FLARE PATH

Good yarn with balance of romance and excitement that has for background the battle of the Atlantic, 1941, told in the first person, with the author -- by name -- as central character. Tod, R.A.F. airman who qualifies for captaincy of his own flying boat, finds a fight on his hands over his girl Sarah, with his former superior officer, Flint, and plenty of patrol, convoy guarding and active duty to keep him out of the running. There is the arrival of the American Catalinas to replace the shorter cruising Sunderlands; there is a bombing, a hunt for a lost plane, and, as a climax, after Tod has beaten Flint fairly in a fight, the hunt for the Scharnholt, where Tod is wounded and saved by Flint.