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  #1  
Old 29-11-15, 04:20 PM
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Default 'Propaganda' book

This wartime publication is obviously targeted for a juvenile readership, blatantly portraying a raid on Germany as a 'trip'. Any youngster reading through it would be thrilled with the content and I suppose youngsters living during the war would be influenced by the huge mass of adventure books, comics, stories, etc that would be a part of their growing up. I sensed this when going through it. The attached double-page scan is marvellously displayed, with a luminous effect of an onlooker's view of the target from inside the cockpit during a nighttime bombing raid. As the centrefold is too large to be accommodated within the scanner's platen I have also scanned separately.
I class it as a collector's item.
GTB
ww2pub_0001.jpg

ww2pub_0002.jpg

ww2pub_0003.jpg

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  #2  
Old 29-11-15, 05:43 PM
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Fascinating. The Stirling's eye (below the cockpit) gives it a rather apprehensive look. Presumably the book skates over the details of the firestorm in the Ruhr and Luftwaffe night fighters? Mike
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  #3  
Old 29-11-15, 06:09 PM
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Mike, Everything is presented as 'a piece of cake'. Even the cover - it shows what could be a bomber-pilot father and his young son (tellingly holding a model aircraft) preparing to go on a trip. However, this is entirely misleading. The content is all propaganda as the trip is actually a night raid and begins with "We are taking off on a night flight over Germany in a giant "STIRLING" bomber." One can surmise that the boy is actually attending the briefing and subsequent raid, and is in fact the unseen onlooker in the centre-spread!

As for your prophetic presumption re skating over the details, you weren't far off:" Back over the deadly anti-aircraft fire, dodging enemy fighters and searchlights, back across the shining waterways of Holland and the gleaming silver of the English Channel go the crew of the bomber called "A for Apple."

Shades of Kipling!

GTB
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  #4  
Old 29-11-15, 06:25 PM
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I wonder if it was written by Anthony Cotterell?
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  #5  
Old 29-11-15, 06:25 PM
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Cool 'Propaganda' book

Truth is the first casualty of war . . !

Rob
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  #6  
Old 29-11-15, 06:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Miller View Post
I wonder if it was written by Anthony Cotterell?
Actually, there is no indication of author, publisher, etc. It is simply a wartime booklet/pamphlet, 7" x 8 1/8", 24pp, profusely illustrated.
It could well be a work by Cotterell, however the absence of any credits leaves this a mystery.
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  #7  
Old 29-11-15, 07:45 PM
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Default A for Apple

I believe that, rather unkindly but understandably, crews of Lancasters and Halifaxes, both of which a greater operational ceiling than the Stirlings rather liked having the latter several thousand feet below, acting as what the American crews would term "flak bait". Poor old "A for Apple"! Mike
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Old 29-11-15, 08:02 PM
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And also enemy fighter bait. These would preferably go for the lower-flying aircraft.

I have been reading up on the Stirling. Apparently they were withdrawn from strategic bombing of Germany in 1943. Therefore the publication should date sometime between 1941 and 1943.

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  #9  
Old 29-11-15, 08:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Jackson View Post
Poor old "A for Apple"! Mike
Actually, the phonetic alphabet of the time was "A for Able". Apparently a fictitious, though to my mind needlessly misleading, callsign was given to our Stirling.

GTB
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  #10  
Old 30-11-15, 12:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Miller View Post
I wonder if it was written by Anthony Cotterell?
It is not in his bibliography in Jennie Gray's book.

Rgds, Thomas.
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  #11  
Old 30-11-15, 07:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Jackson View Post
Fascinating. The Stirling's eye (below the cockpit) gives it a rather apprehensive look. Presumably the book skates over the details of the firestorm in the Ruhr and Luftwaffe night fighters? Mike
one of are forum members is helping to rebuild a full size stirling I am sure he will post comment soon
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  #12  
Old 30-11-15, 08:15 AM
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To be fair with the interest shown in this thread and for the sake of completeness I thought it apt to post the pamphlet's full cover, i.e. open-spreaded. This also gives a better indication of a 'Giant' bomber although it's a pity that scanning limitations prevent the full vista.
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  #13  
Old 30-11-15, 10:04 AM
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Interestingly the squadron code letters OJ visible in the illustration indicate 149 Sqn RAF which was equipped with Stirlings from Nov 41 to Aug 44. But the aircraft illustrated is D Dog not A Apple! Mike
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  #14  
Old 30-11-15, 11:06 AM
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Hi Mike,
Yes, I had noticed that point. It indicates that the cover design and the text content seem to have fallen under 2 different remits.

Please don't think I'm nitpicking but the aircraft's marking is actually B (Baker) - OJ. I'll have a google to see where 149 Sqn were based. (At this rate we'll probably identify the boy!!) Seriously, the cover could very likely have been based on the Squadron Leader taking his son on a bona fide trip, if that was at all allowed during wartime.

GTB
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  #15  
Old 30-11-15, 11:25 AM
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You're right of course. Must replace my monitor!
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...verlay&first=1
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