Only Owls and Bloody Fools Fly at Night

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{detailed description}Tom Sawyer began the Second World War with 1,000 hours of service flying behind him. After five and a half years in Bomber Command he finished as station commander at Lissett. In those years he had a remarkable variety of experiences, from the early OTU days flying Ansons, Hampdens and Whitleys, to his days with 10 Squadron on the early bombing raids over Germany, his posting to 76 Squadron with the new four-engined Halifax, command of 78 Squadron, and after a spell at HQ, in command of 51 Squadron and as station commander at Burn, Driffield and eventually Lissett with 158 Squadron at the time of the maximum effort raids against Germany in the last stages of the war. In these memoirs he traces the change in the role of bombing operations from the early days of the war with their somewhat haphazard methods, through to the highly disciplined, deadly instruments of war they had become by 1945. But this is a book principally about the men who flew these missions night after night. Not only are his own operations recalled vividly in detail, the tensions, the near disasters, the successes, the failures, but also he gives a new look into the problems facing squadron and station commanders, as well as a host of anecdotes reflecting all facets of operational bomber missions: the tragic losses, the amazing pieces of luck, the often light-hearted moments as well as the waste of war and the dangers faced by the pilots not only from the enemy, but from their machines, from human error, even from our own defences. The recollections form a remarkable tribute to the brave young aircrew of Bomber Command.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by Group Captain Tom Sawyer DFC
published by William Kimber 1982 1st edn. 191pp illustrated, index. 16x24
{condition}near fine, in loose poly-covered d/j
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