Customer Reviews:
 A Fantastic Depiction Of A Bomber's War August 6, 2007
A. R. Dow (London, England)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
I first read this when I was 12 in the early '70's, and snapped this up as soon as I saw it has been re-printed.
Gibson started right at the beginning of the war in Bombers, did a stint in nightfighters (he was due for rest, but wouldn't accept the genuine break from the war that his superiors wanted him to have), then went back to Bombers through to his being killed in a raid over Germany after he returned to front line duty post Dambusters' raids.
This autobiographical book chronicles the aerial bombing campaign, and, as well as recording Gibson's personal experiences, the people he knew, and some of the scrapes that they got up to on base, charts the developing sophistication of RAF Bomber Command's tactics and aircraft.
As you'd expect, a good chunk is devoted to the Dambusters' raid. The build up to this is also good, and is written very much on the basis of what Gibson was told and "needed to know" at the time. He wrote the book before returning to active service after his post - Dambusters' break, and is very much written so as to not give away any secrets of the time.
This - I believe - provides additional atmosphere to the story.
I've heard that Guy Gibson was thought to be big headed and arrogant - well, it's hard to accomplish things if you don't have a degree of self belief, and at no time in this book do I recall him appearing to self - aggrandise.
It's a great read, and I thoroughly recommend this to anyone interested in the period.
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