Terror by night: A bomber pilot's story - Hardcover

Renaut, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0718301390 ISBN 13: 9780718301392

Publisher: Kimber, 1982

Synopsis

Michael Renaut applied to join the RAF as a pilot in August 1940, and after training was posted as a sergeant pilot in July 1941 to 78 Squadron on the border of Durham and Yorkshire, flying Whitley bombers. Changing to Halifaxes, he joined 76 Squadron under Wing Commander David Young, bombing targets deep into Germany. After a spell in the Middle East, by the end of the war he was Wing Commander in charge of the newly formed 171 Squadron in 100 Group in Norfolk whose job was to mislead the German defences and harry their night fighter organisation. This highly individual book takes us into the atmosphere of those tense days, into the briefing room, the mess parties, the rushed romances, the marriages cut short by death. Above all, it discusses the question of fear and courage, the fear that never grew less sharp in the face of death, that constant ‘dark suited companion’, the fear that remained with him long after the war was over. This is an exceptional memoir that should be read by all who wish not only to read what it was like night after night to bomb far off targets but also to understand how a man could stand up to the strain such a life imposed. In his foreword, his commanding officer, Group Captain David Young DSO, DFC, AFC, calls him ‘one of the bravest men that I have known’.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kimber
• Publication date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0718301390
• ISBN 13: 9780718301392
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192