Goulty, James Eyewitness RAF

The Experience of War 1939–1945

Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War memoirs, biographies, stories about fighter and bomber commandos, technical studies of aircraft, reports on individual missions and heroic deeds but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as flight or ground personnel and finally demobilisation at the end of the war. This is the aim of James Goulty's Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of statements from men and women, he offers a direct insight into all aspects of everyday life in the service during the war. Throughout the book, the focus is on the individual experiences of RAF personnel preparing for flight, flying itself, daily life at an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. One particularly vivid section describes, in the men's own words, how it felt to take part in missions and the impact of losses airmen who were killed, wounded or captured. The result is a fascinating and varied insight into the RAF, which may be less heroic and glamorous than the image conveyed by some post-war reports, but which gives today's readers a much more realistic assessment of the entire spectrum of life in the RAF seventy years ago.