Spies In The Sky - Taylor Downing

I’m finding it hard to get any writing done at present despite some brilliant new books arriving and crying out for something to be said about them on ABR. Fortunately, to kick ABR’s July 2013 off, Finnish author Heikki Hietala has come to my rescue with his review of a book on the development of photo reconnaissance during the war. Spies In The Sky is, pleasingly, readily available as a good-sized paperback and brings the elite PR units and boffins to a much wider audience. Enjoy.

Photographic reconnaissance came of age during World War 2. First effectively used during the Great War (photographs of battlefields were used to discover enemy positions and plan for offensive manoeuvers) it was only in the 1930s that the technology provided military planners with the requisite tools for real, far-reaching results.

Spies In The Sky, entertainingly written by Taylor Downing, charts the development of the men and machines that served so well in WW2 and had a significant effect on the battle to defeat the Third Reich. The book is focused on the British effort. This is only fair since the Germans really did not develop photo reconnaissance at all and the Americans were largely happy to watch over the shoulder of the British in this regard.

The chronological record of photo reconnaissance and photo interpretation first sheds light on Sidney Cotton's maverick enterprises in the field of PR. His privately-funded photo equipment and aircraft, as well as his talent in developing the flight and photo techniques necessary, yielded very good results but his headstrong character, and unwillingness to let the military have a say on how PR should be done, led to his being separated from the Air Ministry. Still, he took some of the very last images from Germany just prior to the outbreak of the war and, without his work, PR would not have been as advanced as it was when the war finally erupted.

A large portion of the book is devoted to the unique PI centre of RAF Medmenham and with very good reason. A handful of very talented men and women were installed at the mock-Tudor mansion of Medmenham with a view on the Thames and ample space. That space soon ran out as the process of PI was refined as a three-stage interpretation sequence of images with each stage providing vital output for war planners. With the war in full swing millions of images arrived at Medmenham to be checked and acted upon within a couple of hours of being exposed over enemy territory. The same expansion into hastily-built huts that happened at the code-breaking centre of Bletchley Park occurred at Medmenham too and, at the end of the war, the mansion was surrounded by a rambling collection of buildings housing thousands of people hard at work.

On the technology side the use of the Wild A5 Stereo Plotter and other tools to identify military targets and new weapon development are very well recounted in SITS. It is revelatory to see how skilled operators were able to recognise tiny objects in the images, sometimes shot from 30,000 feet, and provide a coherent description of what the object might be. The hunt for, and identification of, the V1 and V2 launch sites is a case in point (albeit one told many times elsewhere). The dedication of the men and women who spent the war at Medmenham, staring at stereo photos for hours on end, is readily identifiable in the book, and the reader gains an admiration for them.

And, of course, the aircrew too. The men who flew unarmed but highly-tuned Spitfires and Mosquitos into enemy airspace to gain a strip of photos of some part of the landscape were skilled and brave beyond belief. There are heart-rending stories of how PR pilots decided to turn around to make another pass over an important target even as enemy fighters were closing in and how a Mosquito PR op almost went wrong when a Messerschmitt 262 appeared out of nowhere and robbed the Mossie of its only asset - superior speed. Teamwork between the pilot and the navigator saved themselves, the aircraft and the film but the tale of the fight brings you to the edge of your seat.

The book also discusses the organisational problems faced by the PR and PI communities. As is so often the case, no one wanted the PR and PI people when they were still forming the operational readiness they wanted to have but as soon as they delivered success after success everyone wanted a share of the glory. Medmenham was many times threatened with division into Bomber Command PI, Fighter Command PI and American PI sections but the leaders of the base stood firm and resisted all such idiotic turf war initiatives. This enabled Medmenham to keep on processing millions of images through the three-stage identification process and deliver identification results that affected the war throughout its course.

Personal accounts and stories of notable personalities are included in just the right proportion to the big picture which makes this a very enjoyable book to read. Familiar names such a Tony Hill, the low-level oblique image wizard pilot, and Constance Babington Smith (herself an author on PI) and many others are all given credit for their selfless dedication and courage. Anecdotes of funny incidents in the PI community liven up the narrative, which, naturally, is a little grim in the early days of the war.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to any WW2 aficionado who wants a balanced background book on this often overlooked, but absolutely vital, part of the war effort.

Heikki Hietala is the author of Tulagi Hotel, a story about a former US Marine pilot who buys a surplus Vought Kingfisher and sets up a hotel on a small island in the Pacific as he struggles to adjust to peacetime life.

