633 Squadron Operation Crucible

After the remarkable success of 633 Squadron and its sequel, 633 Squadron: Operation Rhine Maiden, readers all over the world will welcome this third episode of the famous Special Service Unit of Mosquitoes.
It is Autumn 1943 and there is acrimony between the Air Staffs of Britain and America. With the 8th Air Force suffering crippling losses, accusations are coming from Washington that the RAF is not giving the B.17s adequate support. Although the RAF denies the allegation, Ernest Lambert, celebrated novelist turned war correspondent, is fanning the flames of discontent in influential American newspapers.
Acutely aware that unless the campaign is discredited Congress might reduce its allocation of B.17s to the European theatre, Air Commodore Davies of the RAF and General Staines of the American 8th Air Force set up an ambitious but risky operation to restore public confidence. Because the Rhine Maiden affair has given 633 Squadron a distinguished reputation in the States, it is the RAF unit chosen for the mission.
The mission is only partly successful, however. A number of Americans are accidentally killed and Lambert is not slow to capitalise on the tragedy. As a consequence Davies and Staines are forced to involve 633 Squadron even further; this time in an important Dieppe-type raid the Americans are about to launch. Because, if it is to have its desired effect, their protective role must be seen by ground observers, the Mosquitoes are given the most dangerous role of all — ground support. This operation, vividly described, is the tremendous climax to the story.
Depicting wartime squadron life with the authenticity for which the author is famous, 633 Squadron: Operation Crucible, as richly characterised as the two books before it, also portrays the crippling effects of war on young and sensitive minds. The whole makes a superb war novel.


by Frederick E. Smith
Published by Cassell 1977 1st edition. 206pp 13x20 near mint, including d/j.






Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.