They joined an R.A.F. known as 'the best flying club in the world', but when war pitches the young pilots of 409 Squadron into battle over Germany, their training, tactics and equipment are soon found wanting, their twin-engined bombers obsolete from the off. Chances of completing a 30-operation tour? One in three. At best. Robinson's crooked salute to the dogged heroes of the R.A.F.'s early bombing campaign is a wickedly humourous portrait of men doing their duty in flying death traps, fully aware, in those dark days of war, there was nothing else to do but dig in and hang on.

About the Author
Derek Robinson, the son of a policeman, read history at Cambridge before working in advertising in London and New York. His novel Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1971.

Reviews
'Tough, taut prose that pulls you through the book like a steel cable' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian. * Guardian *
'Mordantly funny and, in its way, as loud an anti-battle cry as Catch 22' Toby Clements, Telegraph. * Telegraph *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857051172
Author Derek Robinson
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint MacLehose Press
Publisher Quercus Publishing
Weight(grams) 280g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 24mm