Men Behind the Medals

It is said that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. However, the statistics relating to the life expectancy of aircrew in the Second World War are beyond dispute. Of course things varied as the pendulum swung back and forth and as the fighting shifted from theatre to theatre, but at no time were their chances of survival anything but extremely poor. Nevertheless, there were always plenty of volunteers willing to challenge the odds in this new and. for the most part, largely experimental field of combat.
This book pays tribute to the quite remarkable bravery of those young men who risked, and all too often lost, their lives for their country during the war. The author, himself a distinguished Royal Air Force officer, has, perforce, had to single out twenty-one men to represent 'The Many' to whom he dedicates the book; but he has chosen them with care to illustrate, as far as possible, the wide scope of the duties of the Royal Air Force in wartime.
As Sir Ivor Broom points out in his Foreword, 'A few names have become household legends,' and one is forced to wonder whether 'The Few' have not stolen the limelight from 'The Many'. If that be so, Air Commodore Pitchfork's book is a timely reminder of the debt we owe to all those gallant airmen of whom those whose aerial adventures he so vividly records are worthy representatives.



by Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork
Published by Leo Cooper 1998 1st edition. 268pp profusely illustrated. 18x25 ex. lib. stamps and labels to end papers, binding slightly distorted, o/w good inc. 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jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.)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.

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