![]({"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/21t0ceka-yL._SX108_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg":[110,179],"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/21t0ceka-yL._BO1,204,203,200_.jpg":[112,182]})
Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Jack Currie would bomb Germany many times during World War II, but first he had to learn to fly. Under the "Arnold Scheme," he was sent to Georgia in 1942 for flying training with the U.S. Army Air Forces. "Wings Over Georgia" is the insightful and entertaining first volume of Currie's war trilogy.
There are Currie's tales of flying the PT-17 Stearman, the BT-13 Vultee Vibrator, and the Beechcraft AT-10 Wichita, for sure, but there's more. The value of learning to "fly the Army way" and Currie's misgivings over the Kaydet system are well told. There are portraits of instructors Wallace Bacon Sheffield, John M. Sena, Wendell M. Van Sickle, and Littleton Pardue; the last three went on to command USAAF combat units. Actor Michael Rennie makes a cameo. Currie's many stories of life off-duty and the attractions of southern belles are told in a uniquely British way. He uses some spelling tricks to convey the novelty of hearing American English.
Finally, Currie's portrait of wartime America has many useful insights -- the "unquestioning and mutual acceptance of the colour bar, the necessity to be a 'regular guy,' the adulation of 'mom' and small children, the dread of cynicism, the belief that nonconformity was a social evil, the moral need to own a monster motor-car, and the tendency to equate religious faith with patriotism ..." Some of this is wonderfully captured in his recollection of a conversation with one Julius J. Parker of Columbus, Georgia, who gave him a ride to the field.
This memoir of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the Royal Air Force, the Aviation Cadet program, and the state of Georgia two generations ago is quite a good read.
-30-
- Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account
