A Flying Command.

Octavo, blue boards (hardcover), gilt letters, top edge blue, [223] pp. Near-Fine, with bookplate and slight sunning to top edge; in a Near-Fine, mylar protected dust jacket with light edgewear. From dust jacket: To command a Royal Air Force Station is perhaps the most varied and exciting post that an officer can achieve -- before he ascends to the realm of "Top Brass." Tom Dagger, who is in an actual life a serving officer, recently commanded a Fighter Station himself; here he describes some aspects of a Station Commander's life, from the bewildering morning, when he finds himself the "owner" not only of four Squadrons of Hawker Hunter fighters, but also of a farm, a private railway, 482 buildings, and several hundred children. Any young man who is thinking of joining the Royal Air Force, any veteran of pre-jet days -- or, indeed, anyone who has an interest in modern flying -- will find in this novel a vivid and warmly personal picture of life in the Air Force today. Frank Cullens, the new C.O. of a larger Fighter Station at Bahrdorf in Germany, flies himself in to take over just before Christmas, and soon the traditional festivities are in full swing -- involving several entertaining customs which tax his ingenuity and stamina to the utmost. Office work seems endless but remembering that the real point of his job is to provide and lead aircraft and pilots that can fight in the air, he finds time to indulge in the side of his work that he loves best -- flying jet aircraft. With him we pilot a Hunter for the first time, go through the sound barrier, and navigate across half Europe by night. One day he is faced, in the air, with one of the alarms and immense decisions that are inseparable from flying. With good nature and first-hand authority, Tom Dagger takes us behind the scenes of a fascinating command in the flying service. Literature, Aviation, Historic Fiction, Royal Air Force, RAF, Military Fiction. zslic. …