- Paperback
- Publisher: Cassell; Reprint edition (1998)
- ISBN-10: 0304350524
- ISBN-13: 978-0304350520
- ASIN: B0016PX9HE
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,046,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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First Sentence
When Douglas Robert Stewart Bader arrived at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, in early September 1928, sport and competition dominated his life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When Douglas Robert Stewart Bader arrived at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, in early September 1928, sport and competition dominated his life. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
While it might be a little churlish to be critical of the labour Michael Burns has applied to this work, I found it a little disappointing. The detail on flight operations and tactics becomes tedious, and the text might have been enlivened had the author not adhered, almost slavishly, to the daily British combat reports.
An opportunity to assess matters from the German side was missed.
Moreover, we don't really get a feel for what made Bader tick, other than a precise military and tactical mind. The "human" Bader remains elusive. The same could be said for his men.
Overall, the text does not fit the title.
An opportunity to assess matters from the German side was missed.
Moreover, we don't really get a feel for what made Bader tick, other than a precise military and tactical mind. The "human" Bader remains elusive. The same could be said for his men.
Overall, the text does not fit the title.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Douglas Bader was one of my childhood heros. I got "Reach For The Sky" when I was 13, and must have read it at least 20 times before I was 18. Later, as an adult, I read other books on Air Combat in World War II, and felt robbed, because a lot of the things Brickhill credited Bader with (such as the RAF finger 4 formation) were simply not his doing (it was copied from the Luftwaffe). This readable book puts balance into the picture. While less riviting as a story, it is a solid, well written book that puts the focus were it should be, on Bader's outspoken, dogmatic personality and sterling leadership capabilities, and how so many of his protoge's became leaders in the years to come, including Johnny Johnson, "Cocky" Dundas and many, many more. I found myself admiring Bader for his real qualities, instead of those imagined by a 13 year old boy and Brickhill's over-imaginative style.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Douglas Bader had lost both his legs in a flying accident before World War 2 broke out, but he was accepted for flying duties on the strength of his ability as a pilot. An outstanding flyer, he contributed great tactical awareness and a dynamic quality of leadership which made him a prominent figure in the Battle of Britain.
Burns's account is not a biography of Bader the man. Instead, he presents a day by day diary or log of Bader's exploits in the air war - Bader was shot down in 1941 and spent four years in a POW camp - and continues with a log of the tactical innovation and leadership shown by some of the men who had flown with Bader.
This is a straight, factual account of warfare - no glitz, no glamour. Bader himself demonstrated how to overcome adversity and steadfastly refused to let his disability prevent him getting into the fight. But this is not an account of individual triumph over adversity - Burns considers how the RAF adapted to changing conditions of aerial warfare and was in a position to move from defensive to offensive. Instructive, scholarly read more suited to the military historian than to the keen reader of biography.
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