This novel is a tribute to the RAF World War Two Bomber Command crews who bombed Germany by night. For the most part, they were very, very young men. They flew knowing that surviving a thirty mission tour was virtually impossible. The few who survived were posted for six month “ rest periods” to training units, which also had very high losses. Then back for another tour of duty. They were promoted rapidly..because of attrition and the length of time it took to train aircrew. There simply was no pool of veterans available to the squadrons as replacements for dead leaders.
The novel is told from the perspective of David Kirby, a lower middle class bank clerk, who enlists, survives training, and is commissioned an officer. Unlike the US Army Air Force, RAF Officer status did not depend on an aircrew member’s function. The RAF was searching for “leadership/ officer like qualities.” So, it was quite possible for. Sergeant Pilot to command a bomber among whose crew might be a higher ranking officer…perhaps navigator. Odd. A relic of the once rigid class system.
The other characters…. fellow trainees, squadron mates, and crew members are not cardboard stereotypes. They are well developed and bring Kirby’s world vividly to life.
I know this ground has been well covered in fiction and innumerable non-fiction works.. Len Deighton’s “Bomber” comes to mind. Or Spencer Dunmore’s “Squadron.” But this is well written and well worth reading.
The author does not duck the..by today’s standards.. immorality of the RAF’s area bombing strategy which was designed to demoralize the German population by depopulating Germany’s cities. Through his characters, he does ask that the young fliers be judged in the context of their time.
Two ironies. Bomber Command’s war on German cities was at least in part designed to avoid repeating the appalling loss of England’s potential leaders, infantry officers, during World War One. It didn’t work. More of the same type of young men were killed in Bomber Command than in the trenches. And of course, the U.K.’s political class, which conceived and authorized area bombing, quickly ignored and disavowed the young men who died carrying out its dictates. All one can say, I guess, is that a Nazi victory would have been far worse.
I first read this book in the early 1980’s. I stumbled upon it at a book sale. I’m glad I did. I know it’s unlikely anyone will see this review. The author is long dead as are most World War Two veterans. But, imperfect as they may have been, those veterans (including the author) did save our civilization.
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