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Post by stuyoung on Oct 22, 2013 16:38:28 GMT
Recently read War Story by Derek Robinson. Chronicles the exploits of naive, pompous and uptight RFC pilot Oliver Paxton as he struggles to grasp with the reality of aerial combat in WWI. Full of historical detail and technical bits about the aircraft. Also jam-packed with witty banter and crazy antics that shows how darkly absurd war can be. Reminded me of Biggles meets P.G. Wodehouse meets Catch-22. Or the war comics of Garth Ennis, himself a huge Robinson fan.
Robinson wrote a quartet of novels about the Royal Flying Corps and another quartet about the RAF (the first of these, Piece of Cake, was made into a TV series back in the '80s). Both series have recently been reprinted.
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Post by ripper on Nov 3, 2013 12:42:46 GMT
I've not read anything by Derek Robinson, though the TV series sounds familiar. There was also a series called Pathfinders from around the same era.
On a tangent, talk of the RFC and war comics reminded me that there used to be a comic strip in "Look and Learn" about the exploits of a group of pilots on the western front during WWI.
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Post by stuyoung on Nov 3, 2013 16:03:02 GMT
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Post by ripper on Nov 3, 2013 16:58:04 GMT
Hi Stu...that's the one. I couldn't remember the exact title, but I thought "Western Front" came into it. I haven't read it in 35+ years but it struck me as being of a quite high quality, as were the other Look and Learn strips I remember: Trigon Empire, Jason January (I think) and a supernatural one...perhaps Warlock?
There are a couple of Derek Robinson titles at my local library so I shall check them out.
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Post by stuyoung on Nov 4, 2013 17:03:44 GMT
Let me know what you think of them.
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Post by ripper on Nov 4, 2013 21:13:22 GMT
Okay, Stu, I will do that gladly.
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Post by ripper on Nov 30, 2013 11:30:22 GMT
I managed to get Goshawk Squadron from my local library and read it. Sadly, another Robinson they should have had was AWOL. Anyway, I did enjoy Goshawk Squadron quite a bit. I don't read much about WWI aviation, usually preferring stories from later conflicts, but it did seem believably realistic to me, and I did end up caring what happened to the characters. It must have been not only thrilling to fly one of those stringbags but also terrifying at times. Mechanical failure was probably a danger equal to that of being shot down, and as fatal. I found out it is part of a trilogy so I will try to get my hands on the other two volumes.
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Post by stuyoung on Dec 1, 2013 6:18:10 GMT
Cheers for the review. I've got Goshawk Squadron on my shelf but haven't got round to reading it yet.
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