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A review by komet2020
Ideals and Training of a Flying Officer - Op by Roderick MacLennan
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
The Ideals and Training of a Flying Officer is a young Canadian's story, told largely in his own words, of his experiences as a pilot trainee in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during the summer and fall of 1917. His name is Roderick Ward Maclennan from Toronto. He conveys the perils and excitement of learning to fly and fight, along with a sense of the wonder and delights of life in wartime Britain and the character of the people he encountered in London, Oxford (he received his initial flight training at the university there, both theoretical (ground school) and practical), and the surrounding towns he visited.
Maclennan would complete the bulk of his training at the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon, earning his wings in November 1917 and being sent to France as a replacement pilot with No. 60 Squadron, flying S.E.5a fighters, one of the best fighter planes of the war. No. 60 was one of the RFC's top fighter squadrons with an outstanding war record.
Sadly, Maclennan's time at the Front would be short. He would die shortly before Christmas, age 24. The poignancy of Maclennan's impressions bring home to the reader the flavor and spirit of the times in which he lived. His account - made up of letters he had written to his family while in England and France --- had been buried in a university archive in Canada for close to a century. For anyone interested in getting a sense of the human side of life in a world at war, I highly recommend this book, which can be read in a matter of a few hours or a couple of days.
Maclennan would complete the bulk of his training at the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon, earning his wings in November 1917 and being sent to France as a replacement pilot with No. 60 Squadron, flying S.E.5a fighters, one of the best fighter planes of the war. No. 60 was one of the RFC's top fighter squadrons with an outstanding war record.
Sadly, Maclennan's time at the Front would be short. He would die shortly before Christmas, age 24. The poignancy of Maclennan's impressions bring home to the reader the flavor and spirit of the times in which he lived. His account - made up of letters he had written to his family while in England and France --- had been buried in a university archive in Canada for close to a century. For anyone interested in getting a sense of the human side of life in a world at war, I highly recommend this book, which can be read in a matter of a few hours or a couple of days.