Bombers Fly East. By Bruce Sanders. (Herbert Jenkins. 8s. 6d.)
Ground Staff. By Squadron-Leader A. J. Brown. (Eyre and Spouts. woode. ios. 6d.)
IT is difficult to write about the RAF without being obvious, and Squadron-Leader Brown, who is "fighting for' the England that Rupert Brooke knew and loved," would probably be not at all ashamed of falling into this snare. His book opens with a personal impression of the fall of Austria, vivid if insular (elsewhere he says, " one of the .1 joys of wandering about pre-war Europe was that wherever one went one met Englishmen who had founded businesses in different countries "). He has good descriptions of ground life on a bomber .1 station, and the extensive planning and briefing which precede the raids, followed quite frequently by cancellation owing to ground mists—all rapportage of this kind is inevitably hampered by security restrictions., Bombers Fly East is more journalistic ; it •includes a great many anecdotes of heroism, a fascinating description of the first air-borne lifeboat dropped by the Air-Sea Rescue Service, and far too many verbatim messages of congratulation from high authorities. a Both these accounts bear the mark of hasty writing, but Squadron- Leader Brown's pleasure in the English countryside makes Ground Staff less of a compilation and more of a book.
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