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Product Description
Yorkshireman Dennis Gosling joined the RAF on May 24 1940. Having completed his training he was posted to 219 Squadron flying the night-fighter version of the Beaufighter from Tangmere in 1941. As a navigator, he became part of a two-man team that would endure throughout his first operational tour. In those infant day of radar interception he honed his skills in the night skies above southern England and the English Channel but without a firm kill. On 12 February 1942, he and his pilot were instructed to pick up a brand new aircraft and deliver it to North Africa, flying via Gibraltar, a hazardous flight at extreme range. In March the crew were posted to 1435 Flight of 89 Squadron with the task of defending the besieged island of Malta. The four Beaufighters of the flight flew into a horrific scenario of almost constant bombing raids by the Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force. Because of these raids the damage to aircraft on the ground was devastating and the Flight was often reduced to a single serviceable aircraft. His first success came in April 1942 with a confirmed kill, and then shortly after his 21st birthday on 13 May a triumphant night on the 17th brought 3 certain kills and one damaged enemy aircraft. From being the virgins of the squadron they shot into the record books, his pilot being awarded the DFC
To his disgust, Flight Sergeant Gosling received no award. At this stage he became somewhat embittered by the class system he felt was operated by the RAF. Having endured the torment of constant bombardment, serious stomach complaints (even flying with a bucket in the aircraft) and near starvation he completed his tour and was repatriated to the UK via Brazil and Canada in the Queen Mary. After a spell instructing new night navigators, he joined 604 Squadron and in December 1943 he was promoted to Warrant Officer. February 1944 saw the squadron reequipped with the Mosquito and assignment to 2 Tactical Air Force in preparation for D-Day. Now once again he was flying initially over southern England and the Channel. The squadron became mobile after the landings and were based in various captured airfields in France, but the conditions were so inadequate for operations that the squadron returned to English bases, from where they operated over and beyond the advancing Allied troops. Eventually, after having been awarded a much deserved DFC, he accepted the King's Commission.
This autobiography is written as stated by the author "I want my readers to relive my experiences as they happened to me - to take their hands and have them walk beside me. I want them to feel the joy and the pain, share the laughs and the heartache, take pleasure in the triumphs, agonize with me when things went wrong and understand why my Service years influenced so much of my life." He has succeeded magnificently.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a personal account of one man's war and of the aircraft in which he served. Much has been written about "fighter aces" and, as far as I am aware, to become an Ace, a pilot had to have a minimum of 5 confirmed enemy kills to his credit. Many famous pilots who claimed the Ace distinction failed to achieve such a number. Dennis Gosling received his DFC for being present as a navigator when that number of kills were confirmed.
This book takes the reader through his service, as a sergeant navigator with the Beaufighter - which includes the defence of Malta at a time when his squadron was often reduced to a single aircraft. It also includes a certain amount of ill-feeling towards the RAF and its class system for rewarding officers and not those in the ranks.
Nevertheless, he recounts the constant enemy fire, the stress of flying impossible missions and the health problems he endured whilst flying. Reduced to starvation level at one point, he is finally repatriated by way of Brazil and Canada on no less a ship than the Queen Mary after which he undertakes a spell of instructing. Promoted to Warrant Officer, he returns to active flying duties just as his squadron are equipped with Mosquitoes.
Curious how he misspells "Mosquitoes" on the book's front cover - but that is just my picky, picky nature... Inside the book he refers to these aircraft as Mossies.
This is a particularly interesting account, an intriguing work which demonstrates how the history of WW2 is still be written by those who took part and had their own peculiar role to play. It forms, therefore, an essential part of our ever-growing understanding of who did what during this time of global conflict.
NM
This book takes the reader through his service, as a sergeant navigator with the Beaufighter - which includes the defence of Malta at a time when his squadron was often reduced to a single aircraft. It also includes a certain amount of ill-feeling towards the RAF and its class system for rewarding officers and not those in the ranks.
Nevertheless, he recounts the constant enemy fire, the stress of flying impossible missions and the health problems he endured whilst flying. Reduced to starvation level at one point, he is finally repatriated by way of Brazil and Canada on no less a ship than the Queen Mary after which he undertakes a spell of instructing. Promoted to Warrant Officer, he returns to active flying duties just as his squadron are equipped with Mosquitoes.
Curious how he misspells "Mosquitoes" on the book's front cover - but that is just my picky, picky nature... Inside the book he refers to these aircraft as Mossies.
This is a particularly interesting account, an intriguing work which demonstrates how the history of WW2 is still be written by those who took part and had their own peculiar role to play. It forms, therefore, an essential part of our ever-growing understanding of who did what during this time of global conflict.
NM
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have a large collection of biographies and autobiographies of pilots and aircrew of the RAF and RAAF during the Second World War.
This is amongst the best of them.
An easy to read and down to earth account of, to use a cliche, an ordinary man who did extraordinary things.
This is amongst the best of them.
An easy to read and down to earth account of, to use a cliche, an ordinary man who did extraordinary things.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A very enjoyable read because it is a first hand account of arial warfare which makes the reading so much more enjoyable. The relationship with his pilot matures and develops in unexpected directions and makes for an interesting insight into the stresses and strains of being unsuccessful initially and then when the opportunity arrives, very successful.
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