There Shall Be Wings: RAF from 1918 to the Present

click here for more details, find new or used items	Max Arthur New from £81.57 Used from £0.97 Pages: 320 (Hardcover) ISBN: 034058761X Pub: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Pub date: 1993-04-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 297494

Reader Reviews:

Could so easily have been much better. (4/4 people found this helpful)

Formed by amalgamating the, then, Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps, the RAF came into being on 1 April 1918. In this book, first published in 1993, the author attempts to present a picture of the RAF's first 75 years through a seemingly never-ending series of anecdotes told by many, many contributors. If only some of them had supplied a photograph to support their contribution we might have had a work which would stand the test of time as a document of importance.

Instead we have just 20 B&W photographs spread over 8 pages in the centre of the book, a photograph on each of the front and back covers and another two which adorn the endpapers - these latter two being the most interesting. Taking up the whole of the double endpaper at the beginning of the book is a splendid photograph of a group of 18 officers standing in front of a British Army biplane in 1915. In complete contrast, the photograph which occupies that same space at the back of the book shows 40 all ranks of the RAF Harrier detachment stationed in Belize in the 1980's - with half of them standing in front of, and half on top of a Harrier aircraft. I thought it was curious when I noticed that every wristwatch seen in this particular photograph was being worn on the right wrist until I also noticed RAF wings also shown on the wrong side of the wearer's uniform. The picture had been flipped - in other words, it is a mirror image of the original photograph.

In summary, an interesting series of anecdotes but in dire need of more photographs. Altogether, a great opportunity missed.

NM

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