Commissioning Editor Tom Milner takes us through what we can expect from the Air Campaign series in 2026!

This year’s Air Campaign list includes some of the great air wars from World War II through to the modern period, including Michael Napier’s new book on the Iraq War of 2003, a major two-part examination of the Okinawa landings – focusing on the distinct campaigns fought by the Fleet Air Arm and by the United States’ tri-service command – and histories of the first Philippines air campaign of 1941–42 and the second half of the New Guinea campaign. However I think I’m most looking forward to Kari Stenman’s examination of the Winter War, one of the most unequal air wars ever to be successfully fought.

 

Okinawa 1945: The Royal Navy's biggest carrier campaign

Angus Konstam, Gareth Hector

29/01/2026

This fully illustrated study explains the British Pacific Fleet’s campaign against the Japanese in the Sakishima Islands, its overlooked role in the battle for Okinawa.

The invasion of Okinawa was, famously, the culmination of the United States’ island-hopping campaign. Less well known is the fact that it was also the greatest campaign of the British Pacific Fleet’s war against Japan, fought by five fleet carriers over two months, with a distinct task. The Fleet Air Arm’s job at Okinawa was to suppress and destroy the Japanese airfields on the Sakashima Islands, which were used as bases for kamikazes as well as to route aircraft from Japan to Okinawa.

In this book, naval expert Angus Konstam offers a newly researched account of the Fleet Air Arm’s air campaign in the Sakashimas. By 1945, the carriers and their aircrews were well worked up, and ready to tackle challenging and important targets. He explains the capabilities of the late-war Fleet Air Arm at Okinawa, and analyses their effectiveness against Japan’s still-dangerous airpower. Famously, at Okinawa the Royal Navy’s armoured carriers proved much more resilient to kamikaze strikes than the wooden-topped carriers of the Americans.

Packed with spectacular original artwork, photographs, diagrams and maps, this book is a superbly illustrated history of the Royal Navy’s most extensive carrier campaign.

 

Iraq 2003: Precision warfare comes of age

Michael Napier, Gareth Hector

26/03/2026

Fully illustrated, this study explores the technology, roles, and combat performance of Coalition airpower in the biggest air campaign of the early 21st century.

In 2003, a US-led Coalition invaded Iraq with the aim of overthrowing Saddam Hussain’s regime. Just as it had in the 1991 Gulf War, airpower played a vital role. However, this war was very different to its predecessor and represented a new style of warfare: focused targeting with precision-guided munitions and close integration with land forces made air power particularly effective and efficient.

Airpower scholar and former RAF pilot Michael Napier explains how the 2003 air campaign was planned and fought. He describes the preparatory work that was carried out in the No Fly Zones before hostilities began, how the plan was changed at the last minute to attempt a decapitation of the Iraqi government, and how the campaign then developed to support both the advance of Anglo-American land forces and SOF operations against tactical ballistic missiles in the western desert. He analyses in detail the relationship between the conduct of air operations and progress on the battlefield during the three-week war.

Illustrated with dramatic artwork, 3D diagrams, maps and photos, this book assesses what made Iraq 2003 the textbook air campaign of the early 21st century.

 

Winter War 1939–40: Repelling the Soviets from Finnish skies

Kari Stenman, Adam Tooby

18/06/2026

Finland’s defeat of the Soviet Union was one of the greatest David-and-Goliath battles in history. This is the first study in English of the Finnish Air Force’s battle to repel the invaders.

In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded its neighbour Finland, sparking the Winter War. While Finland was heavily outnumbered in troops and equipment, in few respects was the contest as uneven as in the air. In this book, veteran Finnish aviation historian Kari Stenman draws on his decades of research to present the first account in English of the Finnish Air Force’s defence of the country’s skies, a clash that pitted its 114 combat aircraft against the Soviets’ 2,318.

He explains that, equipped initially with a handful of British and Dutch aircraft, Finland’s air force adopted similar guerrilla tactics to its infantry. Fokker D.XXI interceptors were scattered to remote landing grounds to ambush the Soviets and give an impression of strength, while the bombers were first used for long-range reconnaissance and harassment. Over the course of the war, the Finns received new Gladiators, Fiat G.50s and French MS.406s, until at the close of the war, all flying units were thrown in to repel the Russian invasion across the frozen Gulf of Finland.

