Everything but the Flak

by Martin Caidin

This is the exciting account of how veteran aviation writer Martin Caidin and an enterprising gent named Greg Bond procured three authentic B-17 bombers for the filming of John Hersey's The War Lover. Sixteen years after the war, B-17's were a pretty rare item- yet Caidin, Board and a few dedicated, determined associates accomplished the near-impossible feat, not only finding the bombers but flying them across the Atlantic to England. The important preparations, and the "wild and hairy" flight itself, make for exciting reading, as the sights, the sounds; the feelings of a whole World War II experience are brought alive again. Added to those sober recollections, however is a hearty belt of male humor -- aerial horseplay, daredevil stunting, a few "boys will be boys" episodes at home and abroad -- that makes EVERYTHING BUT THE FLAK lively reading that will bring back many memories of World War II and create many more for Caidin's readers.

204 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Martin Caidin was a prolific and controversial writer. Most of his work centered around the adventures of pilots and astronauts. A number of his books were notable for their reasonable, realistic predictions of then-futuristic technology.

Caidin's body of work was prolific and varied, ranging from additional speculative/SF novels such as Marooned, which was made into an acclaimed film and considered a harbinger of the Apollo 13 accident, to a novel based upon the character Indiana Jones. He also wrote many non-fiction books about science, aviation and warfare.

Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for "The Six Million Dollar Man" franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation.

In addition to his writing Caidin was a pilot and active in the restoration and flying of older planes.

Reviews

[Jon Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought my copy of this book used from the Dickson Street Bookshop in Fayetteville, AR. In 1961, a rag-tag collection of pilots, aircrew and mechanics are contracted to fly three WW2-era B-17 Flying Fortress bombers across the Atlantic ocean from the United States to the UK so the aircraft can be used in filming the movie "The War Lover". The book's author Martin Caidin was one of the pilots on the risky flight. This true-life story has many potentially fascinating elements: the 3 planes are pulled from an Arizona war surplus " boneyard" where they had languished for 16 years and they were painstakingly restored to flying condition, there are hair-raising in-flight malfunctions and breakages during the various ferry flight segments, foul weather adds further complications, and there are run-ins with the law in a couple of foreign ports-of-call, particularly Portugal. Throughout the book Caidin's writing style is jolly and exaggerated and he shamelessly stretches the truth and embellishes so that what must have been a tremendously dramatic and exciting real-life adventure comes across as overblown and cartoonish. The book is sprinkled with way too many descriptions of the aircrews' drunken boys-will-be-boys antics and bits of derring-do so that by the end I was thoroughly tired of it. You have to make allowances for the fact that the book was written 60 years ago in a far different world, but still it's a shame the story couldn't have been told with a somewhat more serious focus and tone. Three out of five stars.

[Jacob Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really annoying. Everyone is a maverick who can do no wrong (even when doing wrong), and the tone is generally grating.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cadin's Everything but the Flak was about flying three B-17's from Arizona to England to film the movie the War Lover. I enjoyed Hersey's The War Lover. It is a great book and the movie starring Steve McQueen was excellent as well. I thought that Cadin's Everything but the Flak would be a great addition to a great movie and a great book. If the book were not to have chapters 9 and 15 and most of chapter 14 this would be the case.

Cadin's Samurai, Thunderbolt, Black Thursday and Flying Forts are great books which give a rich background into aviation history. For the most part this book gives the reader a good understanding of the difficulties the crew faced getting these aircraft to England. The story then becomes surreal in that in Chapter 9 and Incident in Gander he and two other newspaper reporters get into a brawl with a KGB agent. Then these men write a report about it and foretold that a year later there would be a confrontation over Cuba (The Cuban Missile Crisis). Then in Chapter 14 he and other members of the crew were met by a frothing Portuguese Secret Police officer about the three planes landing in Lisbon. Here Caidin reports the crew members were glib and then followed about by the secret police almost being thrown into jail. I do believe these events occurred but I also believe that Caidin used these minor stories as a place to exaggerate them to bolster the adventure. I don't believe Caidin would have had a near riot with the KGB in an airport. There may have been a push and a shove but no near riot. The three to be skipped chapters add nothing to the story.

The best parts of the book are when Caidin focuses on the point of the book, the airplanes. Here is where the story is interesting. The group had a little over a month to get three B-17’s from the “boneyard” to flying condition to be in a movie. There were other stipulations such as these aircraft must have original equipment and meet the most stringent FAA guidelines. After that is done the aircraft then had to be ferried across the Atlantic in October. This is the heart of the book and where Caidin should have left his focus. His writing is clear and allows the reader to be there and imagine the scene in vivid color and detail, this where the book’s focus should have stayed. I toughly enjoyed this part of the book and would recommend to anyone interested in the difficulties in restoring any old artifact, whether it be an airplane, a ship or a house.

If you want a good book on the difficulties of restoring aircraft and the challenges in flying them this is a great book just skip the fantasy parts in chapters 9, 14 and 15.

[Rob Neyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book, but a pretty good tale well-told. Probably should have been even shorter -- there's at least one chapter that serves only as a strange and wild-eyed artifact of the Cold War -- but then there wouldn't have been enough material for a book.

[Len Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

reads like a thriller!