Wow! eBook
Growling Over The Oceans: The Royal Air Force Avro Shackleton, the Men, the Missions 1951-1991 Main Edition
Author(s): Deborah Lake (Author)
- Publisher: Souvenir Press
- Publication Date: 31 Oct. 2010
- Edition: Main
- Language: English
- Print length: 300 pages
- ISBN-10: 0285638769
- ISBN-13: 9780285638761
Book Description
The Avro Shackleton was a formidable machine with its Griffon engines producing the characteristic grumble that gave the aircraft one of its nicknames, the Growler. This book contains stories from the men for whom the aircraft became a way of life. Combining memories and anecdotes from crew members with archive material (including rare and previously unseen photographs) Growling over the Oceans is an intimate and vivid introduction to the world of the Shack. In the last days of World War Two, the makers of the Lancaster bomber began to consider designing a new aircraft for Coastal Command. It eventually became the Shackleton. The men who flew and serviced the production version became fiercely proud of their aeroplane and its lack of home comforts. The Shackleton’s ten man crews became a legend; their aeroplane was noisy, gloomy and demanded constant maintenance but it bred a aircrew who became inured to long, thundering and monotonous flight, and developed (even taking) a perverse pride in their misfortunes. The Shackleton served in anti-submarine warfare, maritime reconnaissance and colonial policing. The Cold War ensured that the threat of unrestricted submarine warfare against British shipping kept the Shackleton on permanent alert for twenty years. It also became a troop transport, a bomber and a search and rescue aircraft when the need arose. From its first public flight in 1949 to the end of the Cold War when the Shackleton finally retired from service and entered history this book provides many reminiscences, some amusing, some serious, of those who flew in the Shack, the aircraft that struck more fear into its own crew than it did the enemy.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Shack flying was about people. My theory is that, because it was so awful, it forced us all to get on as a team and make the thing work. Thus we all got on like a house on fire – and that was why it was really special… There are many stories about Shackleton people, often amusing, sometimes painful, for military flying often combines the two emotions. You will find some of them in (these) pages. –Group Captain D H A Greenaway
About the Author
Deborah Lake joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18, and served in various locations around the world. She is a qualified pilot, but has also worked as an actor in film, television and theatre. She has published numerous military books, including Smoke and Mirrors: Q-Ships against U-Boats in the First World War. She currently lives in Northumberland.
