Mosquito Men: The Elite Pathfinders of 627 Squadron

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The Founder of the Pathfinders [Donald Bennett] lacks sufficient coverage, but the politics with Cochrane are well articulated. Mosquito Men traces the contrasting careers of the young men of 627 Squadron, including that of Ken Oatley - last living member of an illustrious group - who flew twenty-two operations in Mosquitos as a navigator. Novel in construction and exceptionally fast, the new plane was soon outpacing the Spitfire, and went on to contribute to the RAF's offensive against Nazi Germany as bomber, pathfinder and night fighter. This may only be a history of a short lived squadron at first glance but the background that is uncovered of the people, places, machines, politics and history make this an unmissable treat and a fitting testimony to those who we owe so much to. Mosquito Men traces the contrasting careers of the young men of 627 Squadron, including that of Ken Oatley – last living member of an illustrious group – who flew twenty-two operations in Mosquitos as a navigator.

The Mosquito Men are not acknowledged by any of the other characters in The Plane Scene, and themselves say nothing revealing any information about themselves (or at all). I was hoping for something more like Michael Cumming's excellent "Beam Bombers" about 109 Squadron, As a result, I was sometimes distracted by anecdotes that I felt were non-sequiturs (and why I did not rate this 5 stars). If the Squadron's history has not been well-served in print up to now, this volume sets things to rights. Grace lives alone in Ballybrady, a little village on the sublimely beautiful east coast of Northern Ireland. Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund on custom prints unless they are faulty or we have made a mistake.From the summer of that year, as RAF Bomber Command intensified its saturation-bombing campaign against German cities and industrial centres, Mosquitos were used by the RAF Pathfinder Force, which marked targets for night-time bombing, to potent and devastating effect. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Mosquito Men traces the contrasting careers of the young men of 627 Squadron, including that of Ken Oatley – last surviving member of an illustrious group – who flew twenty-two operations in Mosquitos as a navigator. Following a Mosquito raid on the main Berlin broadcasting station on 30 January 1943, which succeeded in removing Hermann Goering from the airwaves, the Luftwaffe chief observed ruefully: 'It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito.

A warm, unsentimental and beautifully-observed book for our times' Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days 'If I were in bother I'd want the Ballybrady bunch at my back. One of the tourists is Evan, taking an enforced holiday from his family and work in Belfast after breaking down after the death of his daughter in infancy.Novel in design, operationally flexible and exceptionally fast, it inflicted mayhem on the German war machine as night-fighter, fighter-bomber and pathfinder. In November 1940, a remarkable prototype aircraft made its maiden flight from an airstrip north of London. I did appreciate the lengthy anecdote regarding the personality and combat loss of Guy Gibson while leading a mission that he was not qualified for.

Nicknamed the 'wooden wonder' for its balsawood frame, the two-man Mosquito excelled in several different roles, from reconnaissance to the bombing of sensitive priority targets.Its more familiar name was the de Havilland Mosquito, and it used lightning speed and agility to inflict mayhem on the German war machine. As the government’s national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives hold over 1,000 years of the nation’s records for everyone to discover and use. She fills her days with swimming, fishing, quilting, and baiting the tourists who arrive from the city with more money than sense. This is a truly heart-warming story of loss, recovery and above all, of community' Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House.

Richly detailed and superbly evocative in the telling - this is a compelling account of the wartime RAF's most glamorous plane and some of the brave men who flew it.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The author does a nice job of expounding on the power struggle between 5 Group and 8 Group (PFF) that resulted in 627 Squadron moving to Woodhall Spa and 5 Group. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Mosquito Men traces the contrasting careers of the young men of 627 Squadron, including that of Ken Oatley - last surviving member of an illustrious group - who flew twenty-two operations in Mosquitos as a navigator.