TAIL-END CHARLIE. ONE MAN'S JOURNEY THROUGH A WAR. by Wainwright, John - 1978

London: Macmillan, London, 1978., 1978. 187 pp, 8vo (8 1/8" H). *Ex-library.* "The story of one man's journey through a war - including the funny bits, frightening bits and idiotic bits. That is how John Wainwright approaches the subject of how he came to fly - and to survive - no less than seventy-two night bombing raids in Lancasters in the second world war. It was theoretically seventy-three raids - but he explains the circumstances that made the number officially even greater than it really was. On all these missions he flew as Rear-Gunner. As an introduction to this daunting experience he tells of his short adult working life in 'civvy street' before the Air Force claimed him. But the book is about flying, the crew he flew with, some individual raids, perhaps above all his direct and down-to-earth recollections of 'what it was like'. John Wainwright does not deal in heroics, 'stiff upper lips', the tradition of much recent writing about the war. Factual detail is part of his business - such as in his description of what gear the rear-gunners donned for each flight, unofficial as well as official: the unofficial armour to protect their manhood, for instance. He defends his generation: 'Occasionally (as in 1939) war becomes the lesser of two evils and, at that moment, it becomes not glorious but urgent. But let nobody suggest that we, who fought that war, enjoyed that war'. It is one man's journey through a war - a fascinating recollection in tranquility by a man who lived through one of the most terrifying parts cast for those who acted in the Second World War." Ex-library copy with some of the usual stamps, pocket, etc., old tape residue on boards, several pages with very small light stains/marks, several pages with tiny dints in top margin, a few pages with dog-ear crease, book is cocked, has moderate edgewear, light browning and soiling to edges of textblock. Dust jacket has light edgewear/wrinkling, light rubbing, is price clipped, remnants of old label on spine, light colour offset from boards on inside surface.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good reading copy only./X-Library.