Illustrated with previously unpublished photos, superb original artwork, 3D diagrams and maps, this reveals for the first time the full story of how Finnish aviators fought for their country’s independence.

 

Philippines 1941–42: America's disastrous first air campaign of the Pacific War

Mark Lardas, Gareth Hector

30/07/2026

The weeks following Pearl Harbor saw the well-prepared US air forces on the Philippines destroyed by the Japanese. Fully illustrated, this studies the Pacific War’s first major air campaign.

On the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also struck at US and other Western bases throughout the Pacific, including the USA’s biggest overseas territory, the Philippines. However, that was an air battle the US was expecting. In anticipation, the USAAF had beefed up its assets there, sending nearly a quarter of its available B-17s to the Far Eastern Air Force (FEAF). It could also call on the Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC).

Aviation historian Mark Lardas explains how despite that, in a campaign that lasted barely a month, Japan’s air forces routed both the FEAF and the PAAC, gaining air superiority and permitting Imperial Army troops undisturbed access to the Philippine coast. Within a week Japan ruled the skies over Luzon. Two weeks later it held air superiority over all the Philippines. At the end of a month, control was so total the Imperial Army felt confident to move its 5th Air Group back out of the Philippines. While desultory air combat would continue off and on for the next three months, the battle was decided by 5 January 1942.

Packed with original artwork, 3D diagrams, maps and photos, this is the history of how the first air campaign of the Pacific War turned into a humiliating defeat for the United States.

 

New Guinea 1943–44: The Allies assume the offensive

Mark Stille & John Rogers, Jim Laurier

27/08/2026

Fully illustrated, a history of airpower in the decisive stage of the New Guinea campaign, when the Allies could finally go on the offensive to shatter Japanese forces.

In mid-1943, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) took over responsibility for New Guinea air operations from the Imperial Japanese Navy. In its first large-scale contest against the USAAF, the IJAAF was challenged to defend its bases, defend the sea lanes supporting numerous Japanese outposts along the coast, and influence ground operations.

In this book, the second of two on the New Guinea campaign, Pacific War scholars Mark Stille and John Rogers draw upon years of research and Japanese, American and Australian sources to explain how the New Guinea air war turned against the Japanese between June 1943 and 1944. The over-extended IJAAF gradually lost combat strength in the face of vastly improved Allied airpower, leaving the Japanese unable to contend with new Allied air offensives. The two prongs of Allied airpower in New Guinea targeted Japanese shipping to isolate its forces, while supporting the Allied ground offensives and landings that smashed Japanese forces and left most of them isolated for the remainder of the war.

Packed with artwork, maps, and archive photos, this book explains how the lessons learned and the forces built up during the harsh struggle for Papua in 1942–43 transformed the Allies’ airpower into a decisive element in MacArthur’s 1943–44 campaign.

 

Okinawa 1945: The epitome of joint US airpower in the Pacific 

James S. Corum, Gareth Hector

19/11/2026

Fully illustrated, this is the first book to examine US Pacific War tactical airpower at its peak, in the last and greatest island campaign, Okinawa.

The battle for Okinawa turned out to be the last major campaign of World War II, and the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific War. After years of development, Okinawa saw American tactical aviation at its most effective, yet little has been written about how the huge and complex air operation here was organized and fought.

In this book, airpower scholar James S. Corum presents a full portrait of US Navy, Marine and Army Air Force aviation in the battle for Okinawa. Unique to the campaign was the formation of a Marine-commanded Tactical Air Force to support the Army-Marine Tenth Army, which provided the ground forces battling for the island with unparalleled close air support, with only ten recorded instances of friendly fire from 14,000 sorties. He also examines air operations flown from Okinawa after the surrender, and provides an overview of the planned air support for the invasion of the Home Islands from Okinawa.

Fully illustrated with superb original artwork, 3D diagrams and maps, this is an expertly researched study of the ultimate tactical air campaign of the Pacific.

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