An interesting topic, but I was mildly disappointed by the book. There certainly is good material in it: A history of the Royal Observer Corps, discussions of the policy related to training air observers, reproductions of training materials, an account of the infamous friendly-fire incident known as the "Battle of Barking Creek", and a scan through wartime publications on aircraft recognition, and others.

The problem is that it would have amounted to not much more than a long magazine article. To fill a 137-page book, it has been padded out with a very generic if incomplete history of the World War II. Some of that is useful context, but it has the effect of diluting the content too much. At least for me, that made it less interesting to read.

And I missed an exploration of the link between aircraft recognition and air intelligence, a longer discussion of the reporting of types such as the He 113 and Bf 162 (no typo), the importance of aircraft recognition for the correct setting of gunsights, policies regarding camouflage, and so much more.

So, I don't regret buying it (also because I bought it second-hand and cheaply), but it could have been better. ( )