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Lucky Terrell Series #2
Sky Attack
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
About the author
Canfield Cook
35 books2 followersAn aviator and author, Cook lived in US from early manhood and became a naturalized citizen in 1935. He served with the Royal Flying Corps. He also directed one highly successful short documentary film, "Wings Parade," in 1942. The making of that film is described in
One Man's Documentary: A Memoir of the Early Years of the National Film Board
by Graham McInnes.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 25, 2024
3.5 stars
Once in a while you stumble across an old series that you didn't even know existed, and very few people seem to know about - think Cherry Ames, the Mercer Boys, and now Lucky Terrell. I found Sky Attack at a yard sale, and as I'm currently into anything WWII I can get my hands on (and a history nerd), I was happy to pick it up.
I think I might've enjoyed the story better if I hadn't dropped into the middle of a series. I know the author explained a bit of what happened before, but I still felt a lot of disconnect.
Also I really wish that our hero, Bob, had more character development; he just seemed a bit flat to me. He's from Texas (but doesn't talk like it, at least not to me), has a knack for getting into wild exploits that he shouldn't survive (but does), and chafes at inactivity. (Yeah, all that sounds about right for this era.) I wouldn't be surprised if he's named Best Pilot in the RAF. 😎
Speaking of wild exploits . . . ooookay, I get that this was written during the war - probably under a deadline - and the author had to make some things up (especially about German weapons). That's fine, I'll give some leeway there. Even so, some of the things that happen seem pretty unlikely (and from what I can tell, the book before was unlikelier). In a way they remind me of episodes like "Escape to Nowhere" or "The Quiet Warrior" from the 60s TV show Combat! (fyi, the chances of the stuff in those episodes being real are practically nil). But y'know, ~10-year-old boys (who I'm guessing were the target audience) probably aren't going to care as much about believability as they are about action. (I mean, when I was 10, I was coming up with ridiculously improbable stories, and lovin' it, so . . .) But as an author that stuff sticks out to me a lot more.
All that said, I still enjoyed it (there's just something about flight that intrigues me), and I'll be on the lookout for more books in the series.
(Edit: After talking with my military/history-nerd brother, I believe we've narrowed down the Stratohawk as being very similar to the De Havilland Mosquito - which was a secret new British plane at the time.)
Once in a while you stumble across an old series that you didn't even know existed, and very few people seem to know about - think Cherry Ames, the Mercer Boys, and now Lucky Terrell. I found Sky Attack at a yard sale, and as I'm currently into anything WWII I can get my hands on (and a history nerd), I was happy to pick it up.
I think I might've enjoyed the story better if I hadn't dropped into the middle of a series. I know the author explained a bit of what happened before, but I still felt a lot of disconnect.
Also I really wish that our hero, Bob, had more character development; he just seemed a bit flat to me. He's from Texas (but doesn't talk like it, at least not to me), has a knack for getting into wild exploits that he shouldn't survive (but does), and chafes at inactivity. (Yeah, all that sounds about right for this era.) I wouldn't be surprised if he's named Best Pilot in the RAF. 😎
Speaking of wild exploits . . . ooookay, I get that this was written during the war - probably under a deadline - and the author had to make some things up (especially about German weapons). That's fine, I'll give some leeway there. Even so, some of the things that happen seem pretty unlikely (and from what I can tell, the book before was unlikelier). In a way they remind me of episodes like "Escape to Nowhere" or "The Quiet Warrior" from the 60s TV show Combat! (fyi, the chances of the stuff in those episodes being real are practically nil). But y'know, ~10-year-old boys (who I'm guessing were the target audience) probably aren't going to care as much about believability as they are about action. (I mean, when I was 10, I was coming up with ridiculously improbable stories, and lovin' it, so . . .) But as an author that stuff sticks out to me a lot more.
All that said, I still enjoyed it (there's just something about flight that intrigues me), and I'll be on the lookout for more books in the series.
(Edit: After talking with my military/history-nerd brother, I believe we've narrowed down the Stratohawk as being very similar to the De Havilland Mosquito - which was a secret new British plane at the time.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review