I think you might like THE DECISIVE DUEL: SPITFIRE Vs 109, a “dual biography” of the two classic Second World War fighter aircraft. It is published by Little, Brown and is available at bookstores throughout the UK and from Amazon.

I wrote this book to appeal to a broad audience (and offer it as an alternative to the necktie for holiday giving) but I believe that even a hard-core enthusiast will learn something new.

David Isby

Colour profiles can be found in:

David Isby, C-47 and R4D Units of the ET0/MTO, published by Osprey in their line of monographs.

Source on USAF 1950s training policy and aircraft:

Ann Krueger Hussey, Air Force Flight Screening: Evolutionary Changes, 1917-2003, Office of History and Research, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas, December 2004. Attrition rates table on p. 6.
Available on the Web: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a476370.pdf

I believe at that time the USAF usually used T-6s as trainers ab initio. Which contributed to attrition rates.

I think that a natural location for secret collections is Russia. I was told, some 30 years ago, by someone who claimed to know, about a Soviet reserve collection that included one each of german and lend-lease aircraft, including an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle that supposedly was seen when they were moving things around in a hangar.

Hurrah! I shall certainly get my copy.

By the way, has anyone ever identified the three Royal Navy destroyers where Cazenove was “told to f— off” by the Navy, leaving him to pick up a discarded rifle and join the final defenders of Calais?

Is there a secret store of aircraft somewhere in Russia? With the Russians closing down many of their airbases and concentrating operations, one hopes that anything that has been in the back of a hangar since 1945 that comes to light is preserved.