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Looking for books on Coastal Command and RAF St Eval


pigsty

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Far too late to be doing this, in a sense, but I've realised I don't know enough about Dad's old Command. Can anyone recommend a decent single-volume book about it? Basic criteria:

  • must cover the whole period, not just wartime operations. If it went on to 18 Group Strike Command that would be even better
  • as much colour photography as possible
  • as much content as possible without being dust-dry
  • written in English, not just using English words (certain publishers spring to mind ...)

And on a related subject, though not a complete overlap, the history of RAF St Eval has always intrigued me. It was the first place I lived in Cornwall and seems to have had the most amazing variety of units, aircraft and roles in a relatively short period. Any books out there that might meet the criteria above? I know about the series covering RAF airfields in Cornwall (Chris Ashworth?) but am wondering if there's others.

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I think Chris Ashworth's "Coastal Command 1936-69" is the only one that fits the bill. 5 or so copies on Abebooks at the moment for £10-20.

As for St Eval, there's an "Airfield Focus" pamphlet on St Eval, by Chris Ashworth as well... currently on sale on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ST-EVAL-AIRFIELD-FOCUS-No-7-RARE-/371458242406?hash=item567ca2f766

bestest,

M.

Edited by cmatthewbacon
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Graham Smith's Devon and Cornwall Airfields in the Second World War (Countryside Books, 2000) has 19 pages on St Eval's wartime history. Dennis Teague's Aviation in South West Britain 1909-1979 (Teague White Aeroseries Publications, 1982) has 10.5 pages on it. As you're already aware, Chris Ashworth's Action Stations 5: Military Airfileds of the South West (PSL, 1982) covers it in 6 pages.

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I agree with both of the above,........the old `Airfields in Action-South West' might help too? Another good book is the Ian Allen `Coastal Command in Action' by Chaz Bowyer.

Cheers

Tony

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Chris Ashworth's book can be found on Amazon for less than a fiver (not including p&p) at the moment, if you don't mind ex-library books. I would say that I don't recall it having that many colour photos, but otherwise it meets your criteria.

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  • 3 months later...

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