August 1939.War is about to be declared in Europe.Roger Hallowes, an RAF sergeant pilot returns to the hangars with his comrades from B Squadron to see who else had returned from the latest attack. Only one more Blenheim had come in.Of the nine that had taken off, three had been shot down. One crashed on landing.One captain, one second pilot and two wireless operator-air gunners had been killed … two wireless operator-air gunners had been killed in the six which had survived the battle.
The mental arithmetic Roger did to calculate his chances of surviving another half-dozen operations gave him no comfort.
Three young men, Roger and his two cousins, share the last few precious days of peace with their families and friends.
Their carefree, comfortable lives are about to be shattered by the hardships and horrors of the Second World War.
‘Trial by Fire’ follows these men through the dramatic first year of war; the fall of France and the triumph of the Battle of Britain. It gives a comprehensive view of the early air operations whose outcome affected the whole future course of the war.
‘Trial by Fire’ is a gripping war story told from first-hand experience and a wide knowledge of the R.A.F in all its facets.
Praise for Richard Bickers:
‘A thrilling page turner.’ – Tom Kasey, best-selling author of ‘Trade Off’.
Richard Townsend Bickers volunteered for the RAF on the outbreak of the second world war and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen years. He wrote a range of military fiction and non-fiction books, including ‘Torpedo Attack’, ‘My Enemy Came Nigh’, ‘Bombing Run’ and ‘Summer of No Surrender’.
Originally published as ‘The Gifts of Jove’.
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OK book but nothing I would recommend reading.
Historical Novel. Paints picture of what is was like for RAF pilots.
excellent book for history fanatic, waaay too short.
Interesting view of RAF involvement in very early WW II
A bit slow for my taste.
The book was OK. The character building was A little to much time in building the many Characters. hard to fins how the main character will be.
Will be a hit with war story fans who like real world input. Not a lot of flashy heroics. More a personal story of a guy who’s had all the life breaks that the “upper crust” has a lock on.
Good read. I like good war stories. Lots of action and family with the RAF.
Great story. A little crazy it picks up we later on. Rest of WWllbufslike me.
I need the author to add to the series!
I liked the book, but it was cut short. Presumably so that you would purchase the remaining parts piecemeal. Not good!
The book was action packed and very realistic in the combat scenes, however I found the personal lives of the aviators uninspiring. A bunch of rich Englishmen flying combat over Europe. Unfortunately, the book stopped short of any conclusion.
Very good read with a great amount of WWll background info.
Goober97
great WWI aviation reading
Written in period British English, with all of the expected jargon. As an American reader, it was difficult to fully appreciate the author’s efforts at painting a literary portrait. The end of the book was anticlimactic , and I wasn’t sure the book ended, except for a short narration telling the reader to preview the next book in this series.
Not a good read if you want to read only one book and author takes forever to establish history of early family life and never fully develops the 3 main characters (two brothers and their cousin) in this first book.
I liked it.
Great book on the RAF during WW-II
Slow-paced. Uninteresting characters.
It seemed a bit slow in parts but I did like it and kept me reading. I was unhappy how it ended. Seemed like it just stopped and there should be another chapter
A bit too unbelievable. I mean an airplane crashing into a cocaine deal? Fun characters
The style of the writing caught me off-guard. The story is set in the 1930s-1940s and the writing fits the time period and complements the story line. You feel like your being transported into the timeline. The pace is slower than a lot of what I’ve read recently, but again, appropriate to the story.
This first stage in a series provides an interesting insight to pre- and early- WWII British flying and the life of the pilots as they move from civilian to active military roles. There is a lot of historical detail that I hadn’t been aware of and it helped make the story both more readable and real.