sections:
An intensely personal account of the Falklands War, seen through the eyes of a Sea Harrier pilot who probably saw more action than any other pilot. He describes the intense emotions of war, the euphoria, the bathos and the raw fear.
Also the quiet periods of reflection, the personal thoughts that cannot be shared without the risk of ridicule.
The narrative runs from the moment that the news of the invasion broke, on a fine Friday morning in sleepy Somerset. It follows the Task Force on its journey to the South Atlantic, through the preparation and work-up phase and into action on May 1st 1982.
With the first attack on Stanley Airfield, where he is hit by anti-aircraft fire, the pace of the action accelerates at an alarming rate and fellow pilots are soon lost to enemy action. Extracts from his contemporary diaries detail the facts and emotions of the day-to-day combat and letters home, together with his poetry, add piquancy to the story.
By the end of the conflict he has become the highest scoring British pilot since 1945, with four confirmed kills. As a result he is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the third highest possible award for gallantry. Only the eleventh time such an award has been made to a Royal Air Force pilot.
book reviews
- Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
"That is one stunning book! Not only do you paint it all, the sky, the speed, the power, the tired waiting, the tick of some vast destiny turning round, the view through the gunsight and through your heart, you paint what others have never done...the consequences of victory when the fighting’s done. What a brave intimate look into your soul, as a fighter pilot and as a human being. Congratulations, of course, but more: thank you. You bring high new colors to the literature of the sky."
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