Aeroplane – June 2018

Reviews

an example of what can be done at an

affordable price. DJC

ISBN 978-1-9996353-0-5; 9.7 x 6.7in

softback; 300 pages, illustrated; £17.00

(£20.50 including UK p&p)

★★★★

Flying in Father’s Slipstream

by Tom Eeles

published by Arena Books

This is an

imaginative idea for

a book. The RAF

careers of Harry

and Tom Eeles,

father and son,

spanned all but two

years from 1922 to

2010. In between,
      their experiences
      were rich indeed.
      Amongst other
      postings, Eeles
      senior fl ew Bristol Bulldogs with No 41
      Squadron, commanded No 263 Squadron
      on the Whirlwind fi ghter, and was
      commandant of the RAF College Cranwell.
      Tom, meanwhile, fl ew Canberras and
      Buccaneers on operational tours (his fi rst
      experience of the latter being on a loan
      service period with the navy), was the boss
      of Buccaneer-equipped No 237 OCU and
      station commander at Linton-on-Ouse.
      The concept here is to take an entry
      from his father’s logbook, expand upon
      it in a chapter, and then follow it with a
      roughly equivalent chapter relating to an
      event from Tom’s logbook. For instance,
      chapter one covers Harry’s basic training at
      Cranwell on the Avro 504, while in chapter
      two Tom describes doing likewise with the
      Chipmunk. While the text does include
      some general description of aircraft types,
      some nice insights are contained within. To
      this reviewer’s knowledge, the Operation
      ‘Aster’ fl ights, using Jetstreams to transport
      Joint Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence
      Centre personnel between Wyton and
      Ramstein during the 1991 Gulf War, have
      never been written about before — Tom
      co-piloted some of these sorties — while
      the author doesn’t much hold back on his
      views concerning the Grob Tutor, which
      he fl ew with Cambridge UAS and No 5 Air
      Experience Flight, his last RAF activities.
      Both design and photo reproduction are
      on the uninspiring side, and the inclusion
      of digital fi le names in the image captions
      is an obvious mistake. Even so, this is a
      pleasing variation on the ‘aircrew memoir’
      genre. BD

ISBN 978-1-911593-22-5; 9.25 x 6in soft-

back; 130 pages, illustrated; £12.99

★★★

WIN! PENGUIN

RAF CENTENARY

COLLECTION

A

s a commemoration of the service’s

100th anniversary, Penguin has

released this Centenary Collection:

six of the best, most vivid and rightly

acclaimed accounts of front-line fl ying

— and the emotions that accompany

it — in the RAF. They comprise Richard

Hillary’s The Last Enemy, First Light by

Geoffrey Wellum, Roald Dahl’s Going

Solo, Tumult in the Clouds by James

Goodson, Tornado Down by John Nichol

and John Peters, and Mark Hammond’s

Immediate Response. In covering periods

from pre-World War Two fl ying training,

as described by both Hillary and Wellum,

to Chinook operations in Afghanistan,

the subject of Hammond’s book, the

complete collection constitutes a valuable

record of some of the most important

periods in the air force’s history.

Thanks to Penguin, Aeroplane has a set

of the Centenary Collection books to give

away. To be in with a chance of winning,

simply answer the following question:

• Which company produces the Chinook
  helicopter?

HOW TO ENTER:

For your chance to win, simply visit

http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com, click the

‘Competitions’ tab on the menu, and fi ll in

the online entry form.

Alternatively, send your name, address

and telephone number to: Aeroplane

Centenary Collection Books Competition,

Key Publishing, PO Box 100, Stamford,

Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ. UK.

The winners will be the fi rst three

correct entries drawn after the closing

date, 17.00hrs UK time on 1 August 2018.

Terms and conditions: Only one entry per household

is permitted. The winners will be the fi rst correct entry

selected at random after the closing date. There is no

cash alternative and the editor’s decision is fi nal. The

winner will be notifi ed no later than 13 August 2018.

Aviation Paintings

of the Year

The Guild of Aviation Artists will

hold the 2018 edition of its annual,

and extremely popular, Aviation

Paintings of the Year exhibition at

London’s Mall Galleries, situated

near Admiralty Arch in the centre

of the capital, from 9-15 July.

More than 400 original works

from 130 artists will be on display

at the event, the dates of which

are ideally timed to coincide with

the RAF 100 fl ypast over London

on the Tuesday of that week,

which will doubtless attract many

visitors with an aviation interest

to the city. Following the offi cial

opening (admittance to which is by

invitation only), visitors will be able

to fi nd out more about the many

different techniques and styles

used by the artists whose works are

on show, while informal painting

demonstrations will be held from

Tuesday to Saturday, and Thursday

will see two walkabout critiques on

exhibits by a senior guild member,

one of them at 12.00 and another

at 18.00hrs. For more information

visit http://www.gava.org.uk.

Shown here are two of the works

on display, one (above) by Philip E.

West depicting Douglas Bader in

his ‘personal’ Hurricane V7467, the

other (below) — ‘Bombing Up’ —

by Michael Turner representing RAF

Short Stirlings.

Opening times: Opening Saturday

by invitation only; Tuesday-Saturday

10.00-17.00hrs (10.00-20.00hrs on

Thursday); Sunday 10.00-12.30hrs

Admission: free; catalogue £5

ART EXHIBITION

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 103

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