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Above Us, The Stars: 10 Squadron Bomber Command - The Wireless Operator's Story Kindle Edition
"As good as it gets...the most engaging account of an ordinary bomber crew that this reviewer has ever had the privilege of reading" - History of War Magazine.
Over 55,000 young Bomber Command airmen made the ultimate sacrifice; thousands more of their comrades survived one of the bloodiest and most controversial campaigns of the Second World War, but never spoke about their experiences after the end of hostilities.
Above Us The Stars tells the story of one of those men, 20-year-old wireless operator Jack Clyde. Through contemporary documents, Jack's own notes, Squadron records, family testimony, interviews with Bomber Command veterans and German civilians, the author pieces together not only the story of Jack and his 10 Squadron Halifax crew, but also that of the family he left behind in the Durham mining town of Seaham Harbour.
Why did so many men like Jack remain silent? Why were they unwilling or unable to tell their stories? How did the families of the "Bomber Boys" cope? How did these young men deal with the death and destruction they wrought upon German civilians, and the loss of so many of their comrades?
The author explores the answers to these questions and more, and casts a new perspective on the RAF bombing campaign, in this vivid account of wartime in North East England, and of the experiences of the "Silent Heroes" of Bomber Command.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateFebruary 9, 2022
- File size9597 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B09S6WLG8L
- Publisher : Hellsteeth Creative Ltd (February 9, 2022)
- Publication date : February 9, 2022
- Language : English
- File size : 9597 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 350 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,010,115 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,354 in Military Aviation History (Kindle Store)
- #7,046 in Military Aviation History (Books)
- #8,830 in World War II History (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

** NEW - OUT NOW**
ABOVE US THE STARS: 10 SQUADRON BOMBER COMMAND -THE WIRELESS OPERATOR'S STORY PUBLICATION DATE SEPTEMBER 2020
I have a real passion for the people, places and history of North East England - I was born and grew up in County Durham. I write non-fiction books on social history and the Second World War. You can read more about me and my work at www.justcuriousjane.com.
My first book The Horsekeeper's Daughter was published in 2017. It tells the true story of one of the hundreds of women who left the North East mining villages in the 1880s to travel alone to Australia, to start new lives. Much to my amazement it's been an Amazon Best-Seller.
My second book, Above Us The Stars: 10 Squadron Bomber Command - The Wireless Operator's Story, focuses on the experiences of a young Bomber Command aircrewman during World War 2, and of the family he left behind in the small mining town of Seaham Harbour.
I've also published 2 ebooks, She Was Only A Coalminer's Daughter - Stories of a Seaham Childhood, and How to Write Your Family History - A Beginner's Guide, both exclusively available on Amazon Kindle.
I love to hear from readers with their thoughts on my work and about shared experiences, so please do leave feedback. You can find me on twitter @LydiaJane13.
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With her excellent book “Above Us, the Stars,” author and historian Jane Guilliford Lowes takes an atypical, outside-the-box approach, as its focus is on an RAF Bomber Command crew’s lowly humble enlisted wireless radio operator, a certain Jack Clyde (R.I.P. and God bless) of 10 Squadron, who also happens to be the author’s late granduncle.
Ms. Lowes, in addition to giving Big Picture background on the air war between Britain and Germany, takes us from Jack’s experiences as a teenager during the early years of WWII in the humble coal mining town of Seaham (closest major city is Sunderland) and how his ordeal and that of his family and fellow townsfolk eventually motivated him to volunteer for the war effort via the RAF, from there making the transition from wet-behind-the-ears trainee to battle-hardened crewman and NCO.
Battle-hardened, but certainly not glorious. Jack and his flightmates endure the terror of German fighter interceptors and flak (AAA fire), the grief of the loss of beloved comrades & brothers-in-arms (as the author points out, RAF Bomber
Command suffered a mind-numbing 44% KIA rate, “the highest attrition rate of any Allied unit in the Second World War”), and, eventually, the pangs of guilt over the many thousands of German civilians killed by Air Marshall Arthur “Bomber” Harris’s air raids (wartime enmities and the evil of Hitler’s regime notwithstanding, we’re still talking human beings here). All of those, of course, tacked onto the pangs of separation from loved ones back home that are endemic to any war.
And the author also describes the shameful manner in which the RAF brass treated what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cruelly and cold-bloodedly branding it’s psychologically-spent airmen with the proverbial scarlet letter of the “Lack of Moral Fibre” (LMF) label.
But in addition to all of the tragedy, the book is also full of the camaraderie and humour and light-hearted moments that are also inherent to a band of battle brothers.
As a lifelong military history buff, son of a WWII veteran, and Air Force veteran (USAF in my case), “Above Us, the Stars” gets my highest recommendation. Bully for you, Jane!
The research that went into the book is of the highest quality, and the author weaves in a lot of detail on a multitude of topics related to the aircraft, the unit, and the tactics of strategic bombing. Two of my favorite details in the book were on the carriage of homing pigeons to send distress messages and the German flak towers.
The book is super engaging and highly recommend it!
