"RAF solely to write short stories. The Air Ministry realised that the populace was less concerned with facts and figures about the war than it was with reading about those who were fighting it. The stories were originally published in the ""News Chronicle"" under the pseudonym of “Flying Officer X”. Later they were published in book form as ""The Greatest People in the World and Other Stories"" and ""How Sleep the Brave and Other Stories"". His first financial success was ""Fair Stood the Wind for France"". Following a posting to the Far East, this was followed by two novels about"
"Royal Air Force during World War II, Catto returned to writing fiction. Exotic settings and fast-paced action were the trademarks of his novels, defying categorization into any one genre, instead blending elements of many popular literary styles. Much of his work has been translated into other languages. Max Catto Maxwell Jeffrey Catto (29 July 1907 – 12 March 1992) was born Mark Finkell in Manchester, England and was an English playwright and novelist. Catto wrote adventure novels and dramas for more than four decades and also wrote under the pseudonym Simon Kent. Ten of his works were adapted for film,"
"from his books ""Barren Victories, The Battle of the V-Weapons, Hidden Weapons"" and ""The Lion and the Eagle"" (dust jackets). Basil Collier Basil Collier (1908–1983), full name John Basil Collier, was a British author of books of military history, particularly military aviation, World War II and military and political strategy. Collier became a full-time professional writer in 1932. Before the war he was a novelist, travel writer, critic and broadcaster. He was in the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1948, as a staff officer in Fighter Command to 1944. He worked in the Fighter Command HQ underground operations room"
"Thomas D. Calnan Thomas Daniel Calnan (born 16 December 1915) is an English pilot and prisoner-of-war of World War II, who wrote a memoir of his time in German captivity entitled ""Free As A Running Fox"". Calnan was commissioned in the RAF on 19 December 1936. Calnan was shot down while flying a Spitfire on a photo-reconnaissance mission over France in December 1941. He gives some brief background about himself and his flying career with the RAF's No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, but devotes most of the book to his escape attempts while a prisoner of the Germans. He was"
"incarcerated at Stalag Luft III during the period of the ""Great Escape."" He was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 January 1949, and retired on 14 February 1959. Thomas D. Calnan Thomas Daniel Calnan (born 16 December 1915) is an English pilot and prisoner-of-war of World War II, who wrote a memoir of his time in German captivity entitled ""Free As A Running Fox"". Calnan was commissioned in the RAF on 19 December 1936. Calnan was shot down while flying a Spitfire on a photo-reconnaissance mission over France in December 1941. He gives some brief background about"
"an art dealer in New York, and also as an author, publishing two autobiographical works; ""An Escaper's Log"" (1926), detailing his time as a prisoner in Germany, and ""Wind in the Wires"" (1933) about his flying career, as well as several novels. Later he worked as a broadcaster for the BBC. He returned to military service prior to World War II, being commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 25 April 1939. On 17 June 1940, following Marshal Philippe Pétain's declaration of his intention to seek an armistice, Air-Vice Marshal Arthur Barratt, Air Officer"
"Alan Christopher Deere Air Commodore Alan Christopher ""Al"" Deere, (12 December 1917 – 21 September 1995) was a New Zealand fighter pilot with the Royal Air Force during World War 2, and the author of the war memoir ""Nine Lives"". Deere was born in Auckland, the third son of Terrence (known as Joe) and Teresa (née Curtin) Deere, while his father was employed in the Post Office. The family returned soon after Alan's birth to the family's home town of Westport, where Joe took up a position with the New Zealand Railways. Deere attended St Canices School in Westport before"
"Jack Currie (RAF officer) John Anthony Logan ""Jack"" Currie, (7 December 1921 – 19 October 1996) was an officer in the Royal Air Force and author. After serving during World War 2 he stayed on in the RAF, eventually reaching the rank of squadron leader. After he left the service he wrote a number of books on the RAF, three of which described his own experiences as a bomber pilot. His books portray life as it was in the RAF's Bomber Command during the course of the Second World War. Currie served as narrator in three BBC documentaries on the"
