Flying off the pages

Recently I've been interested in books about combat flying, including the two reviewed below. Very different books, but each enjoyable in their own way.

Title: Lords of the Sky
Author: Dan Hampton
Publisher: William Morrow

This first one tries to be comprehensive, covering the whole history of air combat from World War 1 right up to the author's own experiences as an F-16 pilot in the First Gulf War.

Chapter layout is pretty standardized: First you get a fictionalized 'account' of some encounter during the period. Then Dan explains the situation on the ground--who invaded who, and why the former was usually the Germans--followed by a very detailed account of pilot training programs, perhaps a few details of one or two notable pilots or aircraft, then more explanation of what was going on a few thousand meters below their feet.

The fictionalized accounts are the best parts of the book, excitingly written if of dubious historicity, while the rest of the chapters tend to explain a lot more about the wars in general than about the actual specifics of air combat in each era. As a result each chapter feels as padded as a flight suit, an impression reinforced by the extensive appendices, glossary of terms and excerpt from another of Dan's works, as if there was a page count to meet and he couldn't fill it. Dan also frequently falls victim to the desire to editorialize and spout fairly cookie-cutter hoohah opinions on all things military.

Could have been about a quarter of the length without losing any detail on actual air combat.

Title: Carrier Pilot
Author: Norman Hanson
Publisher: Silvertail Books

In contrast to the above book, this is one man's memoir rather than an attempt at a historical overview. The man in question, Norman Hanson, signed up with the RAF, was sent to the USA for training, then posted to Egypt and finally to HMS Illustrious, operating in the Pacific Ocean against the Imperial Japanese.

If none of those engagements strikes you as terribly central to the course of World War 2, it should come as no surprise that Mr Hanson didn't actually see all that much action, and the bulk of the book is instead occupied by tales of drinking and singing in various bits of the USA and the Empire, punctuated by about three instances where he actually fired his guns in anger.

These rear-area shenanigans quickly get repetitive, whose boredom is only broken by the author's Boy's Own magazine writing style, about things going "like the clappers" and things being a jolly good show eh what? It's perhaps not the author's fault, but he does rather sound like he just stepped out of a Monty Python "Upper Class Twit" sketch.

The most impressive part of the account of actual battle is the absolute, terrible and utter slaughter the Allies were able to inflict upon their own pilots. Primarily, this seems to have been because the fighter Hanson flew, the F4U Corsair, was a bit of a death trap for new pilots or when attempting to land on a carrier.

At one point, for example, Hanson states the carrier air wing lost 41 aircraft, only 16 of them in combat. The other 25 were from ditchings or crash landings. Indeed, the only two times the author's life seem in genuine danger are when he's forced to ditch to avoid hitting another plane, and when a friendly destroyer accidentally fires on them in an attempt to get at the "Japs."

Ordinarily, this might be a cause for sober reflection, but Hanson is far too psychotically British stiff upper lip for that, and any sadness over the repeated and grisly demise of his closest companions is done away with by a stiff drink and a sentimental tune on the piano.

Jolly good show.