Lancaster: The Forging of a Very British Legend

This books was hard to put down,It truly hits home on the emotional front made me cry and pause for thought whilst gripped.It's all about the people who flew in the amazing aircraft you learn alot.

An excellent true story of daring and British attention to detail resulting in a success against all the odds

This book gives the best insight I have ever read into the experience of Bomber Command operations flying the devastating Lancaster. The unbelievable courage of young men launching night after night into hostile, blacked out skies, braving flak, fighters and weather to take the fight to the heart of the Reich, flying missions in freezing temperatures that often lasted for 8 hours or more. The interviews with surviving veterans, most not living to see publication of this book, were an emotional experience that was at once humbling and inspirational. Their quiet dignity at the treatment meted out to them by an ungrateful country at the end of hostilities should embarrass us still. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the price paid by so many for the freedoms we take for granted today. A very worthy tribute to them and the wonderful aeroplane they took to war.

Tough reading in parts.

A very good read about the famous bomber.

The author makes you feel like he knows the subject intimately and tells the story of victory over adversity so well as he did with his book on the Spitfire

Only a few pages into the book and i can tell it's going to be good, written with absolute dedication to the men and women whom without we would not enjoy our freedom.The author being in the Raf family understands the very essence of being at war, and shares a very unwelcome experience. Fantastic book for aviation enthusiasts and ww2 history buffs, thank you for your service.

A brilliant collection of real life stories. We owe that generation so much!

As an historical account of RAF bomber command, this book is an absolute masterpiece. It brings the whole story to life.

love the history

Für Lancaster interessierte DAS Buch..tolle Geschichten,viel Hintergrund wissen!

John Nichol is owed a debt of gratitude by all of us interested in WWII aviation, the RAF and/or Bomber Command.Mr. Nichol himself is a former RAF pilot with combat experience during the Gulf War. This background certainly prepared him to tell the story of very brave young men who piloted the Lancaster bombers into Germany to contribute greatly to Nazi Germany’s ultimate total defeat.Unlike so many books, this one focuses on the young men themselves. What was their life like? How does one deal with living in an environment where the chances were so great that they would not survive the experience? What happened to those who survived? What happened to those left behind when a brave crew perished?By interviewing dozens of these former air crew members, we read the answers to those and other questions told by the men themselves. Sadly, many of those Mr. Nichol interviewed and writes about did not live to see the book published.It was a real service to all who are interested in the history of the Second World War that their story in their own words was preserved in this book for all time.For those interested in the brass and their prognostications on their grand strategies, this book will disappoint. For those interested in what it was like to fight the air war over Europe, this book is an absolute must-have.For reasons I do not know, the book is not available on Kindle. Too bad. I think it would reach a wider audience if it were.

The book tries to tell the story of the lancaster through the lives of those who flew her, but to me this ended up being a series of anecdotes about the crew and little about the plane itself. The stories were well researched and often touching but this wasnt the book I was expecting.