Winged victory - Hardcover

Yeates, V.M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224608118 ISBN 13: 9780224608114

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 1961

Synopsis

Brilliant, one of the few great books of air warfare. Heartily recommended to any person desiring a vivid, absorbing first-hand narrative of the sort of Homeric hell lived by fighting pilots during the last stages of the war. There is no bitter snarl nor self-pity in this classic novel, first published in 1934, about the air war of 1914-1918, based very largely on the author's experiences. Combat, loneliness, fatigue, fear, comradeship, women, excitement - all are built into a vigorous and authentic structure by one of the most valiant pilots of the then Royal Flying Corps.

About this title

About the Author:

Yeates was born at Dulwich, and educated at Colfe's School where according to Henry Williamson he used to read Keats under the desk during Maths, explored woods, fields and ponds and kept a tame tawny owl/ Yeates joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps in 1916 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) in May 1917. Serving with No. 46 Squadron, to which he was posted in February 1918, he flew 248 hours in Sopwith Camels, crashed four times, was shot down twice and scored five victories thereby achieving "ace" status. After the war, he died of tuberculosis in Fairlight Sanatorium at Hastings in 1934. He was survived by his wife Norah Phelps Yeates (née Richards) and his four children Mary, Joy Elinor (later married hristopher David Vowles), Guy Maslin (later married Binnie Yeates) and Rosalind (later married Edward Cullinan); all of whom had lived with Yeates in a small house in Kent on the Sidcup by-pass of the Dover Road.

Review:

"'Beautifully written with a poet's eye as well as a pilot's eye.' Southern Evening Echo; 'The only book about flying that isn't flannel.' Anonymous Fighter Pilot, 1941; 'Not only one of the best war books...but as a transcription of reality, faithful and sustained in its author's purpose of re-creating the past life he knew, it is unique.' Henry Williamson, author of Tarka the Otter, written in 1935"

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 1961
• ISBN 10: 0224608118
• ISBN 13: 9780224608114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464