I can also highly recommend “Terror In The Starboard Seat”. All the elements are there, joy, fear, pathos, etc. After the war, Dave McIntosh became a parliamentary press corespondent (and sometime author) in Ottawa. His pilot, after surviving 41 sorties in a Mosquito, died a seemingly stupid death several decades after the war.
Their Squadron Leader was a man named Russ Bannock who just turned 100 in early November. He comes across as a born leader of men, getting excellent mentions in the book. After the war, Russ became the chief test pilot for de Havilland Canada and test flew everything from the Chipmunk up to (I believe) the Caribou. I was utterly privileged to have met Russ two years ago through a mutual friend. We booked a
PR session in the B787 simulator and spent a very enjoyable three hours in the box with him - and he’s still pretty good.
After our sim session, I asked Russ if he would be so kind as to autograph my copy of the book, which he most graciously did. I also tucked a photo taken of us that day which safely inside the book.
Wikipedia - Russ Bannock