This month’s book review is looking at a very recent publication that was only released a couple of months ago. I must preface this review by saying that I had some small part in the production of this book, providing a number of photographs and proof reading an early draft so on a personal level it is very gratifying to get the finished book in hand.

The uniforms of the post-war military do not receive the same attention as the forces during the two world wars and the RAF and RN receive even less attention than the army. Simon Rawling’s new book ‘Blue/Grey A Visual Guide to Royal Air Force Service Uniforms: 1950-2000’ is therefore an important addition to the collector’s bookshelf. This book focuses on the non-flying uniforms of the RAF across the Cold War and is the first book of its kind to tackle this subject matter, indeed it was very useful when writing yesterday’s post! Simon’s book covers fifty years worth of uniforms in just over 100 pages and is packed full of colour photographs of surviving examples with a sprinkling of period photographs to add context to their development. The book is A4 in size and in full colour throughout which really lets the author show off the uniforms which are of course the main focus of the publication.

The writing is concise and moves along at a nice pace, being very much an accompaniment to the images. Having said this, there is plenty of useful detail packed into the volume and it covers the blue service uniform, combat clothing, working dress and the uniforms used by the WRAF in the period. The book is the first in a planned series, with future volumes covering the post war Air Cadet force and flying uniforms so all being well this will build up into a useful and comprehensive library of books covering the uniforms of the Cold War.

The book is very competitively priced at just £20 and is available from this website. Highly recommended.