Will I love Goshawk Squadron?

Robinson’s tale of Goshawk Squadron battling the odds in the last year of the Great War cuts through the Biggles-style myths and legends that had dominated the public perception for many years. He shines a light on the bleak and terrifying business of aerial warfare and unflinchingly portrays the horror and helplessness of becoming the loser in a dogfight to the death. Yet from this foreboding vista he prises shining nuggets of laugh-out-loud humour, albeit of the gallows variety. Robinson’s spot-on characterisations and skilfully written battle narratives will place you in the rattling cockpit of a biplane in the hostile… show more.

This was the first of Robinson’s many outstanding flying books set in WW1 and WW2. This novel came out in the Seventies when cynicism was in vogue and is full of disquieting dark humour. Historians have quibbled that the dialogue and thoughts used are not true to the period and that is probably a valid call, but the aircraft research and flying scenes are spot on so this must have been a deliberate call by the author. He became a best-selling author, so who is to say he was wrong? Beautifully written, with whip-smart dialogue, his books are nevertheless like… show more.