- Insight into flying the Bristol Beaufighter and navigational difficulties in a pre-digital age
- Previously unpublished wartime photographs from the author’s private collection
- Rich in detail, this will be of interest to aviation and military historians as well as modellers
In October 1943, Jack Colman changed from Liberators to Beaufighters and was selected for ‘Torbeau’ training in Scotland. He joined a strike wing at North Coates attacking North Sea convoys off the coast of Holland.
Later, Jack and his Beaufighter were sent to the Far East where he was deployed to fly out of Assam over Burma supporting the ‘Forgotten Army’. Midway through the tour, they converted to Mosquitoes; a change he was not particularly happy about.
After a short rest converting pilots to Mosquitoes, he felt lucky to be put in charge of a small unit flying service personnel to various venues in southern India. Jack’s enthusiasm for flying is maintained and his lucky escapes documented.
His fascination with the cultural and social experiences gained in India leaves its mark as he comments on the privileges he experiences, now as a commissioned officer, and of the wealth chasm between the princes and poor of India.
This is a book not just about flying but how he and his comrades lived through those unique and special times.
| BOOK ISBN |
9781781557464 |
| FORMAT |
234 x 156 mm |
| BINDING |
Hardback |
| PAGES |
336 pages |
| PUBLICATION DATE |
12 December 2019 |
| TERRITORY |
World |
| 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. Jack and Richard Colman’s first book for Fonthill Media was
Liberators Over the Atlantic.
