UK

041566 - LIBERATORS OVER THE ATLANTIC

By Jack Colman and Richard Colman

Liberators over the Atlantic is an informative and personal account of a young man’s flying experiences during the Second World War. Growing up in York, Jack Colman achieved his long-held desire to become a pilot by joining the RAF in October 1940, just after his twenty-first birthday. Sent to Canada to learn to fly, he became intrigued by the technical and practical aspects of flying and navigation. Promoted to pilot/navigator, Colman joined Costal Command on Liberators based in Iceland.

The practical difficulties of flying over the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean protecting the convoys and hunting U-boats are relived as he battled with atrocious weather and navigational uncertainties. His brushes with death—in training and when operational, whether due to mechanical failure, flying into the sea, U-boat gunfire, or running out of fuel in an ever-changing hostile environment—are described realistically and calmly, often laced with dry humour. Lavishly illustrated with previously unpublished photographs, this is essential reading on the war over the Atlantic against Hitler’s U-boat menace.