CARRIER OBSERVER - A Back Seat Aviator's Story by Wallace , Gordon

Shrewsbury, 1993 , Airlife, 1st UK edition , hard bound in dust jacket, Fine / Fine condition , 6 x 9 , 222 pages , illus , appendices , index................................... Gordon Wallace joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1940 and trained as an observer. In Carrier Observer he recalls this period and gives the reader a fascinating insight into the life of a navigator who has the responsibility of finding his way back to a carrier in the middle of an ocean in all weathers.The author saw action in Ceylon, Malta and Tunisia. Gordon Wallace has studied in some detail what has been described as one of 'the most dangerous moments of the war' when there was a real threat that the Eastern Fleet would be destroyed by the Japanese. His carefully reasoned conclusions make interesting reading.He was one of the few survivors of the daylight raid on an Axis airfield in Tunisia for which Wing Commander Malcolm was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross after his nine aircraft took on 60 German ones. He escaped death narrowly three times including once when his aircraft crashed between enemy lines.Written in a light and often amusing style, Carrier Observer is a delightful portrait of life in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II. He flew primarily in 812 squadron