Australian Eagles - Kristen Alexander

The Battle of Britain is where it all started for me.  At the age of nine I borrowed a book on this most famous of aerial battles from the school library.  The title and author are now forgotten but I do remember it was a large format book with good-sized colour profiles of some of the aircraft involved.  I lapped up everything in what was my first detailed foray into WW2 aviation.  Over the years, as I read widely, I became additionally enamoured with the American experience before concentrating on the RAF and Commonwealth air forces.  Always preferring to discover and learn about the more obscure and forgotten, my reading gravitated to feeding a fascination for North Africa, the Mediterranean and Burma.  It was almost like I had cut my teeth on the BoB, learned the true meaning of courage and moved on.

It’s always there though.  All WW2 aviation-minded types at least know the basics – Spitfire, Hurricane, The Few etc.  Indeed, some of the men involved – Bader, Dowding, Park – are still almost household names.  Winston Churchill, the man who coined the famous phrase “The Few”, most certainly is.  Such was the impact of their struggle against the odds that their achievements still resonate with astounding clarity.  This clarity will never fade due, in no small part, to the extensive research and writings published, almost constantly, since the RAF ‘victory’ in October 1940 and look set to continue for some time yet as new crash sites and documents are discovered.

The vast majority of the books written about Britain’s finest hour have, naturally, been campaign studies.  Practically all angles have been considered but still new analyses, insight and material comes to light (and, in all honesty, it sells).  There have been memoirs and biographies of course and several authors have concentrated on groups of pilots and their involvement in the battle.  In many cases these men survived and were able to tell their story or, at least, left behind some sort of record beyond their entries in the Squadron Ops Book.  What, then, of those lost?  Are they to be consigned to a list of names on memorials, a headstone in a churchyard or a small plaque in a corner of the field in which they crashed?  Of course not.  Happily, someone always remembers and that name on the memorial will shine from having been touched reverently, the headstone will sit in a well-manicured lawn and that plaque will regularly receive visitors with fresh flowers and the time to reflect.  To many, though, the name is ‘just’ that of a Battle of Britain pilot who died saving the country, the Empire, from tyranny.  What was he like?  Why did he fly?  Was he married?  Who and what did he love?  Where did he come from?

Jack Kennedy.  Stuart Walch.  Dick Glyde.  John Crossman.  Desmond Sheen.  James Coward.  Battle of Britain pilots.  With the possible exception of Glyde, I knew for certain I had only read about Sheen and Coward.  I may have come across the others in one of the myriad of photos from the period – photos that give a little detail, list off the names of those identifiable and leave it at that.  They were just names.  Names remembered by some but collectively honoured whenever The Few were commemorated.  Besides their combined efforts in the BoB, these men had another thing in common – they were all Australian (Coward settled here post-war so his title is ‘honorary’).  However, we would not be talking about them at all if it were not for another common theme.  These six are the focus of the new Kristen Alexander book, Australian Eagles, Australians in the Battle of Britain.

The Few, as a collective group, will never be forgotten.  But for the writers and researchers, many of the individuals would be lost beyond their ‘sphere of influence’ (families, schools etc).  A few of The Few were Australians who grew up half a world away.  I am not a BoB ‘expert’ so please forgive the generalisations that follow.  The Australian BoB veterans are a bit of an enigma.  They were not a large group of men – a little over 30 in all and there is some conjecture as to the true figure – and they were mostly already serving RAF pilots when war broke out so there was no fanfare about them heading off to serve “King and Country”.  There has not been – other than the high profile individuals and mentions in ‘overview’ campaign works – any concerted effort to trace in detail the lives of these men.  With Australian Eagles this is no longer the case … and it is a portent of things to come.

The author had not set out to research the Battle of Britain and the Australians who fought in it but reading an HE Bates classic got her thinking – were there Australians involved and how could she honour them?  The resulting collection of magazine articles – the first results of in-depth research – has led to a major project still very much a work in process.  It is these articles, though, suitably edited and enhanced, that form the basis of Australian Eagles.

Previous works by the author have revealed a particularly detailed eye for the personal and this is very much evident in AE, especially so for those featured who did not survive the Battle.  Letters and, in some cases, diaries have been pored over and it is clear from each of the ‘biographies’ that there has been much reading between the lines.  The standard format of childhood, education, employment, learning to fly etc is, understandably, followed but as much attention is paid to the pre-service life of each man as it is to the ‘exciting’ stuff – their time as pilots.  This balance is of course not seen with Sheen or Coward as both survived the Battle (and the war).  Reflecting on their survival, the attention paid to the pre-war lives of the men who weren’t so lucky becomes all the more important.  Other than their families, where they are still mourned, who else will know why John Kennedy rarely smiled in photographs or that John Crossman’s first flight in his life was with Charles Kingsford Smith?  The result of such in-depth research and analysis, lovingly so in some respects, is an understanding beyond anything official records (and most books) will ever provide.  The reader is introduced to each of the men and develops an affinity with them – so much so that one can suddenly see behind the cocky grin and rakishly angled service cap.  The grey tones of the photographs are noticed less and less as you see the colour of their lives.

