in the detail, and in giving graphic account ofthe types of operation which were flown on a daily basis in an era when the Soviet threat was very real indeed. Alerts, deployments, exercises and live firing were all very much part of this existence as, indeed, were crashes. These accounts are enlivened with first­hand recollections by personnel who were actually there. Many of these, while not humorous, are recorded in the matter-of-fact manner so typical of the fighter pilot. On 21 March '952, the pilot of an F-84 of the 156th FBS lost his engine and was forced to land with undercarriage retracted in the undershoot and at 60 degrees to the runway heading. The Wing accident report notes prosaically that he 'escaped with slight facial injuries'.

Lt William Vogel, the pilot involved, recalls it differently: 'I was injured when the canopy separated from the airplane, hit my helmet and tore my nose, which a wonderful doctor was able to stitch back to my face'. This volume has a truly excellent selection of b/w photos. Their reproduction is first rate and an object lesson to any publisher who tries to justify the muddy, low contrast photos which are today all too common. The eight-page colour section (two shots from which are included with this review) features not only some brightly­marked aircraft from Manston but also such oddities as the Rolls-Royce hearse , used as a crew bus by the 92nd FBS, complete with squadron markings on the door. Rolls-Royce was said to be 'not amused'. Following it are eight pages of superb colour profiles, while the final 12 pages feature appendices and a decent index.

Quibbles? Your reviewer is highly impressed with this title. It's books like this that make a reviewer's life worthwhile: So to criticise seems almost churlish, but a few mis-spellings are apparent, of which 'Soesterburg' for 'Soesterberg' - the USAF base in the Netherlands - is the most obvious. Obvious, that is, because it's repeated no less than 26 times on page 182.

Denis J Calvert
Aircraft Illustrated - July 2006

Manston's association with the USAF has its roots firmly in the Cold War. Following its finest hour, the base soon found itself in the front line of the invisible conflict that has made such a fascinating subject for aviation historians. This book does the subject justice.

There is a certain quality to the colours of some period photography that engenders a deep melancholic nostalgia and the reader is drawn in to the text by the evocative images. True to form, Flight Recorder provide a fascinating read, in which meticulous detail is tempered by the anecdotal material to which the book owes so much. More of a historian's book than a modeller's, nevertheless the information and photography covering eight short years is comprehensive in its coverage of all aspects of the operations and aircraft employed.

Ian Worth
Scale Aviation Modeller

For most people Manson invokes memories of the 'Battle of Britain' and we seem to forget that the Americans used it as a forward base in case of Soviet incursion into British air space after World War Two.

This is a big book, an A4 hardback with some 192 pages - that means a lot of information. There are seven chapters, plus a colour section and two appendices. The first six chapters deal with the various 'aggressive' units based there and the seventh is devoted to Air Sea Rescue.

The first unit was the 20gh Fighter Bomber Group with the F-84 Thunderjet followed by the 31 st Fighter Escort Wing also equipped with the F-84. This aircraft continues in the 12th Escort Fighter wing and the 123rd Fighter Bomber Wing.

Chapter five covers the operations of the 406th Fighter Bomber Wing and Fighter Interception Wing, the latter component equipped with the F-86F and then the F-86D. The 92nd Fighter Bomber Squadron features in chapter six, where we again revert to the F-84. The operations of aircraft itemised in these chapters are intensively chronicled. and supported with a large number of previously unpublished b&w photographs.

Although the types previously mentioned are the main aircraft of these units, others do keep popping up. The RB-45C. C-47, and C119 amongst others. The Air Sea rescue section covers such machines as the Sikorsky SH-19b and the Grumman Albatross, with occasional visits from B-29s.

To help collate all this information, Appendix 1 lists all the USAF aircraft based at Manston within the time period of the book. Add to this a colour photographic section and thirty-four colour profiles and you have the most comprehensive history on this subject to date.

This book will add a unique reference to your library and if the USAF is your thing, it's and obligatory purchase.

Ernie Lee
Model Aircraft Monthly - July 2006

Manston near Ramsgate is rightly famous as a former Battle of Britain airfield but perhaps less well known is that for much of the 1950s it was an American air force base.

Those USAF days between 1950 and 1958 are recorded in detail in a book entitled Rise and Defend written by Duncan Curtis and published by Flight Recorder Publications.

The book is provides a detailed record of the USAF aircraft based at Manston, what happened to them and the people responsible for getting these machines in the air.

Manston was taken over by USAF in 1950 as a direct result of the warming up of what we now know as the Cold War. If the Soviets were heading for Britain, Manston jets could be deployed quickly to counter them in an area well away from the UK mainland.

Manston also served as a base for some of the earliest helicopter search and rescue squadrons in this country - a tradition the RAF carried on for many years when the base was given up the Americans.

USAF's Manston units never fired a shot in anger but played a major role in the development of operational use and tactics of jet aircraft such as the F-84 Thunderjet, the nuclear armed Thunderstreak and the F-86 Sabre in their numerous variants.

The difficulties and tribulations attached to these sometimes led to situations of extreme danger for the crews, but occasionally of farce.

In the end Manston was returned to the RAF, not for military reasons, but in the interests of noise abatement. Locals to the area had grown weary of the noisy jet aircraft and after numerous crashes during USAF's tenure no doubt feared for their general safety.

The hardback book contains 230 colour and black & white photos and is priced at £29.95, so is perhaps mainly for the aero enthusiast. It can be obtained at local bookshops quoting ISBN 0-9545605-5-8 or via www.flightrecorder.com

'Bygone Kent' - Sept/Oct 2006

For eight years in the 1950s the ex-RAF station at Manston, Kent, was home to squadrons of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), serving during the Cold War as a forward base from which its aircraft could challenge incoming Soviet bombers. This well-produced book provides a complete documentary and pictorial record of that era in the station's history. Six of its seven main chapters are devoted to the principal units based there: the 20th Fighter­Bomber Group, the 31st and 12th Fighter Escort Wings (FEWs). the 123rd Fighter­Bomber Wing (FBW) , the 406th FBW and Fighter Interceptor Wing, and the 92nd Fighter­Bomber Squadron. The principal aircraft operated by these units were the Republic F-84D and E Thunderjet, Lockheed T-33, North American F-86F and D Sabre and Republic F-84F Thunderstreak. Chapter seven covers the Manston-based USAF Air Rescue Squadrons, operating Sikorsky SH-19 helicopters and Grumman SA-16 Albatross amphibians.

The work of the units is covered in detail, incorporating numerous personal recollections and local press reports in addition to material from official sources, and despite the aggravating insertion of superfluous commas and the omission of necessary ones (at the ends of clauses, for instance), the text is readable. It is interspersed with a generous selection of well-reproduced monochrome photographs, not only of unit aircraft, personnel and incidents, but of an assortment of visiting types as well. In the middle of the book there are eight pages of good-quality period colour photographs, plus another eight of colour artwork side elevations of typical Manston-based USAF aircraft. Fina11y there are two appendices, comprising a listing of aircraft serial numbers and a useful bibliography, plus a good basic index.

Philip Jarrett
Aeroplane - August 2006