Navaleye
I have read the book. The factual inaccuracies are mind boggling. Check out the photo descriptions for a starter. To have remembered all that dialogue is very unlikely given the excitement of the moment – To think that Naval Officers used “old chap” as a normal form of speech shows a total lack of knowledge of the Naval personnel of the 1980s who were on board the ship he was serving in at the time. Have you met 1980s Fleet Airm personnel especially Junglies? Stuffiness and standing on ceremony is certainly not one of their attributes. The chip on his shoulder shines through in many pages. I have little more to add save that this book is more fiction than fact (and appallingly produced) – and if you care not to believe in the Officers in Command of the ship and aviation assets at the time over the memories of the Third Engineer– mostly below decks and not in the informed loop, and written down in this extraordinary book is your privilege– I have no more to add except to say that my copy is available free to anyone who wishes to have it. I do not wish the memories of that great crew of Merchant Seaman and Royal Navy personnel sullied by such nonsense and I do not wish my children to find it in my belongings when I die, and get totally the wrong impression of an amazing and exciting time with amazing and selfless personnel.
Last edited by bast0n; 28th Jan 2009 at 21:41.