Spitfire Pilot. By Flight-Lieutenant D. M. Crook, D.F.C. (Faber. is.)
IT is curious that many publishers, as well as the B.B.C., seem unaware how much more telling and readable is a " plain unvar- nished tale " (when there is a tale to be told) than is any tricky dolled-up presentation or " production " of dramatic material. Here, for example, is a brilliant first-hand account of the life of a fighter pilot before and during the " Battle of Britain," which may be guaranteed to hold the almost breathless attention of every reader in a way that nothing less realistic and matter-of-fact could possibly do. Among the excellent books about the R.A.F. which have appeared since the war this absorbing first-hand account of the life on active service of Fl.-Lt. Crook and his comrades must be given one of the highest places. It tells us exactly what we who have witnessed these battles from the ground want to know and what we ought to know, and from beginning to end it is without a dull moment,
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