Quality Military History and Aviation Books!
Author(s): Jack Colman and Richard Colman
Liberators over the Atlantic is an informative and personal account of a young man’s flying experiences during the Second World War. Growing up in York, Jack Colman achieved his long-held desire to become a pilot by joining the RAF in October 1940, just after his twenty-first birthday. Sent to Canada to learn to fly, he became intrigued by the technical and practical aspects of flying and navigation. Promoted to pilot/navigator, Colman joined Costal Command on Liberators based in Iceland.
The practical difficulties of flying over the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean protecting the convoys and hunting U-boats are relived as he battled with atrocious weather and navigational uncertainties. His brushes with death—in training and when operational, whether due to mechanical failure, flying into the sea, U-boat gunfire, or running out of fuel in an ever-changing hostile environment—are described realistically and calmly, often laced with dry humour. Lavishly illustrated with previously unpublished photographs, this is essential reading on the war over the Atlantic against Hitler’s U-boat menace.
| BOOK ISBN | 9781781556504 |
| FORMAT | 234 x 156 mm |
| BINDING | Hardback with dust jacket |
| PAGES | 304 pages |
| PUBLICATION DATE | 15 December 2017 |
| TERRITORY | UK and Worldwide |
| ILLUSTRATIONS | 37 black-and-white photographs |
Born in 1919, Jack Colman was the only child of Freda and Harold of York. A conscientious student, he had an ambition from the age of ten to become a pilot. The Second World War was his opportunity. Selected for pilot training, he joined the RAF shortly after his twenty-first birthday, which rescued him, for a time, from an office job in insurance. Post-war, he enjoyed a spell as a commercial pilot for BEA until 1953, when layoffs saw him return to insurance. He and Peggy had two boys, Peter and Richard, of whom he was very proud.
