«Breaking News» Breathtaking photographs reveal the key role aerial battles played in WWII

A collection of breathtaking photographs have revealed the pivotal role that aerial battles played in World War Two in vibrant technicolour.

A new book, curated by the Imperial War Museums (IWM), features photographs of aircrafts and pilots from a number of Allied nations as they soar through blue skies or prepare to take off.

War in the Air: The Second World War in Colour also reveals the extraordinary lives of those who flew the planes in pictures. Among the images are memories of night bombing raids over Germany, arduous desert warfare, training and even squadron celebrations. 

Colour photography was a rarity at the time, and the images, all of which are sourced from the IWM's collections, have been carefully restored by the museums' experts.

Three Kittyhawk IIIs of the Royal Air Force 112 Squadron preparing to take off at a desert airstrip in Medenine, Tunisia in April 1943. The unit, nicknamed the 'shark squadron', became the first Allied air force squadron to use the famous 'shark mouth' insignia on its Curtiss P-40s when it adopted the symbol in July 1941. It served in both the First and Second World War - and later in the Cold War - and adopted the Curtiss Kittyhawk III (pictured above) as its single-seat fighter between 1942 and 1944

Sub-lieutenant Harold Salisbury preparing for a sortie - a deployment of a military unit from a strongpoint - in a Supermarine Seafire Mk Ib NX942 'AC-E' of 736 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton in September 1943. The Supermarine Seafire, a naval adaptation of the Supermarine Spitfire, was one of several several piston-engined aircrafts used by the squadron between its formation at RNAS Yeovilton on May 24, 1943 and 1952. The plane replaced the Sea Hurricane in front-line service and, during the latter half of the war, Seafires were used in Britain's efforts in the Far East Pacific campaigns with the 887 and 894 squadrons, the Fleet Air Arm, and aboard the HMS Indefatigable

Martin B-26 Marauders of the 441st Squadron, 320th Bombardment Group in 1945. The plane, nicknamed the 'widow maker' due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings, was a twin-engined medium bombed built by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Middle River, Maryland between 1941 and 1945. The 5,288 aircrafts were flown by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force before being retired from service and replaced by the Douglas A-26 Invader in 1948

They are grouped into themes such as 'fighter boys', 'Mediterranean air war' and 'training and transport' to illustrate the range of British, Commonwealth and US air force operations in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The new volume follows The Second World War in Colour, published by the IWM in 2017, which brought to life a range of aspects of the conflict with colour images from the archives.

Ian Carter, author of War in the Air and senior curator at IWM, said: 'Colour photography was a rarity during the Second World War; film was scarcely available and images were expensive to print.

A unit of Hurricane MK IIDs preparing for take-off from Gabes in Tunisia in April 1943. The MK IIDs were used in ground support from 1942, and added additional armour for the pilot, radiator and engine that hadn't existed in the previous IIC and IIB models. The aircrafts were initially supplied with a Rolls-Royce gun and carried 12 rounds, but these were soon replaced by 40mm Vickers S guns with 15 rounds. This model of the Hawker Hurricane was largely used in anti-tank operations during the North African campaign which took place across the continent between June 1940 and May 1943

Three Avro Lancasters of the 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron in September 1942.  The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engine heavy bomber designed by British aircraft manufacturer Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax. The plane was introduced in February 1942 and used by the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force throughout the Second World War. The 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, which employed 24 per cent of its crew from Southern Rhodesia, used the aircraft in 4,362 sorties. The bomber squadron lost 149 of the planes and a further 22  were destroyed

Instructors and pupils of No. 20 Service Flying Training School posing with their North American Harvard Mk IIAs at Cranbourne, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1943. The school was one of more than a dozen South Rhodesian facilities which formed part of a Joint Air Training Scheme which prepared pilots from the South African Air Force, the Royal Air Force and Allied air crews during World War Two. The No. 20 school, which opened in July 1940 and closed its doors in September 1945, operated with North American Harvard I, II, IIA, III and Airspeed Oxford aircrafts

Willington GR Mk XIII JA412 'S' of 221 Squadron over the Aegean Sea in March 1945. The Royal Air Force unit was formed in Greece in April 1918 and saw service in both the First and Second World Wars. The squadron initially engaged in anti-submarine warfare in the Aegean before being sent to Russia in December 1918 to support the White Army against the Bolsheviks. The unit was reformed as part of the RAF Coastal Command in November 1940

'The subjects covered in this book are presented in a vivid clarity not typically associated with imagery of the war.

'Each photograph has been carefully optimised by IWM's team of expert restorers to bring back colour accuracy and detail which over the years have faded from both paper and memory.'

Surviving photographs from the very small number taken by official photographers during the Second World War were passed to IWM for preservation in 1949, where they form part of an archive of 11 million images of conflict from the First World War to the present day.

The collection features a stunning photograph of three ferocious Kittyhawks preparing to take off at a desert airstrip in Medenine, Tunisia in April 1943.

Other images capture the Royal Australian Air Force squadron 467 as they gather in celebration of a Lancaster R5868 (S-Sugar) aircraft reaching 100 missions with the unit in May 1944.

British airmen training with the Embry-Riddle Company at Carlstrom Field near Arcadia in Florida in 1941. Embry-Riddle was one of the first five air training schools in the US to be certified under the Department of Commerce's newly-minted Air Commerce Act in 1929. During the war, the company expanded to train World War Two pilots and mechanics from the Army Air Corps and the Royal Air Force across four sites. Five hundred cadets could be trained at once during a nine-week course in which they clocked 60 flight hours

Captain Edwin 'Bill' Fisher of the 377th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, atop his P-47D Thunderbolt Shirley Jane III at a landing ground in France in summer 1944. The unit was a United States Air Force active duty unit stationed at Montgomery Air National Guard Base in Alabama from February 1943 to August 1946

Celebrations at Waddington to mark Lancaster R5868 (S-Sugar) reaching 100 missions while serving with 467 Squadron in May 1944. The Royal Australian Air Force bomber squadron was formed at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme in November 1942. It became operational in early 1943 and flew in operations in Occupied Europe throughout the war in Avro Lancaster heavy bomber aircrafts 

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Main photo article A collection of breathtaking photographs have revealed the pivotal role that aerial battles played in World War Two in vibrant technicolour.
A new book, curated by the Imperial War Museums (IWM), features photographs of aircrafts and pilots from a number of Allied nations as they soar through...

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