wCdr Norman Ryder and the Kenley Wing

[keith A]

Yep to your comments on Deere, Bruce. He is honest and straight forward at a time when, as you say the truth was still too gritty. I got "Fly for your life" as a school prize when I was ten! It's got some details that go against the super-hero bios. When Tuck almost shoots two sergeant pilots who had broken off an attack it shows the stress he was under. When he took over 257 squadron it had also had a bad time and he wanted to sack a lot of the pilots. If I remember correctly 257's I/O believed he was overconfident and too judgemental. Tuck's relationship with Bader is also unvarnished. I have never read "Reach for the sky" but the film was pretty much a Bader commercial. I think that "Tiger Squadron" also has not dated well. Jones touts 74 squadron's record without mentioning that a lot of their claims were unconfirmed even during the Battle of Britain. As you know subsequent biographies and autobiographies paint a very different picture. 74 squadron looks more like the model for Derek Robinson's "Piece of Cake".

regards

Keith