These are facts: The autobiography of Air Marshall Sir Richard Williams, KBE, CB, DSO

by Richard Williams

428 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is Richard^Williams, a catch-all for authors who can't be matched to one of the other specific ones.

Reviews

[Caryatid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've just finished this book although have no interest in aviation. Had it a little less politics and more personal narrative I'd have bumped it to four stars. There's much sympathy for the author with having to deal with hidebound Australian politicians who deferred way too much to British rules and regulations in a field that was in its infancy in all countries.
The author was justified in preferring the use of Australians when pioneering aviation in peacetime and abroad and particularly the maintaining of all Australian groupings in conflicts that took place in Europe during WWII. Since I'm British I felt great sympathy for the authors trials and he seemed in no way jingoistic.

[John Bowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend this work to anyone with an interest in civil or military aviation in Australia, as the autobiography of a man whose own life paralleled the development of these fields.
The book features plenty of flying stories and amusing anecdotes, nicely balancing discussions of bureaucratic wrangling and military organisation, which are fairly weighty at times.