Tail Gunner

First published in 1943, this is the gripping story of one man's involvement in the RAF Bomber Command's fledgling offensive between August 1940 and December 1941. Dick Rivaz was tail gunner to Leonard Cheshire, one of the most famous RAF pilots of the Second World War, flying in Whitleys with No. 102 Squadron and latterly in Halifaxes with No. 35 Squadron. Tail Gunner is unique among wartime memoirs, as it was written within months of the events Rivaz describes, and with all the immediacy of one who was in the very thick of the action. He gives graphic descriptions of his experiences on night bombing attacks against heavily defended enemy targets likes Duisberg, Dusseldorf and Essen, and relates a dramatic shoot-out with German fighters over La Rochelle in broad daylight during July 1941. He survived these events to write this book, but was sadly killed in October 1943, aged just thirty-seven.