Books For Odd Bods and Friends

 

Many of us are restricted in our activities because of Covid lockdown and amongst the recommended alternative activities is good old-fashioned book reading. For Odd Bods and Friends of Odd Bods there are plenty of book choices and a big shout out to those who responded to our last article and sent in their recommendations.

A special thank you to Secretary and Vice-President, Peter Randell, who has an amazing collection of books.

The stories about WW2 aviators cover a fascinating range of personalities, locations, and challenges. We are confident you will find something of interest in the lists we will publish over coming days. You may even find connections to your own war service or the war service of a relative (in fact there is a good chance of that).

Of course, if you have a recommendation we would love to hear of it, and if you read one of the books in this list, we would love to have your thoughts and perhaps a brief summary. 

Availability of these books is unknown, but perhaps start with a google search. If you have trouble locating a book, please mention it in the comments or email us and we may be able to help.

Let’s get the book list started – 

In the previous article we mentioned three books- 

1. The Reich Intruders – RAF Light Bomber Raids In WW II – by Martin W. Bowman

2. Recollections – A Lancaster Bomber Crew 55 Years On – by Ron Fitch (past Odd Bod)

3. A Blue Orchid Cook’s Tour – The War Memories of John Ireland – (Odd Bod)

Two of those books were supplied by our President, Bruce Waxman, and he has also referenced this one 

“Chadwick – A Man of Many Parts” – by Nick Richardson - a must for all Melbourne fans and a good read, with a touch of early military aviation history in Australia, and WWII RAAF at the MCG .Available from the MCG shop on line: https://mcgshop.com.au/

From Peter Randell’s list –

 “No Moon Tonight” by our Odd Bod Don Charlewood is his personal account of his time in Bomber Command, including his trip over to the UK via Canada as many of our guys did.

“Chased by the Sun” by Hank Nelson gives a great account of RAAF aircrew in the UK in Bomber Command - it even has Halifaxes on the front cover!

 “Flak”, “Fly” and “Heroes of the Skies” (three books) by Michael Veitch - featuring many of our Odd Bods, including George Smith, Walter Eacott, and Gerald McPherson.

“Rear Gunner” by John Beede gives a personal account of surviving the war in this role in a variety of aircraft and squadrons. Gives enormous insight to what Gerald McPherson and Joe Shuttleworth went through.

“Reach for the Sky” by Paul Brickhill is the biography of Douglas Bader, fighter ace who lost both legs pre war but still became one of the top scoring aces before ending up in Colditz as a POW.

“The Great Escape” also by Paul Brickhill tells the story of mainly RAF and RAAF aircrew organising the mass escape via an amazing scheme from their POW camp and the aftermath in which the Gestapo made an example of 50 of these brave souls.

  “Escape or Die” also by Paul Brickhill is a compilation of RAF and RAAF POW escapes from all theatres of war.

“The Dambusters” by Paul Brickhill is the full story of 617 Sqn from inception to the end of the war.

 “Enemy Coast Ahead” by Guy Gibson who led the Dambusters raid is his personal account of the whole raid and he talks a lot about Les Knight - Melbourne born pilot - in this.

“Bomber Boys” by Patrick Bishop gives many personalised accounts from mainly RAF aircrew if their experiences in Bomber Command throughout the war.

“Flames in the Sky” and “The Big Show” by Pierre Closterman are brilliant renditions of his time as a free French fighter pilot with the RAF throughout the war , including his time in Typhoons and Tempests on ground ops support.

“Bomber Command” by Max Hastings gives a concise but excellent overview of the ops, organisation, aircraft, and strategy of this major component of the RAF in WW2.

And believe it or not these books are just a start – we will have more to list in coming days.