In the case of Dick Glyde, no other treatment could suffice.  It is fair to say that, other than what’s written in AE, no other study of his life exists.  His time in Belgium (pre-BoB) is a triumph for this book and its author and has to be read to be believed (and there’s a photo!).  Such was the lack of material that the author has included an interlude after Glyde’s biography briefly detailing the difficulties encountered in pulling his story together.  It is an insight into the dedication, tenacity and passion the author has brought to bear on the subject.  The life of Dick Glyde deserves nothing less.

Australian Eagles is a work of remembrance.  Bringing the forgotten to the fore, the book has one foot firmly planted in the past but, surprisingly, one also in the present.  These men aren’t as forgotten as I may have led you to believe.  There are several chapters in AE dedicated to the ongoing efforts to commemorate the Australian Battle of Britain veterans in a country whose focus is very much on the Pacific and, most recently, what was achieved and sacrificed by the crews of Bomber Command.  Indeed, each biography ends with how that particular pilot is honoured be it by a stained-glass window, a name on a memorial, a headstone in a churchyard or a plaque in a field.  Really, they will never be forgotten but they do need a bit of attention so they may be remembered by name as pilots of the Battle of Britain … as young men whose lives were more than just that.

This is a beautifully produced hard cover perfectly befitting the fine lives detailed within.  The paper is a high-quality stock that is only surpassed by the dust jacket.  Folded down to size from an unusually much larger sheet, it can only be described as luscious!  You’ll know what I mean when you see the book.  The cover image is, of course, earlier than the BoB but is of one of the squadrons featured in the book and captures the urgency of the period well (but not good dispersal practices!).  Inside, the text is clear and well-spaced and the photos are kept to a manageable size to maintain clarity and to fit in with the text where they are of most relevance.

AE is a comfortable and flowing read of a little under 170 pages with the remaining 20 or so dedicated to a particularly comprehensive bibliography and, happily, something not always seen in books of this ilk – a good index.  For its size it is not super-cheap but the print version is limited to 500 signed and numbered copies and, as mentioned above, production standards are high.  Everything produced for the hard copy book is replicated in an easily accessible and affordable pdf e-book.  Either way, Australian Eagles will give you food for thought – who were the other Australians in the Battle of Britain?  Watch this space!

It's the little things

It’s the little things that shore us up and help maintain the passion. In early 2010 I managed to write a comprehensive review of the wonderful Fleet Air Arm memoir They Gave Me A Seafire by ‘Mike’ Crosley DSC*, RN. Suitably inspired by a superb writer, I still think this was one of my better reviews. Perhaps what followed is responsible for that opinion.

A couple of months after the review was published on ABR I received an email from a gentleman who knew Mr Crosley and his wife Joan. Besides swapping pleasantries (I love hearing from readers of ABR) he mentioned he had forwarded a copy of the review to the Crosleys. My first thought was one of gratitude but this was quickly swamped by a wave of trepidation. Would the man whose story I had critiqued – admittedly, very favourably – like what some stranger had said about his ‘baby’? Sadly, I was not to find out directly.

Shortly after the first email, a second one arrived from Joan. She thanked me enthusiastically for the “lovely review” and then dropped the bombshell. Mr Crosley was suffering advanced dementia (Joan was his primary carer) and was moving into a specialist home in the near future. That this wonderfully intelligent, witty and talented man was a shadow of his former self made me ever so grateful he had taken the time to write his memoirs. Joan mentioned that, during one of his better days, she had read the review to Mr Crosley and he had enjoyed it. That did it. I no longer cared if I wrote another decent review again. Yes, I had spoken to family members before, often to apologise for the slowness of my writing, but never had a review been brought to the attention of a veteran and author (and a man I greatly respect and admire). A connection had been made.

Joan and I stayed in contact and it was during this time she mentioned a second book – Up In Harm’s Way. Post-war, Mr Crosley built on his extensive naval experience (North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Normandy, Pacific) and became a test pilot. The immediate post-war period was exciting and truly monumental for naval aviation and Britain was at the forefront. Jet aircraft necessitated a new way of operating and paved the way for innovations like the angled flight-deck (to allow simultaneous landings and launches) and mirror landing system. Right in the thick of it was Crosley DSC*.

Long story short, Joan said she would send a copy as a thank you for the TGMAS review. We left it at that as, barely six months after the review saw the light of day, Mr Crosley died. We did manage to stay in touch but Joan’s gracious offer wasn’t even given a second thought as we entered new phases of our lives – me with a new baby and Joan without her husband.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, when a welcome email from Joan earlier this year said the same gentleman who had put us in touch would be visiting Australia and that she had entrusted him with a copy of UIHW. The book duly arrived in the mail and I was immediately struck by how well it followed on from TGMAS and Mr Crosley’s role in the development of post-war naval aviation. His two books are comparable to those by, the perhaps more widely-known, Don Lopez – an American fighter man turned test pilot who wrote Into The Teeth Of The Tiger and Fighter Pilot’s Heaven. The Crosleys, though, will always be close to my heart. We shared an ever so brief moment, even though we never met, when Joan read the review to her husband. Her inscription in UIHW was as simple as it was personal – “To Andy, Mike would have liked to send this to you, Joan”.

