Enemy Coast Ahead - Uncensored: The Real Guy Gibson

Product Information

It’s an honest and detailed record of his time in the RAF and for anyone interested in WWII or RAF history, it’s a must read. It is also the inside story of life in Bomber Command throughout the first five years of World War II, culminating in intense drama as the RAF planned, practiced, and strove towards breaching the dams on that famous night in May 1943. I found excitement on virtually every page and had to remind myself that it was actually a factual account of war. Particularly entertaining is his recounting of multiple pilots (both British and German) mistaking Britain for France (or vice versa) and landing (or bombing! It clearly reflects the language and the style of the times it was written and the reader has to keep that in mind.

IN writing this book on the past four years of war, I have had to work without notes, and without help from diaries. The ending of the book was a record of the Dam buster Mission, but at the end of the book I was left hanging. He also clearly recounts the issues facing the early pilots taking the war to Germany from within what seemed an almost amateurish Bomber Command.Starting off flying Hampdens in 83 Squadron of bomber command, switching to the Beaufighters of 29 Squadron of fighter command before finally transferring back to bomber command to fly the Lancaster with 106 and ultimately 617 Squadrons. As a modern touch there is a centre set of glossy paper photographs, some of which are colourised versions of the monochromes. Gibson flew Hampden and then Lancaster bombers but he also had a spell flying night fighters in 1941 and he gives us an insight into the life of an operational pilot on both a fighter and bomber base. Not only are you presented with a variety of decisions, you play the invisible hand of fate as your crews endure the hazards of a dangerous night raid.

academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature. Beatrice " Gwennie " ( " Nora "'s younger sister ) and her husband, John Christopher, took care of their nephews and attended some school functions to support them. Gibson was later awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming at the time the most highly decorated British serviceman. Gibson joined the RAF prior to the war, and he recounts the early stages of combat and the daily struggle with first the Handley Page Hampden and then the Avro Manchester aeroplanes on long and arduous missions into enemy airspace.Coningsby ( Lincolnshire, April 13th, 1942 ) to fly bomber operations again in Avro Manchesters and Lancasters. This is a fascinating book, written at the height of the war just after the famous Dams raid and just before Gibson’s untimely death. Guy Gibson led a critical raid against three dams in the Ruhr Valley - his squadron is still known as the Dam Busters. Now I am more aware of Guy Gibson the human and have a better understanding of who he was, before and after that one mission he is best known for.

There are quite a few typos in the text: the one regarding the 425 (sic) degree intercept heading on page 130 being so glaringly obvious I'm amazed it has never been corrected. It is written before the war ended by Guy Gibson, who was a squadron leader in both Bomber Command and Fighter Command and is best known for his heroic role as one of the famous dam busters of 1943. He had by this time completed two full tours, each of 30 operations, with Bomber Command (with 83 and 106 Squadrons), another one as a night-fighter pilot with 29 Squadron and, as leader of the famous Dam Busters raid against the dams of the Ruhr Valley ( Operation Chastise) with 617 Squadron in May 1943. On the night of 16 / 17 May 1943 the newly-formed 617 Squadron successfully attacked the mighty dams of the Ruhr valley and their audacious low-level assault gained them legendary status. If you are looking for a definitive account of the attacks on the dams of the Ruhr valley, then this isn't it; the formation of 617 Squadron, the Upkeep 'bouncing bomb' and the actual attack on the dams only comprise the final three chapters.

The only drawback in this memoir is that several times he would introduce a topic and then hesitate to discuss it saying that he lacked the time to do so. Some readers may be aghast at the author's marvelling at seeing fleeing vehicles being engulfed by flood water from the breached Möhne reservoir; but of course Gibson's jingoism, and his views on the destruction of German towns and cities, has to be seen in the context of a continent at total war. Combined with newly added photographs and diagrams Enemy Coast Ahead - Uncensored remains one of the outstanding accounts of WWII seen through the eyes of one of its most respected and controversial personalities, but now allows the reader to know Gibson's own story in his own words. The dam busters raid is legendary, and since my Dad was a USAAF bombardier in the Pacific and my wife’s uncle was an RCAF navigator assigned to RAF 627 Squadron in the Pathfinder force flying Lancs and Mosquitos, I thought I could learn a lot from this book.

I have read that the name of the squadron’s dog has caused controversy in the past and has been censored in various representations of the Dambusters’ story but, in this instance, the publisher decided to print the name. In fact there isn't a single mention of the fact that the bomb was designed to bounce, again no doubt, due to the classified nature of weapon at that time. On the night of May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron took off from their base near Lincoln in Great Britain and headed for the heart of German industry in the Ruhr. Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the breaching of two large dams in the Ruhr area of Germany] With a Foreword by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris | Introduction by Chaz Bowyer. It was a good thing when Crecy released this complete edition - as originally published censors cut out material that was still thought militarily sensitive and some of Gibson's opinions.Near the end of the book there is a brilliant narrative that shows just how far the RAF had come in night bombing. I read Paul Brickhill's The Dambusters a few years ago and loved it, so I was a little dubious about reading Guy Gibson's own account: I thought it might be a self-glorification kind of thing, but I was so wrong. As this is the Uncensored version, it contains Gibson's unfiltered opinions of of his commanders, Bomber Command, and the Government in general.