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No Parachute is a 1968 autobiographical book by RFC fighter pilot Arthur Gould Lee.
Overview
[edit]The book takes the form of a collection of letters to the author's wife, written from the front, and narrating his experiences as a fighter pilot in 46 Squadron RFC flying Sopwith Pups and Camels in 1917. During this time Lee graduates from a novice pilot 2nd Lt to a flight leader and Captain, with 6 confirmed kills.
Notable in the letters is the gradual change from naive exuberance to a sense of despair and evident stress felt by Lee, leading to his being invalided back to HE.
Three appendices cover divisions in the high command which led to poor aircraft being designed and delivered; why the high command felt that an offensive strategy (leading to many RFC sorties over German occupied territory) rather than defensive was preferable; and why it occurred to no-one with any authority that issuing parachutes to pilots would be worthwhile.
Rework as Open Cockpit
[edit]In 1969 Lee published Open Cockpit, essentially retelling the story in first person narrative, with the addition of a brief recounting of a nostalgic visit to his first operational aerodrome at La Gorgue, fifty years after his original posting there, his experiences of flying training in England, and his return to England and subsequent transfer into the RAF
See also
[edit]- 46 Squadron
- Winged Victory, a novel by Victor Maslin Yeates who also flew with 46 Sqn, in 1918
- Chickenhawk, a book by Robert Mason telling of a similar descent from naivety to despair, though in very different aircraft in a very different war
References
[edit]- Lee, Arthur Gould (1968). No Parachute. Jarrolds. ISBN 0-09-086590-1
- Lee, Arthur Gould (1969). Open Cockpit. Jarrolds. ISBN 978-1-9081-1752-0.
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Rowling, J.K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury. p. copyright notice. ISBN 978-0-7475-3274-3.</ref>}}