It’s the little things.

50 Tales Of Flight - Owen Zupp

A very rare departure from WW2 for ABR to close out the week.  With all of my writing on here I try to express my enthusiasm for aviation as a whole.  This does it a lot better than I ever will.

I’ve never been employed in aviation. I’ve volunteered in it and I’ve certainly read about it, watched it and loved it. I am not a pilot and, despite grandiose plans at various times in my life, probably never will be. In all honesty I am very happy with my relationship with aviation. There is not much hands-on flying experience I can relate to (there’s enough there to be dangerous!) but, really, aviation is not just about flying (what else could a non-pilot say?). This is perhaps a funny thing to write but flying is aviation’s outcome – it’s public face if you will. Admittedly, it is the whole point of it all but the stories, the sacrifice, the innovation and the reflection behind every flight are the unseen, often unheard, foundations.

Understandably, pilots will understand this better than anyone. They literally live aviation and actively contribute to its heritage and future. Their viewpoint adds a richness often overlooked. Land-based writers can draw on limited experiences in ‘live’ cockpits and lay said experiences over those they write about to at least begin to understand. A pilot who picks up a pen can put themselves in the cockpit or, better still, inside the head of the fellow pilot in question . They can feel the aircraft in the seat of their pants and, if they can write well enough, can convey that experience with authority.

Aviation though, as alluded to above, is not a realm limited to pilots. Hang around it long enough and it gets under your skin. Despite the cold, hard business of the airlines and the ruthless efficiency of the modern warplane, there will always be romance in aviation. It touches the lives of everyone whether or not it is realised or appreciated. It has made every corner of the globe accessible and been the cornerstone for our greatest feat of engineering, adventure and endeavour. Anyone who steps into this world and decides to stay connected will certainly look at things from another plane.

One such person is Owen Zupp and he is neck deep in it. This experienced airline pilot has found another calling in his remarkable life – aviation writer. This is not a new revelation as he has been actively writing for at least the past decade. He brings a lifetime and a strong family background in aviation to the ‘profession’. These qualifications have resulted in a bottomless treasure chest of aviation stories, experiences and revelations to draw upon and that is how we have Owen’s latest effort, 50 Tales Of Flight, which is also his first foray into the e-book market.

Many of the tales featured in 50’ first appeared on Owen’s blog and were often inspired by the day’s events. Owen reflects on an aviation life as he’s driving home, waiting in an airport lounge, waking in yet another hotel in yet another city, or flying the latest sector. Pen is put to paper, fingers applied to keys and a story spills out. Whether it is recounting the most recent flight, remembering a museum visit, recalling a fascinating person or flying adventure or sharing a personal memory or moment in aviation history, each of the 50 tales has an immediacy, a freshness, to it and each is not only an intimate look at aviation but a window into an aviator’s soul. Not all of the tales are exciting or humourous – some were clearly painful, but liberating, to write – and a good number of them do not contain flying at all. All of them, however, simply exude aviation.

Aviation touches all of our lives and the perfect example of this is 50 Tales Of Flight. Anyone can enjoy this book and come away with a new or deeper appreciation of aviating and life in general. Owen claims 50 Tales is not autobiographical but, really, it is. His life, much of it laid out in this e-book, is proof of everything aviation has to offer – what it can give but also what it can take. The depth of aviation as an industry, as a defining interest, is such that being a pilot, while perhaps the most enlightened of ‘participants’, is not a pre-requisite for a passionate understanding. Never have I seen this better illustrated than in 50 Tales Of Flight.

Lancaster Men - the sequel

Peter Rees' lastest book, Lancaster Men, has met with considerable success and has been selling very well.  This is great news.  As I mentioned in the mini-review below, the book is very accessible from an availability and reading point of view.  You certainly do not need to be very familiar with Bomber Command or the air war to get the most out of this attractive and thick paperback.  Not since Hank Nelson's superb (and perfectly-titled) Chased By The Sun has an 'anthology' about the Australians in Bomber Command been so well-received.

Happily, it looks like we are in for a second helping.  With the success of LM Peter has begun to collect more stories to share more of the Australian Bomber Command experience.  He has sent out a request for contact with veterans and their families who would like their stories told.  If you think you can help, please drop me a line - aircrewbooksATiinet.net.au - and I will put you in touch with Peter (I'll share his email here once I have permission). 

