The RAF in Arizona: Falcon Field, 1941-1945

by Jim Dawson

This book covers British Royal Air Force pilots trained at Falcon Field, Arizona during WWII. Publisher's In one of the most audacious experiments of WWII an experiment born of the greatest necessity, a Hollywood corporation hired civilian pilots to teach British aviation cadets how to fly United States Army airplanes. Training began in June 1941 six months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially brought America into the war. More than 2000 Royal Air Force (RAF) cadets trained at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, during WWII. Those cadets spent over 300,000 hours in the air and flew a distance of forty-five million miles. That training would eventually put them in the fighters and bombers over France and Germany where their final exam would be administered by the German Luftwaffe. Over 180 photographs and dozens of first-hand accounts complement this memorable exploration into the joint effort made by Great Britain and the United States to fill the immense need for trained RAF pilots. Class rosters, reconstructed in the Appendices, detail the WWII activities of Falcon graduates and give long overdue credit in print to those who trained at Falcon. Those boys and thousands more like them won the war. "Excellent research and documentation. The RAF in Arizona, Falcon Field 1941-1945 should be in any serious military aviation collection and would be a valued gift for anyone interested in RAF history or Arizona history." Michael Saunders, North Georgia College (The Senior Military College of Georgia)

267 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Dawson has also written extensively about early rock and roll and rhythm and blues, including 'What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record?' which Mojo magazine called 'one of the best musical reads of [1993].' His 1980 cover story on Ritchie Valens in the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times led directly to the reissue of the forgotten rock 'n' roller's recordings and the making of the biopic La Bamba, which used some of Dawson's research.

Jim Dawson is a Hollywood, California-based writer who has specialized in American pop culture (especially early rock 'n' roll) and the history of flatulence (three books so far, including his 1999 top-seller, "Who Cut the Cheese? A Cultural History of the Fart"). Mojo magazine called his What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record (1992), co-written with Steve Propes, "one of the most impressive musical reads of the year"; it remains a valuable source for music critics and rock historians, and an updated second edition is currently available on Kindle. Dawson has also written a series of articles on early rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll pioneers for the Los Angeles Times, including a front-page story in the Calendar entertainment section on the forgotten tragic figure Ritchie Valens. The piece led directly to Rhino Records reissuing Valens' entire catalog (with Dawson's liner notes) and eventually to the 1987 biopic "LaBamba," which used some of Dawson's research. Since 1983 Dawson has also written liner notes for roughly 150 albums and CDs, including Rhino's prestigious "Central Avenue Sounds" box set celebrating the history of jazz and early R&B in Los Angeles. His most recent book (2012) is "Los Angeles's Bunker Hill: Pulp Fiction's Mean Streets and Film Noir's Ground Zero."