Battle of Britain: Canadian Airmen in their Finest Hour
Ted Barris
314 pp.
Previously read his account of Canadian Involvement in the Dambusters but this time a hard cover book.
I'd not known before of Polish airmans' participation in Britain. That pilots were trained in Canada and planes built here I did know. The Gimly Glider used one of the old bases and another is in Debert, NS.
The British air force was buried in a preoccupation for bureaucracy and paperwork. A commander arrived at his new base to discover his only flyers were seagulls. Asked if his fleet was air worthy a base commander reported that he had planes and airmen but not a single spanner, spark plug or oil can in sight.
Faced with a rainy day and looming due date I sat down and read the last 100 pages in one setting. In true understated Canadian style Canadian flyers did not blow their own horns, they let their actions speak for themselves. The one sour note is the lack of recognition given the Polish flyers.
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