Time is running out for us to record the living history that exists in each and every one of our surviving veterans.  While Peter will most likely also use personal records of those who have passed away, this is probably one of the final opportunites for those still with us.  We can learn so much from those who saw too much.

Eagles Of The Southern Sky - Luca Ruffato and Michael Claringbould

Whenever I review books that are well done I often wonder if I’m going to run out of things to say. Indeed, lately, I’ve been wondering if I’ve been repeating myself to some extent or am in danger of doing so. Then something like Eagles Of The Southern Sky appears and I realise it doesn’t matter as all that really counts is sharing the sheer joy that comes from reading something ground-breaking.

It’s all a bit ridiculous really. As a rule, I ‘avoid’ books about American, German, Italian and Japanese aircrew. Such books do exist on my shelves but, as I have enough trouble keeping up with the RAF and Commonwealth side of things, I try to draw the line somewhere. So why is there a Japanese-based book now featured on ABR? Read on, you’ll see.

The Tainan Naval Air Group was a major adversary for the RAAF’s No. 75 Squadron when the Australians made their famous ‘stand’ in New Guinea. Surprisingly, other than some USAAF Bomb and Fighter Group histories, only 75’s story is widely known when it comes to the New Guinea air campaign – a campaign practically forgotten amid the ‘clamour’ of Guadalcanal and the carrier air battles in the Pacific. For various reasons – among others, lost records, the language barrier and an uncaring post-war public trying to forget a war that destroyed their empire – next to nothing has been written about this phenomenally experienced Japanese unit.

For as long as I can remember, Michael Claringbould has been at the forefront of New Guinea air war research. His various books and endless series of investigative magazine articles have kept the memories of the air war alive and his work has uncovered lost aircraft and men and stoked the fires of a wider interest in a campaign fought over the most unforgiving landscape.

All of this work, though, as good as it is, was really just a prelude to EOTSS. MC joined forces with Italian Luca Ruffato and the pair, both experts in their own right, formed an almost symbiotic relationship as they filled the holes in each other’s knowledge and, with a magnificent supporting cast of contributing editors (a veritable who’s who of leading Pacific air war researchers), have written the most comprehensive English-language history of a Japanese unit we are ever likely to see.

This book is, simply, brilliant (and a little overwhelming at first look ... there is just so much to take in). For a ‘hard-core’ unit history it is wonderfully easy to read with a lovely flow that, I suspect, is largely a product of MC’s years of writing. The analysis of the actions and everything associated with the men of the Tainan Air Group will leave you dumbfounded. If you are familiar with particular combats or pilots from the Allied side, you will suddenly learn whom they were flying against and those opponents’ experiences … combined with the Allied viewpoint. This extraordinary balance – literally the full story – is maintained throughout the book and would certainly have been a challenge at times given the paucity of Japanese records and the fact men and aircraft simply disappeared without a trace.

As a Commonwealth-focused reader, the balance of Allied (RAAF and USAAF) and Japanese detail has resulted in a wonderful learning experience – almost a feeling of enlightenment. My knowledge is now more rounded in terms of the New Guinea air war and my existing knowledge of the RAAF’s involvement is now so much deeper. The exceptionally well-illustrated (period photos from both sides abound) EOTSS has easily set a new benchmark and I don’t think it will ever be surpassed. It has brought to life a unit everyone ‘knew’ about but few understood in detail. This aspect is reinforced with innovative computer-generated images of specific encounters/combats and many, many ‘traditional’ profiles of the aircraft involved (and, amazingly, a progressive colour palette of how Japanese paint faded!). The ‘CGI’ is a very clever device as, for the first time, the reader is treated to visual recreations of what did happen. Even the terrain pictured is the exact landscape over which the action took place!

Eagles Of The Southern Sky is a large-format paperback of 350+ pages. From a presentation and wear point of view, a hardback would certainly have been preferable but this would have placed such a massive work out of the reach of all but the most serious readers. It is, however, at A$80, not a small investment but I challenge you to find better value for money. No superlative can give a sense of how truly monumental this book is. Claringbould and Ruffato have given us their opus and it breathes new life into the lost and the forgotten. They must surely know what they have achieved is remarkable. Aviation history and our understanding of the New Guinea air war will never be the same again … and that is a great thing.

Lancaster Men - Peter Rees

In the cold light of day war is about statistics.  Lose a smaller percentage of your force than your opponent over a period of time and odds are you’ll emerge victorious.  It’s a numbers game.  Strongest, fastest, heaviest … deadliest.  Deadliest.  That’s what it really comes down to.  The best machine is nothing without the people who operate it.  It is the people who make the sacrifice.  It is the people who make the stories and the history.  It is the people who make the numbers.

The percentages of Bomber Command are well known yet they will never lose their impact.  Generally, of 125,000 aircrew, 46 percent were killed and 14 percent survived being shot down.  Sixty percent, therefore, did not return home as they left (a clumsy way of putting it considering those wounded but you know what I mean).  These are figures we expect to see in relation to the trenches of WW1.

