Flying Start: A Fighter Pilot's War Years

Rating:
Summary: the Pick of RAF memoirs, this lesser-known 'star' Dundas.
Review: Dundas is no doubt less a household name legend than Bader, Johnson, Tuck, Lacey, Deer, Townsend, McDonald etc, but this is so far the most enjoyable and entertaining RAF memoir Ive read, and everyone I loan my tatty copy to returns it fast-read and raving, what a surprise package it is. Dundas started slow, with a single bomber kill in the Battle of Britain, I think, before being shot-down and hospitalised. Meanwhile his old brother John is shot-down and killed seconds after claiming then dual-leading scoring ace Helmut Wieck over the Thames Estuary.Wiecks baled-out body was recovered weeks later, but Dundas thrilling career resumes during the painful high-casualty RAF fighter and light-bomber offensive over France in 1941, against an outnumbered Luftwaffe fighter service. Dundas describes the bewildered pain of the loss in combat of the famous Douglas, though relief of hearing of his cheating of death, at least. Dundas flies wingman to other leading lights as Holden and Johnson, and describes a split-seconf escape from a German decoy-trap ambush which claimed 4 Polish-squadron pilots a few days before. This is not the strutting bumbling Hogans Heroes Hollywood German enemy, this is a well-trained brave cunning and well-equiped though often outnumbered enemy, these are the men to beat at this game, who may however to Allied pilots, often seem to only accept combat on their own advantage terms.
Dundas , like Bader at the time, is however not impressed or fond of them.
A terrific metal-crunching crash-landing in a paddock after gliding cross channel in an overheated Spitfire is described, Spitfires are the Acme Rolls Royce of the air, so far as Dundas is concerned, but Dundas spends a time as commander of the famous 56 Squadron flying the Typhoon, in the early days when Typhoons were killing pilots in structural breakups and being shot-down by friendly Spitfires by mistake, in between besting the FW190s that were outclassing and shooting down too many Spitfire Vs.
'Until an answer to the '190 was found, the RAF was on the spot', Dundas remembers.
Two of his men are shot-down by a pair of Spitfires, one liked Belgian pilot is gone forever, to Dundas sadness and fury at the pilots of his former beloved mounts.
Other Typhoon adventures follow, including a clash with a German flak-ship that looms out of fog at zero altitude and blows part of Dundas tailfin off.
Great Stuff. Dundas often talks of 'we saw a gang of huns on the ground, and though out of ammo, we dove at them and successfully frightened them.' Dundas often comments so,nothing much happening, but I saw a couple of hun troops, so just went down and successfully 'frightened' them,lol. Love it.

Dundas narrowly misses the defence of Malta itself, including the flight of the Aircraft carriers of reinforcing Spitfires, 'wouldnt that be sensational fun', he comments sadly, but becomes a wing-leader of the Desert Airforce in Tunisia, then follows the advancing allies to Sicily and Italy, and is still fighting there in 'BombFires' when the war ends. It is in Italy he describes an amazing attempted fragging of himself by a suspected LMF pilot another squadron has sent over to get rid of, because 'they dont think much of him ' He doesnt name the fellow, but says 'there is not the sahdow of doubt in my mind he tried to do away with me' during a hi-speed diving ground-support attack, where the fellow was wingman behind him, 'so I could keep an eye on him'. Other incidents include the crash-landing of lost Liberators returning from Ploesti raid on a Pantellaria or Malta fighter-field not big enough, and the frantic calls for help from a pilot who didnt like Dundas but was being picked on by 6 Me109Gs, circling above him, and toying with him,( he added thoughtfully 'they were a shower of bloody (...), look, can you come over and have a go at them? , the 'frightened' pilot asks? Dundas charges in like the 7th Cavalry. Later, a German pilot in a dinghy is picked up by AS rescue,a particularly rude German he is too, the boat-crew tell Dundas. Dundas suggests 'well,I dont care much for his type, and if he was rude to me, back into the bloody-sea would he go ' lol

Get it, youll like it, more like love it, if you have an RAF spirit-soul.

