The moving biography of a remarkable pilot who received a posthumous Victoria Cross for courageous but fatal actions during World War Two. This work should be essential reading for fans of naval aviation history and the unsung heroes of World War Two.
Although the Fleet Air Arm may not have been as glamorous as Fighter Command, the actions of men such as Eugene Esmonde demonstrate that its personnel were just as daring, facing similarly insurmountable odds in fighting for the Allied cause.
Chaz Bowyer, the renowned aviation historian, charts the course of Esmonde’s life — from his Catholic upbringing in Ireland, which shaped his worldview, to his training as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the interwar years. Asked to join the newly formed Royal Naval Air Branch in January 1939, he entered the heat of the action shortly after war broke out.
Bowyer draws upon a wealth of research and interviews with Esmonde’s family and fellow air service men and women to provide a vivid account of his life throughout the war. He describes in detail Esmonde’s actions in the Narvik campaign, his leadership in an attack against the battleship Bismarck, and his service aboard HMS Ark Royal when it was struck by a torpedo — remaining aboard as the last to leave the ship before it sank. Yet it was during Operation Fuller that Esmonde’s full courage was displayed, earning a posthumous Victoria Cross during his desperate attempt to contain Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen during their famous Channel Dash.
