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*** THIS IS THE BLACK & WHITE VERSION - A COLOUR COPY IS AVAILABLE
Graham Harrison hunted U-boats. As a Coastal Command pilot in WW2 he flew Wellington bombers (Wimpys), patrolling either the Bay of Biscay or the Atlantic off Northern Ireland.
In these memoirs he tells of first being assigned to 612 Squadron, based in Chivenor, Devon – the first squadron to have Leigh Lights fitted to help night patrols. Later, he was assigned to 172 Squadron in Limavady, patrolling the North-West approaches.
At the end of the war, in a completely different role, Graham ferried an ENSA troupe around South East Asia, entertaining the forces in exotic locations from Rangoon to Singapore to Hong Kong. His “cargo” included such notables as (later, Sir) John Gielgud and comedian Tommy Trinder. Read his account of how he and Gielgud searched the jungles from above for the famous Cambodian ruins of Angkor Wat.
But this is more than a collection of a WW2 pilot’s yarns. Graham tells us about his background and family. In particular, he connects the two World Wars when he relates the difficulties his wounded father had after trench warfare in WW1, and the dramatic effect that had on the whole family.
Graham’s memoirs tell what it was like to be a young man risking his life for King and Country while yearning for contact with the fairer sex. As was true for many pilots, he mastered the controls of a Wimpy in the skies long before learning to drive a car.
Graham liberally sprinkles his book with photos. Throughout his story, Graham’s wit and his love of music, literature and the arts shine through. This was a young man with a story to tell, and a charming way of telling it.
Graham Harrison hunted U-boats. As a Coastal Command pilot in WW2 he flew Wellington bombers (Wimpys), patrolling either the Bay of Biscay or the Atlantic off Northern Ireland.
In these memoirs he tells of first being assigned to 612 Squadron, based in Chivenor, Devon – the first squadron to have Leigh Lights fitted to help night patrols. Later, he was assigned to 172 Squadron in Limavady, patrolling the North-West approaches.
At the end of the war, in a completely different role, Graham ferried an ENSA troupe around South East Asia, entertaining the forces in exotic locations from Rangoon to Singapore to Hong Kong. His “cargo” included such notables as (later, Sir) John Gielgud and comedian Tommy Trinder. Read his account of how he and Gielgud searched the jungles from above for the famous Cambodian ruins of Angkor Wat.
But this is more than a collection of a WW2 pilot’s yarns. Graham tells us about his background and family. In particular, he connects the two World Wars when he relates the difficulties his wounded father had after trench warfare in WW1, and the dramatic effect that had on the whole family.
Graham’s memoirs tell what it was like to be a young man risking his life for King and Country while yearning for contact with the fairer sex. As was true for many pilots, he mastered the controls of a Wimpy in the skies long before learning to drive a car.
Graham liberally sprinkles his book with photos. Throughout his story, Graham’s wit and his love of music, literature and the arts shine through. This was a young man with a story to tell, and a charming way of telling it.
186 pages, Paperback
Published March 8, 2017
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