"in Oxfordshire, its ashes were subsequently scattered by his son and former colleagues during a memorial skydive in April 2002 at Hinton Skydiving Centre. Nish Bruce Charles Christian Cameron ""Nish"" Bruce QGM (8 August 1956 – 8 January 2002) was a British Army soldier. He served with the British Army's Parachute Regiment, and Special Air Service Regiment during the Falklands War, and in Operation Banner in Ulster in the early 1980s, where he was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal. In 1998 he published a memoir of his life entitled ""Freefall"", under the pseudonym ""Tom Read"". After being afflicted with several"
"Basil Collier Basil Collier (1908–1983), full name John Basil Collier, was a British author of books of military history, particularly military aviation, World War II and military and political strategy. Collier became a full-time professional writer in 1932. Before the war he was a novelist, travel writer, critic and broadcaster. He was in the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1948, as a staff officer in Fighter Command to 1944. He worked in the Fighter Command HQ underground operations room and handled secret Ultra material from Bletchley Park. He assembled information about German long-range weapons, going to France and Belgium"
"Nish Bruce Charles Christian Cameron ""Nish"" Bruce QGM (8 August 1956 – 8 January 2002) was a British Army soldier. He served with the British Army's Parachute Regiment, and Special Air Service Regiment during the Falklands War, and in Operation Banner in Ulster in the early 1980s, where he was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal. In 1998 he published a memoir of his life entitled ""Freefall"", under the pseudonym ""Tom Read"". After being afflicted with several years of ill mental health, Bruce committed suicide by leaping without a parachute to his death from an aircraft during a flight over South-Eastern"
"World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. He edited the RAF journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book ""Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology"". After Chase left home at the age of 18, he worked in sales, primarily focusing on books and literature. He sold children's encyclopaedias, while also working in a bookshop. He also served as an executive for a book wholesaler, before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. His interests included photography (he"
"fictional Vice Admiral Winslow Holland Maxwell, during World War II, received the call sign ""Winnie,"" which he hated; after a mission in which he shot down three Japanese planes (all confirmed by gunsight cameras), he found a new coffee mug in the wardroom, engraved with the call sign ""Dutch."" When he later became an admiral, he displayed the mug—no longer used for coffee or pencils—in a place of honor on his desk. A trilogy of novels published 2001-2004 by Ward ""Mooch"" Carroll, ""Punk's War"", ""Punk's Wing"", and ""Punk's Fight"", featured Rick Reichert, an F-14 pilot with the call sign ""Punk"""
"officer (on probation). His commission was confirmed and he was promoted to flying officer on 1 April 1944. He was promoted to flight lieutenant (war substantive) on 1 October 1945. He served as a bomber aimer in Avro Lancasters, completing 36 operations. He was a store manager from 1946 to 1977. He currently lives in Ampleforth near York. He was nominated for a prize at the 2014 Romantic Novelists' Association Awards; his novel ""The Road Beneath Me"", written under the pseudonym ""Jessica Blair,"" was nominated in the Epic Romantic Novel category. Had he won, he would have been the first"
"Gun Buster Gun Buster was the pseudonymous author of a series of novels about the British exploits in World War II. His works have been attributed to John Charles Austin and his son, Captain Richard Campion Austin (25 May 1912–13 Sept 2001), who was a captain in the Royal Artillery. Writing during World War II his approach was one of mitigating depressing aspects of the war. Freda Barrymore, reviewing his book, ""Return via Dunkirk"", in the ""Townsville Bulletin"", said: His book ""Battle Dress"" consisted of a series of sketches relating to the British army in France and Dunkirk. The reviewer"
