Author: Wing Commander Oliver Wells
Publisher: Valiant Wings Publishing
ISBN: 9 780956 719850
Price around £4.99
(all profits of this title go to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Society)
Softback, size A5 format, 40 pages, colour and black & white photographs
Sincere thanks to mark at Valiant Wings Publishing for sending us this great little title, get it at their website now.
This is a truly gripping read and I thoroughly recommend it to you all, whatever your interest in aviation – I read it start to finish in an hour or so. Here’s a bit more about this excellent little title from the publishers…
World War Two continues to bring to the surface many untold stories of remarkable courage in the face of danger. Many of these stories have remained locked away for several years. This one has stayed untold for over fifty. The text of Pitch Black To Plane Fare is directly from the pen of Oliver Wells, ex-night flying instructor, pathfinder and flying boat pilot. It has not been altered significantly in any way. It concentrates on three periods in his flying career, all different, yet unique experiences.
You will learn about his time teaching trainee night fighter pilots to fly in the dark. You will marvel at his near death experience as his crippled Lancaster plummeted to earth. You will be gripped by the tale of his five months’ working through the Comet Line under the nose of Nazi occupying forces only to be caught by the Gestapo, and his subsequent incarceration and forced march with thousands of other prisoners. Finally you will take great pride in the part that he played in Operation Plane Fare, perhaps the largest humanitarian airlift in history. His story is remarkable, yet he tells it simply in precise detail without a shred of line-shooting or false bravado.
This is a man whose flying career spanned over fifty years and logged over three thousand hours in over forty different aircraft types. There aren’t that many around who can match this achievement.
Interestingly, there are a couple of nicely completed models at the rear of the book, featuring aircraft flown by the author: Avro Lancaster B.III MG-N and Short Sunderland Mk.V 4X-O.
Possibly the best £4.99 you could ever spend!
Highly recommended
Geoff C.
