100 Books Like Mosquito

I loved this book because it blends a more popular style with some serious research.

It hits the spot exactly with the portrayal of Payne Best and, to some extent, his rehabilitation – great new information brought to light about Heidel Nowakowski – first ever photo NB – and Vassily Kokorin, wow!

Also, my take is that what the authors have revealed here (at last) is the true story of how the Americans arrived in time to liberate the hostages at Pragser Wildsee in early May 1945; namely, because two courageous people went through an awful lot in order to persuade them to come!

I was so moved by this fascinating and engaging story of Pippa Latour’s wartime SOE operations.

The number of female undercover operatives who were parachuted into occupied France (and survived) was modest. Pippa somehow had the wit and presence of mind to know how to deceive the Germans. She was not spared terrible suffering.

I also made contact with Pippa when she was aged 100 at a time when much of the interviewing for this book took place, and I am so pleased that a gripping sense of her bravery and determination shines through. 

I loved this book because it represents an extremely enjoyable and thorough account of the work of Secret Intelligence.

One noteworthy aspect of this book is the troubling awareness it brings that what the work involves is, in the main, unknown and goes largely unrecognised.

Another very salient truth that emerges (from this volume) is that the work is thoroughly international in nature. For me, the author also demonstrates in adept fashion that the question of how the peacetime accountability of the work of MI5 is to be assured is a multi-dimensional and deeply political one.

A stunning read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this stylish, unusual book and was instantly drawn in to the author’s pilgrimage story.

The portrayal of the different islands is rich and intriguing – I found myself wanting to go back to those I know and visit those I haven’t yet experienced, as well as thinking more seriously about a pilgrimage!

The writer is a first-rate historian who writes in a very readable, accessible, and lighthearted style. But the easygoing narrative flow also fuses with razor-sharp insight.

The book delivers a compelling account of society’s historical exclusion and maltreatment of women.

This book is written about my uncle Bob Allen. He was a career RAF officer, not easy to know, quite distant and intimidating, and he had a secret.

This is a true story that lay deliberately hidden for fifty years until unearthed on his death by the author. I say deliberately because of the need – common-felt amongst survivors of war – to remain tight-lipped. Even when his hand-written memoirs were discovered, they had been written in the third person. But this is the story of an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary times. He joined the RAF aged nineteen, was flying a Hurricane in dogfights that year, saw action in West Africa, in Normandy at D-Day, was shot down, presumed killed and captured by the SS. Interrogated by the Gestapo and sent to Stalag-Luft 3. In 1945, he suffered one of the infamous winter marches on which many POWs… show more.

Geoffrey Wellum was the youngest pilot to fly in the Battle of Britain, getting his wings as a teenager. I love this book for its beautiful descriptions of flight training, the rigors of squadron life, and the odd way he feels after taking a life in combat–all while being so young he sleeps in his childhood bedroom when returning home on leave.

But I love this book most because Wellum kept these stories to himself for almost forty years, writing these memoirs and then publishing them only when he was in his old age.

This beautiful memory of life as a fighter pilot is Wellum’s one and only book and one of the great adventure books of all time. 

My favourite autobiography is The Eighth Passenger by Miles Tripp. First published in 1969, the book charts the author’s journey to re-discover his former crewmates 30-years after they had last met and flown operations. He seeks to discover how they felt both then and now, and whether his experiences were shared. What really comes across is how extraordinarily ‘ordinary’ they all were, and yet how they gelled into an expert crew. One of their numbers is black, a rarity at the time and adding a certain significance today, and another proves particularly elusive such that you wonder whether he will ever be found. The author very cleverly weaves in the past and the present, their experiences as a Lancaster crew, and what happened after demob and a return to civilian life. It’s a very intelligent book that will ultimately lead you to the identity of The Eighth Passenger.

This book provides one of the most detailed accounts of the many escape routes (and their ‘passengers’) from France -- by land, sea or air. It is a mine of information, including biographies of the key people involved and invaluable listings of over 2000 of the more than 4000 evaders identified by Airey Neave of MI9. Of these, 3000 were airmen (including many Americans). But it is also eminently readable, combining historical background with stories of the individuals who made the perilous journey, some of the details being published here for the first time.

My personal favourite is the book by the man himself – Pathfinder by Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett. No-one could be better placed to chart the history and success of PFF than the C-in-C 8 Group himself, and his brilliantly direct style and merciless assassination of some of his contemporaries makes me wince and smile every time I read it. His thinly veiled attacks on 5 Group, 617 Squadron and Sir Ralph Cochrane (whose name is misspelled throughout!) are well-worth reading, though he is rather economical with the truth on occasion to support his own arguments and prejudices. If you never knew about the conflict between Bennett and Cochrane, and how betrayed Bennett felt by Harris when the latter supported the 5 Group method of target marking later in the war, this will open your eyes. And see if you don’t laugh out loud as I did when Bennett says… show more.

Bishop’s Bomber Boys is a good, solid history full of facts, stats, and the bird’s eye view.

Bishop provides cogent summaries of the policy and command decisions, analyzes the social structure of the RAF, aircrew, and Bomber Command, and tackles a range of important issues topically.

For example, he has a chapter on crewing up, on “the chop,” the “crack up,” and “love in uniform,” among others. It also offers aircraft diagrams and maps, which can be very useful.

It is an excellent starting point for learning about the subject, providing useful context and framework to a researcher, although it cannot serve as a substitute for reading first-hand accounts.