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Above and Beyond: The Canadians' War in the Air, 1939-45
From the first skirmishes over Europe in September 1939, Canadian airmen served in almost every theatre of the Second World War, from bases in Britain and Europe, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. And in the months and years that followed, with the slaughter mounting in hostile skies around the globe, the contribution of Canadian pilots, navigators, gunners, air bombers, and flight engineers grew out of all proportion to their country’s population.
In the early days of the conflict, great numbers of Canadians served in units of Britain’s RAF and Fleet Air Arm. As the war progressed, however, the Royal Canadian Air Force came into its own, and by Germany's surrender, forty-eight RCAF squadrons were overseas, almost completely manned by Canadian officers and men.
Among the Canadians were Johnny Fauquier and Reg Lane, Canada’s leading bomber pilots; Stan Turner, perhaps the country’s greatest fighter leader; Len Birchall, the gallant “Saviour of Ceylon”; the redoubtable ace Buzz Beurling; the great naval hero Hammy Gray; Roly Dibnah, Bert Houle, and many others.
These brash young men from the Empire’s senior dominion had little time for ceremony and tradition. Countless British officers considered them dangerously independent and lacking in respect for rank. But in the air, where it counted, the Canadians more than proved their worth.
Combining first person accounts of the action and his own vivid prose, Dunmore captures the high drama and gut-churning tension of dogfights and bomber raids, charts the victories and defeats of the armies and navies below, and recreates the mood abroad in wartime as the world watched the drama unfold.
In the early days of the conflict, great numbers of Canadians served in units of Britain’s RAF and Fleet Air Arm. As the war progressed, however, the Royal Canadian Air Force came into its own, and by Germany's surrender, forty-eight RCAF squadrons were overseas, almost completely manned by Canadian officers and men.
Among the Canadians were Johnny Fauquier and Reg Lane, Canada’s leading bomber pilots; Stan Turner, perhaps the country’s greatest fighter leader; Len Birchall, the gallant “Saviour of Ceylon”; the redoubtable ace Buzz Beurling; the great naval hero Hammy Gray; Roly Dibnah, Bert Houle, and many others.
These brash young men from the Empire’s senior dominion had little time for ceremony and tradition. Countless British officers considered them dangerously independent and lacking in respect for rank. But in the air, where it counted, the Canadians more than proved their worth.
Combining first person accounts of the action and his own vivid prose, Dunmore captures the high drama and gut-churning tension of dogfights and bomber raids, charts the victories and defeats of the armies and navies below, and recreates the mood abroad in wartime as the world watched the drama unfold.
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
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July 31, 2011
The book does little to convey its intended message, and there are significant gaps in the coverage. The entire war from 1944-45 is glossed over in the last few pages of the book, and significant events such as the use of 4-engine bombers for tactical purposes is completely ignored. I realize the book is intended more as a social history, and as light reading it does well, but like many books seeking to cash in on the concept of "popular history" that Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose (and now Mark Zuehlke) have perpetuated, the book is far too celebratory. As a cheerleader, Dunmore excells, and the VC descriptions are riveting. For a balanced picture of what the RCAF was doing in the Second World War, this book will not enlighten.
It's hard to be so harsh on an author like Dunmore, who has obvious respect for the subject of his work, and his talent as a writer can't be questioned. There are amusing anecdotes in the book and a fair degree of analysis - but more recent, scholarly research points to such things as inflated tank-kill figures by Typhoon pilots and the problems with tactical air support, and none of this is even hinted at by this social history. What little analysis there is, is uneven. Dunmore describes how few German pilots were "experten" by 1944, then cites the number of Spitfires shot down after D-Day. Lucky shots? Dunmore never explains how the riff-raff he claims was left in the Luftwaffe managed to kill so many Allied pilots.
There is no organized description of hardware or software - ie of plane types, performance characteristics, etc., and of the training, though lip service is paid to the BCATP and the lack of reinforcement training in the Luftwaffe. As this was intended as a social history, one shouldn't hold that against Dunmore, though one might have expected at the very least an appendix of some sort.
The bottom line is that if you just want a very basic idea of what life in the RCAF was like, or for a reaffirmation that "we" were the good guys, this book will provide an enjoyable experience. As a serious history, it will only frustrate. Indeed, even as a "casual" history, an absolute rank beginner will have no appendices of rank titles or aircraft types to help him/her understand better.
It's hard to be so harsh on an author like Dunmore, who has obvious respect for the subject of his work, and his talent as a writer can't be questioned. There are amusing anecdotes in the book and a fair degree of analysis - but more recent, scholarly research points to such things as inflated tank-kill figures by Typhoon pilots and the problems with tactical air support, and none of this is even hinted at by this social history. What little analysis there is, is uneven. Dunmore describes how few German pilots were "experten" by 1944, then cites the number of Spitfires shot down after D-Day. Lucky shots? Dunmore never explains how the riff-raff he claims was left in the Luftwaffe managed to kill so many Allied pilots.
There is no organized description of hardware or software - ie of plane types, performance characteristics, etc., and of the training, though lip service is paid to the BCATP and the lack of reinforcement training in the Luftwaffe. As this was intended as a social history, one shouldn't hold that against Dunmore, though one might have expected at the very least an appendix of some sort.
The bottom line is that if you just want a very basic idea of what life in the RCAF was like, or for a reaffirmation that "we" were the good guys, this book will provide an enjoyable experience. As a serious history, it will only frustrate. Indeed, even as a "casual" history, an absolute rank beginner will have no appendices of rank titles or aircraft types to help him/her understand better.
Displaying 1 of 1 review