"The Last Enemy (autobiography) The Last Enemy (first published in America as Falling Through Space), is a war memoir written by the Second World War Anglo-Australian fighter pilot Richard Hillary detailing his experiences during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Hillary joined the Royal Air Force at the start of the Second World War as a university undergraduate. Its text details his experiences as a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain, during which he was shot down in action, sustaining severe injuries. He wrote the book in New York City whilst still recuperating from his wounds during a propaganda"
"The Last Enemy (autobiography) The Last Enemy (first published in America as Falling Through Space), is a war memoir written by the Second World War Anglo-Australian fighter pilot Richard Hillary detailing his experiences during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Hillary joined the Royal Air Force at the start of the Second World War as a university undergraduate. Its text details his experiences as a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain, during which he was shot down in action, sustaining severe injuries. He wrote the book in New York City whilst still recuperating from his wounds during a propaganda"
"John Cunningham (RAF officer) John ""Cat's Eyes"" Cunningham (27 July 1917 – 21 July 2002) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) night fighter ace during the Second World War and a test pilot. During the war he was nicknamed ""Cat's Eyes"" by the British Press to explain his successes and to avoid communicating the existence of airborne radar to the enemy. Born in Croydon, as a teenager Cunningham was keen on entering the aviation industry. Temporarily abiding his father's wishes to avoid the military, he approached the de Havilland company and was accepted as an engineering candidate. Concurrently, he joined"
"Squadron at their base at RAF Northolt, West London, England. He wrote the book in Polish under the title ""Dywizjon 303"". It was translated into English by Jarek Garlinski and published in Great Britain in 1942 (where it went through several printings), and in the United States in 1943. A clandestine edition of ""Dywizjon 303"" was parachuted into German-occupied Poland in 1943. Copies duplicated by the Polish Underground were secretly passed from person to person. The account of the successes of their fighter pilots, fighting in distant lands for freedom, boosted morale in the beleaguered country. The book inspired soldier-poet"
"served in France. He was twice wounded in the Battle of the Somme. In 1917-18 he was at the War Office working for Mi7, publishing ""The Battle of the Ridges"" and ""The British Army at War"" designed to educate the American Public about the British war effort. He then served as Staff Captain at the Quartermaster General's branch, General Headquarters, in France, and wrote a contemporary account of Life there (""GHQ"" Montreuil-sur-Mer). Australian military historian Craig Wilcox, author of the book Australia’s Boer War, Oxford University Press 2002 wrote: Fox was a great man, and concerning Morant I think of"
"Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (; 13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. He has been referred to"
"his life. Rex King-Clark Robert ""Rex"" King-Clark MBE MC (27 November 1913 – 29 December 2007) was a British soldier, pilot, racer, photographer, author, and diarist. Rex King-Clark was born on 27 November 1913, son of Alexander King-Clark and Katherine Margaret Elizabeth Mainwaring Knocker. He was educated at the Loretto School. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Rex King-Clark was 25 years old. For the previous five years he had been serving as a subaltern officer in The Manchester Regiment commanding an infantry platoon in Yorkshire, Egypt, Palestine and Singapore. In 1934 an inheritance enabled"
"1962 living on his boat ""Escaper"" in the Eastern Mediterranean with his wife Sibyl. Eric Williams (writer) Eric Williams MC (13 July 1911 – 24 December 1983) was an English writer and former Second World War RAF pilot and prisoner of war (POW) who wrote several books dealing with his escapes from prisoner-of-war camps, most famously in his 1949 novel ""The Wooden Horse"", made into a 1950 movie of the same name. RAF Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams was the navigator of a 75 Squadron Short Stirling bomber (BK620) shot down on a bombing raid over Germany on 17/18 December 1942."
