A vivid and lyrical memoir of life as an RAF reconnaissance pilot during the Battle of France.
Air Commodore Alastair Panton served in the Royal Air Force for thirty-five years. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Gallantry in 1940 and also received an OBE in 1950 and a CB in 1969. He ended his military service as Provost Marshal and Head of RAF Security. After his retirement, he became Steward of Penrhyn Castle in Wales and then ran a second-hand bookshop in North Yorkshire. Panton died in December 2002.
This totally gripping account of the air war of May and June 1940
was written by one of the bravest of "The Few". Its short pages
encompass all the timeless themes of war: comradeship, sacrifice,
patriotism, fear, and sheer, raw courage. Panton's engaging and
immediate prose style recalls the Battle of France in all its pity
and tragedy, with his Mark IV Blenheim bomber as much a character
in the story as any of his comrades. This deserves to join Reach
for the Sky and The Last Enemy as one the great RAF books of the
Second World War.
*ANDREW ROBERTS*
This is a wonderfully vivid account of those forgotten heroes of
1940. It deserves to become one of the great aerial memoirs of the
Second World War. It's an absolutely brilliant book
*JAMES HOLLAND*
This is a gem of a memoir. An RAF pilot of rare tenacity and
courage, Alistair Panton writes vividly but artlessly and with no
hint of bravado about the grimly chaotic weeks of Dunkirk when he
and his crew brushed with death in the sky most every day. His
front-line story - humane, modest, and compassionate - inspires
admiration to the point of awe
*JONATHAN DIMBLEBY*
A hidden gem of a diary on a little known episode of the Second
World War. It speaks to everyone with its drama, pathos, humour and
above all, compassion. It should be read by every history
student
*PAUL BEAVER, author of SPITFIRE PEOPLE*
Simply wonderful. One of the best accounts of WWII that I have ever
read
*JOHN NICHOL*
The soldiers on the Dunkirk beaches who jeered the RAF for not
making their presence felt in the skies above them would have
cheered if they had read this stirring vivid account of the torment
suffered by one of Britain's most heroic pilots during the battle
for France in May to June 1940.
*HUGH SEBAG-MONTEFIORE*
It is the best account of the chaos and confusion of war outside
the pages of Evelyn Waugh
*BORIS JOHNSON*
One can't help feeling awe and reverence. There are enough
adventures here for a lifetime, let alone six weeks
*LOUIS DE BERNIERES*
An amazing story of bravery and courage in the air and on the
ground
*GENERAL THE LORD DANNATT*
This story grips you by the lapels and sometimes by the throat, and
all who love tales of war will devour every page
*MATTHEW PARRIS*
Extraordinary ... The clarity of this book is as surprising as its
humanity ... both great drama and poignant social commentary ...
His story deserves to be told
*THE TIMES*
What comes over is the extraordinary life of these airmen, who were
living in care-free comfort one moment and dying horrible deaths
only a few minutes later
*SHROPSHIRE STAR*
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