Many of the sons of those who served in the trenches would spend their wartime career flying over the same hallowed ground in machines that could hardly have been dreamt of 25 years earlier.  This ‘new’ form of warfare, though, exacted the same terrible toll.  Like those in the trenches, the men of Bomber Command came from almost every corner of the world.  When the war ended, the survivors – such as they were as not one remained unaffected – returned home to countries trying to rebuild and a public that, largely, would never understand the job they had to do and the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the family, that was a bomber crew.

The stories of these crews are seemingly endless, happily (after all there’s at least 120,000-plus out there!), and the market is certainly well-populated (again, happily) with books by or about the men of Bomber Command.  The ‘anthology approach’ is certainly not rare in this world and the very nature, and number, of bomber crews lends itself to this style of story-telling.  However, given the ‘melting pot’ that was the bomber crew, telling the story of an Australian often involves also telling the story of a Canadian, a couple of Poms and a Kiwi or two among others!  So, Peter Rees, author of the new book Lancaster Men, certainly had his work cut out to maintain his focus.  It is no surprise he has as, over the past decade, this experienced author has turned his attention to groups of Australian servicemen and women who, at times, appear to slip from the collective psyche.

It is hard to imagine more than 10,000 men being ‘forgotten’ especially when they lost roughly 35 percent of their number, but, with the abandonment of the Command as a whole by politicians distancing themselves from previously ‘sanctioned’ raids like Dresden and a return home that was greeted with monikers like ‘Jap dodgers’, it is understandable.  Many would have wanted to have been forgotten given this disregard for their achievements.  A little more than 25 years later, Australian Vietnam veterans received similar treatment and one can’t help but think what pain must have been dredged up in the old bomber men.

Lancaster Men is nothing out of the ordinary.  It tells good stories of fine men and, as expected from this author, it does it well.  It is, however, a very important work.  Produced as a large, well-illustrated 448-page paperback by a publisher with an enviable reputation and an established market, LM is very accessible.  It is written for the ‘everyman’ not the hard-core specialist aviation enthusiast.  This is a book that deserves to be widely read and, dare I say it, part of the curriculum of many schools.  The numbers mean a lot but only if they are remembered for what they really are - people, not statistics.  Lancaster Men does that and will find a wide audience of appreciative and respectful readers.

Time off ... again

Well, I might as well write something this month!  I'm about to disappear until the end of April as I prepare for yet another exam.  The past few months haven't generated as much material for ABR as I would have liked but that has been entirely due to my lack of time to do so. 

The new books have been flowing in quite nicely as you can see by the ever-increasing list of covers on the right-hand side of every page.  There is a distinct Bomber Command theme - note the Australian title in the 'pile', the weighty Lancaster Men by Peter Rees - with many of the new books and I will be partly highlighting this in the near future by shining a bit of a light on the works of Alan Cooper and the new editions of his books being published by Pen & Sword this year.

ABR has recently had the review for The Bomber Command Memorial Book published in the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia's magazine, Rag & Tube.  Well, I had it published as it's attributed to me and doesn't mention the site but it's 'out there' all the same.  Hopefully, a shorter version of this review and two others will appear in the next issue of Flightpath.

On the subject of new books, I am very much looking forward to Graeme Gibson's first volume of his No. 16 Squadron SAAF history, Path Of Duty.  As comprehensive and 'unknown' a history as this is, I can guarantee every reader will be blown away by the sketches, profiles and artwork that will supplement the photos.  You will never see better.  Something more well known is the Battle of Britain and Kristen Alexander is set to release Australian Eagles which is the prelude to her 'opus' - the much-anticipated Australia's Few.  What was to be an e-book will be available as a lovely, limited edition hardback in early July.  It is an enjoyable yet sobering read and will certainly open a few eyes to the Australian BoB experience ... and break a few hearts.

Finally, I'll close with a quick recommendation.  Owen Zupp, author of Down To Earth, released his first e-book, 50 Tales Of Flight, earlier this month and it, for want of a better description, has been a runaway success.  50 Tales is currently top of the pile in its genre on Amazon and is firmly into the top 10 in the iTunes biography category.  A phenomenal effort whichever way you look at it but completely justified.  While many of the stories are beyond the scope of ABR, aviation lies at the very heart of each one and that same joy of, and fascination with, flight experienced and recounted by many WW2 aircrew in their memoirs can be found on every page.  An enlightening and uplifting read if ever there was one and to read this book is to understand the meaning of passion.  Owen didn't regard this as a biographical work but the reader will certainly soar with him, heart and soul, through many adventures, and inspirations, from his time in aviation ... so far!

Until May, keep reading and exploring.  I'll live vicariously through you!

