LOST VOICES OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

LOST VOICES OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN 
by Max Arthur.

The late, great Max Arthur was fortunate to have had access to archived interviews, as well as himself interviewing a number of former Battle of Britain pilots.
This book is a fabulous compilation of these interviews. 
Not only a fine balance with contributions from RAF pilots from Britain, Canada and Poland, this book also includes several from Luftwaffe pilots too. 

Any reader with even a passing interest in the second world war will have heard of some of the now legendary names that appear within this book. 
Robert Stanford-Tuck, Bob Doe and Al Deere, are just a few, of 'The Few'.
They openingly share their different stories about how they got interested in flying and their various paths to joining the RAF. Many had had a taster of flying at a much younger age and from here they had got the bug.

They go on to explain their training, before eventually joining a squadron. The next step being to fight in the skies above France, the English Channel and Britain. 

Throughout the book their stories contain flashes of humour. Equally there are moments of sadness for those friends who were sadly lost. 
Often these interviews would be decades later, yet the pilots never forgot those who didn't make it home. Just as we should also never forget.

Their bravery and humility shines throughout the book and I'm delighted that these stories have now been republished. 
They deserve to be enjoyed by readers old and new, and hopefully by a younger generation so that they can also learn more about what these extraordinary men did for us all. 
Highly recommended reading.

This new paperback edition is published on February 6th by August Books, a division of Canelo.
I thank Canelo for this review copy.

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