作者: Peter Larard

John Daly was an experienced day fighter pilot in the RAF in the 1950s and transferred to photo reconnaissance duties in the 1960s. Later he joined the RAAF and served four years at the fighter base at Williamtown, NSW. He writes engagingly not just about flying many different aircraft and his interesting experiences in the UK, Germany, Cyprus, the Middle East, and Africa but also about the fascinating characters he came across in his career. He has called upon some of his great friends from his Australian times to provide their stories, and a wonderful mixture they are too. Angus Cameron writes of his terrifying tour on bomber operations in WWII, Jim Flemming (at the time a Flight Lieutenant and later Air Vice Marshal and later still Director of the Australian War Memorial, now deceased) on having a flame-out at extreme altitude in USA, Graham Neil (also a Flight Lieutenant at the time and later an Air Vice Marshal) of two very hairy experiences where he survived in spite of fate nearly decreeing otherwise, and Wing Commander Peter Larard of flying operations and living conditions in the Vietnam War, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.