Andy

Blood, Sweat And Valour - Steve Brew

You know the times when you just have to sit back and take stock of what you see before you?  Often, it is a good thing to be sitting down as the euphoria and awe that washes over you might be a bit too much!  Such was the case when my copy of Steve Brew's epic work on No. 41 Squadron - Blood, Sweat And Valour - arrived in the mail yesterday. 

Epic is an understatement but the only other word that comes close is "brick".  At 980+ pages this book is simply massive yet, cleverly, maintains a manageable size in that it would not look out of place among the big hardback fiction books that top the bestseller lists.  Fiction it most certainly is not of course.  As one of two units to receive the Spitfire Mk XII in 1943, No. 41 Squadron and its EB codes are a familiar sight to RAF, Spitfire and WW2 afficianados.  Exploiting the first Griffon-powered Spitfire in operational service to the hilt, the Squadron excelled particularly against the V-1 flying bomb threat.

However, while the Mk XII is perhaps the most famous 'face' of the Squadron post-Battle of Britain, there is a reason why this volume (effectively volume two) is so large.  No. 41 Squadron was involved in just about every major operation that has since become iconic within the history of the RAF - Dieppe, D-Day, Operation Big Ben (anti-V2 ops) and the Arnhem landings.  A ridiculously impressive service record that deserves a ridiculously comprehensive 'biography'.

This has been achieved with BSV and is an absolute credit to the tireless work of Steve Brew.  He is the current historian for the Squadron and, beyond the valued relationships he has developed with current and past members, has a direct and proud link to the unit in that his great uncle was shot down and taken prisoner in 1941.  A very quick flick-through of the book revealed an attention to detail very rarely seen particularly with regard to personal details ... and not just of aircrew.  This is truly a tribute to every serviceman who had the privilege of calling the Squadron home.

As you'd expect from a book of this size and detail, there is a lot of text.  Happily, there is no separate photo section.  The more than 300 photographs can be found throughout the book and are placed so as to be relevant to the text surrounding them.  Nothing like putting a face to a name as you read.  One of the more personal aspects of the book are the numerous caricatures which reflect a lighter side of squadron life and are the perfect foil to the purposeful, and somewhat sobering, maps and tables.  Text that is missing, however, is an index.  This would have been invaluable but its absence is understandable given how much bigger it would have made the book.  Fortunately, Steve Brew has circumvented this somewhat by including a downloadable personnel index on his BSV website.

A word of advice.  This is, obviously, a very heavy book and I was reliably informed it will justifiably retail in Australia for more than $70.  I am not in this game for free books so rather than expect publishers Fonthill Media (they have excelled themselves with the production of what must have been a challenging project to put together) to foot the bill, I bought my copy through an Abebooks seller in the UK for roughly, all up, A$40.  I am a strong supporter of book stores but, like you, have a limited budget for such things so like to 'invest' wisely. 

That this book is accessible affordably is something to take advantage of as its value goes beyond anything monetary.  It will teach, enlighten, move and entertain even the most 'hardened' reader of this genre.  BSV is the shining light that guides us down the historical path to a time seven decades in the past.  It is a past we are losing as the men of that time dwindle in number.  Blood, Sweat And Valour keeps their memory alive like no other RAF squadron history before.

They Hosed Them Out - John Bede Cusack

I'm not much of a fan of aircrew fiction.  For the most part I find little, niggly errors (factual and historical and perhaps some not so small) that get under my skin. That said, the same can be found in non-fiction books on the same subject! I do admire the ability to write and publish one's own book but, really, aircrew fiction is not for me. I mean, there's so many true stories out there - some more outlandish and incredible than the most gung-ho fiction author's imagination - I'll never have time for anything else!

However, where the fiction is written by a former airman, I am more than happy to recognise the exception to the rule. Here's someone who was there and saw it all, for better or for worse. Whatever the reason for writing a fiction story rather than a non-fiction one is not for me to ponder (too much). I am just grateful the effort was made and, in doing so, a window to the man's soul is revealed. It would take an iron will of a type never seen before to not let one's opinions and emotions be reflected in the story. Understanding what they went through is part of respecting and honouring their memory and a 'fictionalised' account can achieve this just as well.

They Hosed Them Out's reputation precedes it but, until now, it has remained somewhat of an enigma. Published incomplete, but with no effect on the story, it was written by former air gunner John Bede Cusack ... whose name didn't even appear on the cover (pseudonym John Beede). So, an enigma wrapped in a mystery etc etc. Whatever it was, THTO's impact cannot be denied. This fictionalised autobiographical effort has been justifiably elevated to 'classic' status and shares this pantheon with the well-known (non-fiction) works of Don Charlwood and Ivan Southall.

