In Memory; Hillaire du Berrier, Fred Gage, Ray Hanna
This book was one that stunned me as I unpacked it the first time. The photography, layout and colour combination of the dust jacket was so beautiful that it felt like a violation to actually open the book. So there is lay a few moments as I studied the enormous picture of an old biplane with its pilot staring right back at me. I certainly was spellbound by the magic exuding from this work. It took me several minutes before I actually opened and began to explore the world that lay beneath the cover.
This is Charles’s second book yet while reading it I felt he’s been writing all his life. The feeling is really not far from the truth. The author was a wireless operator aboard the forgotten icon of military transport planes, the C-119, the forerunner of the well known C-130. So where does the writting come in? Wireless communications up to the 2nd World War including shortly after was still a Morse code activity, hence the requirement for a radio operator crew member. The introduction of voice communications put an end to this seat in the cockpit. Charles was a member of a close fraternity that spent most of his life writing in code. This comes through in his latest book.
