'Propaganda' book

[GTB]

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
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[Mike Jackson]

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

[GTB]

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

[Rob Miller]

I wonder if it was written by Anthony Cotterell?

[GTB]

Originally Posted by Rob Miller

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.
GTB

[Mike Jackson]

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

[fougasse1940]

Originally Posted by Rob Miller

I wonder if it was written by Anthony Cotterell?

It is not in his bibliography in Jennie Gray's book.

Rgds, Thomas.

[Sonofacqms]

Truth is the first casualty of war . . !

Rob

[norfolk regt man]

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

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

[GTB]

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.
GTB

[Mike Jackson]

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

[GTB]

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

[Frank Kelley]

By 1940 standards, it certainly was a "giant" moreover the enemy had nothing to match it, sadly, this particular aeroplane remains much underrated.

Originally Posted by GTB

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.
GTB

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

By 1940 standards, it certainly was a "giant" moreover the enemy had nothing to match it, sadly, this particular aeroplane remains much underrated.

From "Famous Bombers of the Second World War" by William Green 1960. He concludes on the Stirling; "There can be no doubt that, at the time the Stirling's specification was framed [1936], the operational conditions and requirements that were to exist six years later were not foreseen, and the design of the Stirling was such that it could not be modified to meet the new demands. In consequence, its career as a first-line heavy bomber was relatively brief. Nevertheless, as the RAF's first four-engined "heavy" of the Second World War, the Stirling occupies a particularly important place in the history of that air arm."

[Frank Kelley]

Genesis chapter 19 verse 24 certainly springs to mind,
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire.

Actually, Arthur Harris had planned a "centenary conflagration" for the 30th of May 1942, but, the weather changed, so he sent his lads to Cologne instead, Operation Gomorrah would have to wait until high summer the following year!

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

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