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SQUADRON AIRBORNE by Elleston Trevor

SQUADRON AIRBORNE

By

Pub Date: Sept. 3rd, 1956
Publisher: Macmillan

As in the annals of The Big Pick Up (1955), this concentrates on a small portion of the war, here RAF Westhill and the men in the kites and those who maintain them. Young Pilot Officer Stuyckes (pronounced Stewks) has an unfortunate introduction to the base and the men when he flubs his first landing and is chaperoned in from his first operation but, with the pace accelerating from German attacks getting closer and closer, he measures up to the Squadron Leader, Mason's, demands, Mason faces the loss of men and the greater loss of machines daily; sees White crack up; finds Felicity; and makes up a new squadron when the original is slashed to bits. And with the ground staff, it's the motors, the need to be ready, the little moments of time off, and the pride in the record of the Spitfires they salvage and of the fliers who tick off the MEs, Dorniers, Heinkels, and Junkers...The previous book indicated Trevor's excellent reporting which here again is effective and there is besides the strong impress of the hardihood and dedication of those legendary ""few"". Good for an air-minded masculine audience.