"published by Aero Publishers in 1962. Draper died in Camden, London in 1979. Christopher Draper Squadron Commander Christopher Draper (15 April 1892 – 16 January 1979), was an English flying ace of World War I. His penchant for flying under bridges earned him the nickname ""the Mad Major."" After the war he became a film star through his work both as a stunt pilot and as an actor. During the 1930s he worked for a time as a British secret agent, serving as a double agent to Nazi Germany. He returned to the Navy in World War II. During his"
"Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (3 April 1917 – 26 September 2007) was a Dutch writer who became a resistance fighter and RAF pilot during the Second World War. Near the end of the war he was adjudant (assistant) to Queen Wilhelmina. He was made Knight 4th class of the Military William Order. He is perhaps best known for his book ""Soldaat van Oranje"" (Soldier of Orange) which described his experiences in World War II. His book was later made into a film. Roelfzema was born in the former Dutch East Indies in Surabaya, on Java, when it"
"States). He was married to Yvonne Renaut and had two children Alan and Alison. He could also write the Lords Prayer on the back of a postage stamp. He was an eye-witness of the 1952 Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash. He wrote ""Terror by Night"" (published posthumously in 1982) an account of his war experiences. Michael Renaut Michael Renaut (29 September 1920 – 31 January 1964) was a RAF pilot and author. In August 1940 he joined the RAF as a bomber pilot. He was posted to No. 78 Squadron RAF (July 1941), then to No. 76 Squadron RAF and finally"
"in the Air Force during the Korean War, working as cryptographer due to his very high IQ. He was a huge man; 6 feet and 4 inches tall, and 300 pounds, the writer John Arthur Maynard described him ""a cut-down version of Paul Bunyan – huge bones, huge ribcage, menacing brow, and beard"". After his discharge in 1954, he married, had children and worked as a taxi driver, psychiatric orderly and city worker, while writing never completed novels. Despite a hatred of computers, he later became a computer programmer. He required time off following a truck accident, in which he"
"Richard Hillary Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary (20 April 1919 – 8 January 1943) was an Anglo-Australian Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War. He wrote the book ""The Last Enemy"" about his experiences during the Battle of Britain. Hillary was the son of an Australian government official and his wife (Michael and Edwina Hillary) and was sent to England to be educated at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Oxford. He lived with his parents until the age of seven; from then until he was eighteen he saw them only during the summer holidays. Whilst at Oxford,"
"and his missions against the German night fighter airfields. The book also explains how radar altered the air combat environment in the Second World War. He retired in 1982 to live at Warsash, near Southampton, where he wrote ""The Complete Crossword Companion"", which remains in print and was his biggest earner. He died at Warsash on 8 September 1995. In his obituary he was described as Warmhearted, energetic, and fiercely loyal to the causes in life that he admired, punctiliously good-mannered . . . he will be remembered with affection and respect in the many circles into which his life"
"in a flying accident on Salisbury Plain. He was 32. Throughout his life Orde strongly identified himself as an artist. In the early 1920s he had a painting studio in Paris. His entries in phone directories for forty years – 1929 up to his death in 1968 – register him as him ‘Orde, Cuthbert; Artist’. In his book ""Pilots Of Fighter Command: Sixty Four Portraits"", Orde wrote an essay explaining the circumstances of his portraits of World War II pilots. Having been hired to produce illustrations of bomber stations in the summer of 1940, Air Commodore Harald Peake from the"
"of the last years working as a journalist and scriptwriter. Christopher Robbins Christopher Robbins (19 November 1946 – 24 December 2012) was a British writer and journalist. He is best known for his 1978 bestseller ""Air America"", a non-fiction book which was made into a film in 1990. It is about the secret airline run by the CIA for covert operations during the Vietnam War. Christopher Robbins was born on 19 November 1946, in Bristol, where he grew up and attended Taunton School. A gifted schoolboy, he started working for free on the ""Evening World"" and then the ""Evening Post""."
"auditor. He and some fellow science fiction writers shared a flat in Gray’s Inn Road, where he got the nickname ""Ego"" because of his absorption in subjects that interested him, and would later name his office filled with memorabilia as his ""ego chamber"". During the Second World War from 1941 to 1946 he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early-warning radar defence system, which contributed to the RAF's success during the Battle of Britain. Clarke spent most of his wartime service working on ground-controlled approach (GCA) radar, as documented in the"
"Ian Gleed Wing Commander Ian Richard Gleed (3 July 1916 – 16 April 1943), nicknamed ""Widge,"" was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace credited with the destruction of 13 enemy aircraft during the Second World War. He served in the Battle of France and Battle of Britain before being shot down and killed over Tunisia. Gleed published a fictionalized memoir, ""Arise to Conquer"", in 1942. Gleed Avenue in Bushey is named in his honour, one of a number of streets in the area named after Battle of Britain pilots. Gleed was born in Finchley, north London on"