Airmen’s Incredible Escapes
American and other Allied aircrew in the Second World War cheated death in inspirational struggles to survive.
In the latest book by Australian author Bryn Evans, Airmen’s Incredible Escapes, the resilience and self-sacrifice of the human spirit belie the horrors of war, in a message for us today and for future generations.
Yorkshire born author is inspired by the Beatles
Airmen’s Incredible Escapes – A message for future generations
In the latest book by Yorkshire born author Bryn Evans, Airmen’s Incredible Escapes, the resilience and self-sacrifice of the human spirit belie the horrors of war, in a message for us today and for future generations.
Johnnie Johnson’s 1942 Diary: The War Diary of the Spitfire Ace of Aces
Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, a policeman’s son from Leicestershire, was the ultimate Boys’ Own Paper character: the RAF’s top-scoring fighter pilot and wing leader par excellence of the Second World War. A one-time household name, Johnnie’s aerial combat successes inspired schoolboys for generations – myself very much included. I was not to know then, of course, that one day ‘Greycap Leader’ and I would become great friends, spending many happy days together, attending enthusiast events, lectures, and our book signings.
Empty Sky was never meant to be a book. But then none of the more than 130+ interviews we have conducted so far were ever intended for books; they were all filmed for TV programmes.
Many books have been written about the Battle of Britain and understandably are from the victor’s perspective. However, very little has been written about the losers. Over the years, author Chris Goss, himself a former RAF senior officer, has studied and written about the Luftwaffe’s part in the Battle of Britain. In 2019, he wrote Knights of the Battle of Britain listing all German aircrew who were awarded the coveted Ritterkreuz-the Knight’s Cross. This prompted him to study those Luftwaffe fighter pilots who achieved ace status (five or more victories ) by 31 October 1940. This book is the result of his studies which lists all Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilots, and to a lesser extent Messerschmitt Bf 110 pilots, who became aces in the Summer of 1940 with as full a biography as possible of each and photographs of nearly all 204 of them, something which has never been done in the 80 years since the Battle of Britain.
One moment the sky would be full of aircraft wheeling and positioning for the best shot at the enemy; a sky full of danger and menace. The next instant there would just be a clear blue empty sky with the sun shining down on a calm and beautiful landscape. Such was the phenomenon experienced by pilots who fought in the key battles of France and Britain in the Summer of 1940.
As I near the end of writing a book I usually become overwhelmed by a desire to just get it over with. After a time, I begin to wish I had added a chapter or two describing what happened to some of the more colourful actors or reflecting on the ironies revealed by the passage of time. But in this case, after I had sent the text off to my publisher, I began to have rather different regrets. I wished I had dwelt more on the contacts between the Poles and their British hosts, both military and, perhaps more interestingly, civilian. The book does cover this angle at some length, but with hindsight I began to feel that there was almost another book to be written on the subject.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park is one of New Zealand’s greatest military leaders. Murray Rowland’s thoughtful biography, Air Marshal Sir Keith Park, will introduce a new generation of readers to an outstanding commander who played an absolutely central role in winning the Battle of Britain in 1940.
The first edition of Men of the Battle of Britain by Kenneth G Wynn was published by Gliddon Books in 1989. It was quickly established as a standard work of reference, though, as a senior RAF officer stressed to me recently, it is considerably more than that. A supplementary volume followed in 1992 and a second edition appeared from CCB in 1999.
Fascinated by the Battle of Britain from an early age, as a young man I realised that recording and sharing the Few’s memories was of paramount importance. At the time, back in the mid-1980s, membership of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association was well populated and the then Honorary Secretary, the now late Wing Commander Pat Hancock, supported my research by forwarding letters to individual pilots of interest. These included a wide-range of personalities, from famous airmen like Group Captain Peter Townsend and Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling to the ‘also rans’, as Battle of Britain Hurricane pilot Peter Fox famously described himself and peers. Indeed, it was Peter’s ‘also rans’ that were of greatest interest to me, having recognised that whilst many famous and distinguished pilots had either published personal memoirs or had biographies written about them, lesser-lights had no platform to record and share their experiences. This I became dedicated to resolving.
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