The popular image of spies & saboteurs arriving in France is a young lady dangling from a parachute. My latest book examines the much more preferable way of travel – flying into a French field in a Lysander or Hudson – and returning to England by the same means. The pilots were exceptionally skilled; combined with luck, their success rate was amazingly high. Additionally I look at: the development of the Lysander that made it a potentially hazardous machine to fly; the fractious relationship between SIS and the young upstart SOE; factionalism within the French Resistance; the jaundiced attitude of CAS Sir Charles Portal and Bomber Harris to Special Duties operations; and the way in which these (alpha male) Lysander pilots helped de Gaulle to create France as we know it today. For the views of some historians on my latest book see here.Mildred Bruce enjoyed a privileged upbringing that allowed her to search for thrills beyond the bounds of most female contemporaries. She ‘borrowed’ her brother’s motorbike at only 15; she raced at Brooklands in the Twenties against the greats, and took a car 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle; she won the ladies’ prize of the Monte Carlo Rally and succeeded in powerboat racing. Whilst Amy Johnson was receiving global acclaim for her flight to Australia, Mildred learned to fly, and 8 weeks later embarked on her own round- the-world flight, the first person to fly from the UK to Japan. Captured by brigands, feted by the Siamese, Japanese and Americans, she survived several crashes with body and spirit intact, and became a glittering aviation celebrity on her return. A thoroughly modern woman, she pushed similar boundaries in her unconventional love life and later became Britain’s first female airline entrepreneur.Quicklook@Flying offers readers the chance to get to the grips with the fundamentals of the world of aviation. It traces the history of flight back to the pioneers of the industry and explains how the past has helped to shape flying as we know it today bringing readers up to date with topical issues such as budget airlines, safety and latest military technologies such as the use of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs).
