Norwegian Patrol by Gron Edwards

Hardbound 15x22 cm, 176 pages. At the outbreak of WW II, no one expected the Germans to gobble up Great Britain's possible allies. It left her virtually alone, facing occupied coastlines stretching from the Arctic Circle down through Norway, Denmark, Holland, France, (supposedly) neutral Spain, to Algeria. There was only one way to gather information on ships, movement of cargoes or new fortifications- send Coastal Command to look at them by air. This is about such an outfit. Edwards is a pilot of a Lockheed Hudson, an early war twin engine, bomber/patrol airplane. It was slower than the Messerschmitts, and vulnerable to flak or Nazi patrol planes. Amazingly, the crews went out again and again to uncover hidden German battlecruisers, attack Uboats and convoys. Here is a duel with a Dornier flying boat: ' A bullet going through a Hudson, or any other metal aircraft for that matter, makes a noise rather like cracking a whip and smashing a glass window at the same time. At twenty shots a second the burst that hit us seemed to make about a hundred times the noise. The shattering, splintering, crashing noise that seemed to start just above my head receded only slightly in volume as a line of bullets started about six inches above me and swept backwards through the top of the wireless set and into the cabin. It sounded as though the aircraft was being destroyed about our ears. But the gunner shot about a foot too high and stopped a yard too soon. That much lower and longer and he would have killed both pilots and the gunner, and probably the wireless operator as well. By this time I'd had a bellyful and had the wheel hard over, and the big black shape of the Dornier and its winking front gun receded into the mist, vanished, and the noise and destruction ceased.' (p. 138) The book ends as Edward's combat tour ends and he leaves the squadron. 9780906393536