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My Part of the Sky: A Fighter Pilot's First-hand Experiences, 1939-45
208 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 15, 2020
One of the best pure flying experiences out of WWII I have ever read. Very well written, easy to read, an amazing story about a very gifted and lucky flyer, thoroughly enjoyed this book.
December 14, 2024
Based on his diaries, at least that is what the text tells us, this book describes the experiences of one of the great RAF flyers of WWII.
The book does a good job describing the life of a green fighter pilot making his ways through the ranks to become a squadron and wing leader. It does so while not describing the promotions in detail, but you do get the progress made by the responsibilities that he gets.
It is not a book that contains a lot of '...Jerry turned right, so I banked over and gave him a good burst...'. There is action in the book, but you get to understand the bigger picture and how the RAF leaned over into NW Europe to bring the war to the Germans. You also see how the pressure on the pilots build up over the war years and how losses affected the men.
Some mention is made of his experiences as a test pilot for Hawker, but this is only briefly covered.
I have mixed feelings about the book. In part I like the way the whole thing is written, on the other hand I think it could have used some more details in places.
But I still liked reading it.
The book does a good job describing the life of a green fighter pilot making his ways through the ranks to become a squadron and wing leader. It does so while not describing the promotions in detail, but you do get the progress made by the responsibilities that he gets.
It is not a book that contains a lot of '...Jerry turned right, so I banked over and gave him a good burst...'. There is action in the book, but you get to understand the bigger picture and how the RAF leaned over into NW Europe to bring the war to the Germans. You also see how the pressure on the pilots build up over the war years and how losses affected the men.
Some mention is made of his experiences as a test pilot for Hawker, but this is only briefly covered.
I have mixed feelings about the book. In part I like the way the whole thing is written, on the other hand I think it could have used some more details in places.
But I still liked reading it.
October 12, 2020
Hmm. Mildly interesting
Said to be the diaries of a fighter pilot during the war although first published in 1989. He served all through the war starting in the initial battle for France, we lost and then the Battle of Britain and then finally support for the D Day landings. He does give some idea about the pressures facing the pilots and the excitement of flying and combat.
But I felt that it was a bit flat and seemed to concentrate at times on the drinking rather than the planes. The biggest shock was that the pilots did say Wizard and Germany was Hunland, thought that was only for the war comics we had as kids.
The pilot became a test pilot after the war, he did some test pilot work with the Typhoons and Tempests during the war.
Said to be the diaries of a fighter pilot during the war although first published in 1989. He served all through the war starting in the initial battle for France, we lost and then the Battle of Britain and then finally support for the D Day landings. He does give some idea about the pressures facing the pilots and the excitement of flying and combat.
But I felt that it was a bit flat and seemed to concentrate at times on the drinking rather than the planes. The biggest shock was that the pilots did say Wizard and Germany was Hunland, thought that was only for the war comics we had as kids.
The pilot became a test pilot after the war, he did some test pilot work with the Typhoons and Tempests during the war.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews