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Ebook294 pages4 hours
Luck of the Devil: Flying Swordfish in WWII: The Memoirs of Robert le Page
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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About this ebook
Robert le Page flew with the Fleet Air Arm from 1940 to 1945, mostly in 816 Squadron flying carrier-based Fairey Swordfish. He saw action mine-laying off Cherbourg, hunting U-boats, escorting convoys in the North Atlantic and Arctic seas and covering D-Day. Much of his early war years were aboard HMS Dasher and he was lucky to be ashore when the carrier mysteriously exploded and sank in the Clyde. This decimated 816 Squadron which was eventually re-equipped and then worked up to operational readiness to fly from HMS Tracker. His story is full of insights into wartime naval flying. For example when they were tasked with finding and attacking German E Boats they found that in a headwind these powerful boats could outdistance the Stringbag. They devised a plan which was to glide as quietly as possible on their approach to the quarry and power up the engine only seconds before they attacked a plan that was unfortunately unsuccessful. Once when landing in rough weather his aircraft was waved to go round again. With throttle wide open the Swordfish struggled back into the air, but alas the tailhook snagged the top wire of the barrier protecting other parked aircraft. The author remembered staring down from the stalling aircraft to see a terror stricken fitter gazing up at him. Fortunately all survived.
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Reviews for Luck of the Devil
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
4/5
5 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A literate, but not too literary, memoir of war in a Swordfish from the viewpoint of a 'looker' (observer). Worth reading if only for that reason - too often we just get the pilot's eye view. The original text by Robert le Page is excellent. Some of the asides by Falla miss the mark, which could have been avoided with a little additional research.The most irritating part of the book is the publishers failure to provide the photographs they originally advertised, mention on the dust jacket and reference in the text! This is a pity as the handful of photos reproduced on the back of the dj suggest that the author's photo album is better than average.