How can something like this have new life breathed into it? Why not just ride on the coat tails of the book's legacy? Fortunately, this was not the approach taken when this new edition was put together. Wanting to honour Cusack publicly, perhaps giving the man the publicity he somewhat avoided, this new edition has included, for the first time, all of the chapters originally written and, again for the first time, included his full name on the cover. It does not stop there, however, as the editor, Robert Brokenmouth, has gone to great lengths to, where possible, reference the people and events of this fictional account to Cusack's logbook (and other sources) and the operations he was known to have flown. This has been achieved through the use of footnoting and appendices so the original narrative is in no way interrupted or impaired. It is a wonderful piece of work with the added gem of a short biography of Cusack written by his daughter.

So, not only do you get to experience a classic book in its entirety for the first time but you also see just how firmly this work of fiction is planted in reality. The seed planted by 'Beede' many decades ago has truly matured. The original was hard to put down and is truly revered by those who have lost themselves between the covers. Expect the same from the new edition ... including the appendices!

Happily, this new THTO comes presented as a high-quality paperback. Wakefield Press' tagline on their website is "We love good stories and publish beautiful books". No argument here. The pages are crisp and the book has that lovely, solid feel to it that I have come to expect from quality publishers in Australia and New Zealand. 

What excites me the most about this book is that it is not 'just another' heavy bomber crew book. If you haven't read the book, this new edition may give you that false impression with the cover image. Cusack flew as a gunner in Wellingtons, Venturas (Eindhoven raid, anyone?!) and Mitchells. I can't even think of a book written by someone who flew all of these workhorse types operationally during their wartime career.  They are certainly few and far between and, with the justifiably massive interest in Bomber Command's heavy campaign at the moment, that's what makes the timing of this new edition so important. These were the 'other' bomber men and they will be remembered. They Hosed Them Out is fiction but not like anything you have experienced before.

ISBN 978-1-74305-1-054

Coastal Dawn - Andrew D. Bird

The Blenheim fighter men were pioneers. In their hands they had a twin-engined aircraft that, upon introduction, was a step ahead of the single-engined fighters of the day. While this advantage was fleeting, the fighter version of the Blenheim allowed the RAF to provide long-range escort to coastal convoys and begin to develop the intruder role. As we all know, the Blenheim, in any guise, proved to be outclassed when confronted with modern fighter aircraft. Despite this, the type, in bomber form, soldiered on effectively for several years. The Blenheim fighter was, however, very quickly replaced by the Beaufighter but not before the older type had laid the foundations for heavy fighter operations.

The early years of the war were particularly hard for Britain and her allies. The Blenheim fighters were in it from the start. If the aircrew did not know the inadequacies of their aircraft in the role, they quickly found out yet they continued to fly and fight with astounding courage. If anything, what the aircraft lacked in performance, the crews made up for with their skill and commitment.

Despite the high casualties of Blenheim fighter crews from the Phoney War and the retreat from France to Norway and the Battle of Britain, their actions have often been overshadowed by those of the Spitfire and Hurricane squadrons. The crews are certainly mentioned in accounts of each of these campaigns but few authors have sat down and pulled all of the threads together. That, happily, is no longer the case.

Andy Bird is best known for his in-depth look at Coastal Command’s Banff Strike Wing in A Separate Little War. With his new book, Coastal Dawn, he turns his gaze to the very beginnings of the RAF’s heavy fighter ‘era’. It is a period poles apart from the hard-hitting, long range strikes performed by the Mosquito squadrons of the Banff Strike Wing when, mostly, the RAF crews had the upper hand. Their predecessors in the Blenheims, though, were almost always up against it so there is certainly a different feel to CD. It is evident as well that the author has adjusted his writing style. The detail is obviously still there but it is wonderfully humanised with long passages from crews’ memories interspersed with very well-researched ‘creative’ scene setting and descriptions of events and landscapes. The recurring theme, however, is one of loss. If you were to flick through this book and stop at 10 different places, I could almost guarantee the majority of those would contain some detail of a lost crew or a forced-landing. It is really quite sobering but you cannot help be uplifted by the spirit with which these crews flew and fought. Just astounding.

Coastal Dawn is a typical Grub Street hardback – solid, good-looking and well-produced (in the UK!). At a tick over 220 pages it feels good in the hand. This is largely due to the good quality paper used. There is no glossy photo section as is often found in books of this ilk. Due to the good paper, the many photographs are reproduced within the text and are comparable to their glossy ‘counterparts’. Indeed, the placing of the photos in the text means they are immediately relevant and many put faces to names now long gone.

Andy Bird has excelled himself with Coastal Dawn. The same can be said for Grub Street who have produced a truly beautiful book and, having seen other recent releases from them, it is clear they have raised the bar in the hardback aircrew book stakes … but then, the Blenheim fighter crews deserve nothing less.

The book is available direct from Grub Street of course but also from large online booksellers like Booktopia.