Few men have a better claim to be called a legend in his own lifetime than Guy Gibson. Leader of the famous Dambuster Raid of May, 1943 which became part of the popular folklore of the Second World War after the film in which Richard Todd took the part of the hero, he himself was tragically in an air crash in 1944.
Born in India in 1918 and brought up in England, Guy Gibson joined the RAF in November, 1936. Thereafter his career can be seen as a battle between, on the one hand, his uncertain temperament and less than ideal private life, and, on the other, his undoubted skills as an airman and as a leader of men. The war was to bring him adventure and, later, fame. He took part in the first aerial attack of the war, on the Kiel Canal; he served in Fighter Command and then, in 1943, came the famous raid on the Mohne and Eder dams for which he was awarded the VC.
By now a hero of international fame, he was sent on a Public Relations tour of North America, but basically he was a flyer and, refusing to remain grounded, he died an airmen's death.
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Jennifer's Review
It was a good book to read.
Not my type of book, but its a great book for people who are interested in airplanes or pilots or World War 2.
Its about Guy Gibson, a young pilot, and his life, his career, his accomplishments, and his death.
I would give this book a 4 stars.
Author Bio
Susan Ottaway was born in Windsor, brought up in Egham and educated at Sir William Perkins's Girls School in nearby Chertsey. The daughter of an aircraft engineer, she has had a lifelong enthusiasm for aeroplanes and books. She worked for four different airlines over a period of 20 years, mainly in the UK but also in Germany and Australia, and wrote her first book, a biography of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, before leaving the world of aviation. She then worked as a freelance editor and has since written six more books.
Her books include Violette Szabo: The Life That I Have, a biography of SOE agent Violette Szabo for which she personally interviewed Eileen Nearne. She has appeared on BBC national television to be interviewed about her work, and she took part in the four-part television series for the Discovery History Channel entitled George Cross Heroes.
Susan is a guest speaker on battlefield tours and in 2008 she delivered the Annual Dambuster Lecture at the Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa, home of the wartime 617 'Dambuster' Squadron.
- compiled from Andrew Lownie Literary Agency and Harper Collins
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