Review of Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain

From Andy Wright. Flightpath Volume 26, No. 2, November 2014-January 2014

 

The sheer presence of this beautiful hardback demands attention. The hardcovers replicate the dust cover artwork and prove there is more to life than dark cloth and gold embossed text. They are a taster as, once the book is opened, the crisp, clean pages, the superb layout and the professional notes and index are the pinnacle of book design. Such effort was required because the content is sublime. Yes, it’s another book on the Battle of Britain but, rather than another angle on this most famous of aerial campaigns, this one is very personal and re-introduces eight relatively unknown Australian flyers. Only [Pat] Hughes, [Dick] Glyde and [Des] Sheen were familiar names. Even so, for Glyde, this is the first time his story has been told in detail. Indeed, the same could be said for the others too—[Bill] Millington, [John] Crossman, [Ken] Holland, [Jack] Kennedy and [Stuart] Walch. Most, if not all, simply became one of ‘The Few’ in photos or on plaques and headstones in semi-forgotten fields in England. These young men have a voice again (notably Des Sheen was the only one to survive the war). Their lives are laid bare via an impressive collection of letters and diary entries. There is, of course, a lot of combat but these sequences do not outweigh the pre-war lives, training and personal lives and loves in England. The final chapters emotionally detail the families’ struggles to live without their beloved boys. Everything is so well done and, importantly, eight men can live on in the hearts and minds of all who read this book. They deserve it. Postscript. First published in Australia, a UK edition is now due in 2015.