Flight Path

by David Hill

A gripping novel for young adults that captures both the daring and the everyday realities of serving in the Air Force during the Second World War.

Pete and Paul yelled together. 'Bandit! Nine o'clock! Bandit!'
Jack spun to stare. There was the Messerschmitt on their left, streaking straight at them.

Eighteen-year-old Jack wanted to escape boring little New Zealand. But he soon finds that flying in a Lancaster bomber to attack Hitler’s forces brings terror as well as excitement. With every dangerous mission, he becomes more afraid that he’ll never get back alive. He wants to help win the war, but will he lose his own life?

Genres: World War II, Teen, War

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2017

About the author

David Hill (born 1942) is a New Zealand author, especially well known for his young adult fiction. His young fiction books See Ya, Simon (1992) and Right Where It Hurts (2001) have been shortlisted for numerous awards. He is also a prolific journalist, writing many articles for The New Zealand Herald.

He cites Maurice Gee as his favourite author, and Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy as his favourite children's authors.

Hill attended Victoria University in Wellington, graduating MA Hons in 1964. Hill currently lives in New Plymouth.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the scorched and torn areas of WW2 Europe, this story follows the fictional tale of a young lad from New Zealand who enrols to serve his country and fight against the German forces in this significant event in history. On the long journey he meets many new friends, some from his country and others from regions all around the world such as; Poland, Australia, Britain and America.

During his time at war as a part of a bombing crew of the RAF on a Lancaster plane, he faces terrible conditions and deals with the atrocities of war and the deaths of his fellow airmen and those of the enemy forces. The themes of what is right and the time of war is the most presently presented ideal in the book and the main character Jack often deals with the moral ambiguities of war. The story was very well-written with a lot of detail surrounding the raids the crews are sent out on and focusing on the Lancaster bombers. Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mosquitos and many other were also used in the raids and were shown heavily in the story. There is a lot of suspense and thrill, providing a tense tale while Jack and his fellow airmen carry out their harrowing orders flying over the English channel to Europe, narrowly avoiding flack and enemy gun fire as they try to complete their daring missions.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this book due the time it was set and the many references to the chilling and disturbing times of WW2, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes book set in this time period.

[Ryan Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vEry good book filled with action, romance, suspense and a surprise.
If you like ww2 and flying this is the book for you.

[Oliver Swann]

In the book flight path I got that a lot of men thought that going to the war would be a good experience to see the world but no that was not the case. They started to notice that when in a plane they only went to German lines over France or if not in a plane then down to the local town and pub and that was it. As the main character starts to realise that. he only knows one thing and that is to fight and not give up. After his friend goes down and is put in the missing in battle list he does everything in his power to fight back and kill the Germans. I learnt that even when something happens or lose everything you fight back. Not to give up. One other thing I learnt was bomber planes didn’t just bomb they planted mines as the drop them from the plane.

[Nathan Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical fiction novel.

[John Greenbank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for people who enjoy a good war story, not so much action though. The book is about a Lancaster (bomber) crew who take on many air raids becoming aces. The main character is Jack, a New Zealander who ran away from home to join the RAF. What will happen to Jack and his crew? The only way to find out is by reading the book.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite not being a fan of the war novel, I found this tense and was interested to follow Jack's adventures hoping he and his flight crew would survive these terrible conditions.

Lots about planes, bombs and missions to beat those awful Nazis. There's also enough consideration of the moral ambiguities of war to make it a thoughtful read.