Rating:
Summary: the Pick of RAF memoirs, this lesser-known 'star' Dundas.
Review: Dundas is no doubt less a household name legend than Bader, Johnson, Tuck, Lacey, Deer, Townsend, McDonald etc, but this is so far the most enjoyable and entertaining RAF memoir Ive read, and everyone I loan my tatty copy to returns it fast-read and raving, what a surprise package it is. Dundas started slow, with a single bomber kill in the Battle of Britain, I think, before being shot-down and hospitalised. Meanwhile his old brother John is shot-down and killed seconds after claiming then dual-leading scoring ace Helmut Wieck over the Thames Estuary.Wiecks baled-out body was recovered weeks later, but Dundas thrilling career resumes during the painful high-casualty RAF fighter and light-bomber offensive over France in 1941, against an outnumbered Luftwaffe fighter service. Dundas describes the bewildered pain of the loss in combat of the famous Douglas, though relief of hearing of his cheating of death, at least. Dundas flies wingman to other leading lights as Holden and Johnson, and describes a split-seconf escape from a German decoy-trap ambush which claimed 4 Polish-squadron pilots a few days before. This is not the strutting bumbling Hogans Heroes Hollywood German enemy, this is a well-trained brave cunning and well-equiped though often outnumbered enemy, these are the men to beat at this game, who may however to Allied pilots, often seem to only accept combat on their own advantage terms.
Dundas , like Bader at the time, is however not impressed or fond of them.
A terrific metal-crunching crash-landing in a paddock after gliding cross channel in an overheated Spitfire is described, Spitfires are the Acme Rolls Royce of the air, so far as Dundas is concerned, but Dundas spends a time as commander of the famous 56 Squadron flying the Typhoon, in the early days when Typhoons were killing pilots in structural breakups and being shot-down by friendly Spitfires by mistake, in between besting the FW190s that were outclassing and shooting down too many Spitfire Vs.
'Until an answer to the '190 was found, the RAF was on the spot', Dundas remembers.
Two of his men are shot-down by a pair of Spitfires, one liked Belgian pilot is gone forever, to Dundas sadness and fury at the pilots of his former beloved mounts.
Other Typhoon adventures follow, including a clash with a German flak-ship that looms out of fog at zero altitude and blows part of Dundas tailfin off.
Great Stuff. Dundas often talks of 'we saw a gang of huns on the ground, and though out of ammo, we dove at them and successfully frightened them.' Dundas often comments so,nothing much happening, but I saw a couple of hun troops, so just went down and successfully 'frightened' them,lol. Love it.

Dundas narrowly misses the defence of Malta itself, including the flight of the Aircraft carriers of reinforcing Spitfires, 'wouldnt that be sensational fun', he comments sadly, but becomes a wing-leader of the Desert Airforce in Tunisia, then follows the advancing allies to Sicily and Italy, and is still fighting there in 'BombFires' when the war ends. It is in Italy he describes an amazing attempted fragging of himself by a suspected LMF pilot another squadron has sent over to get rid of, because 'they dont think much of him ' He doesnt name the fellow, but says 'there is not the sahdow of doubt in my mind he tried to do away with me' during a hi-speed diving ground-support attack, where the fellow was wingman behind him, 'so I could keep an eye on him'. Other incidents include the crash-landing of lost Liberators returning from Ploesti raid on a Pantellaria or Malta fighter-field not big enough, and the frantic calls for help from a pilot who didnt like Dundas but was being picked on by 6 Me109Gs, circling above him, and toying with him,( he added thoughtfully 'they were a shower of bloody (...), look, can you come over and have a go at them? , the 'frightened' pilot asks? Dundas charges in like the 7th Cavalry. Later, a German pilot in a dinghy is picked up by AS rescue,a particularly rude German he is too, the boat-crew tell Dundas. Dundas suggests 'well,I dont care much for his type, and if he was rude to me, back into the bloody-sea would he go ' lol

Get it, youll like it, more like love it, if you have an RAF spirit-soul.