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The Best Twelve Years

by Peter Gould

214 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); black and white photographs; catalogue #05-0421; ISBN 1-4120-5523-7; US$19.33, C$22.23, EUR15.07, £9.99

A personal story that provides a unique insight into the adventures of a young colonial Englishman growing up in the harsh environment of the RAF during WW2 and its aftermath

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About the Book

About the Author

Excerpts

Catalogue Information

About the Book

The Best Twelve Years is an autobiographical account of a young English boy, born and raised in India during the British Raj. Having been launched into his career in the RAF at the start of World War II, it tells of how, isolated from his family, he faced the confronting world of wartime Britain, where he soon experienced first hand the effects of Nazi bombing. His passion for flying, along with a burning desire to strike back, soon leads him to the ranks of Bomber Command and their elite Pathfinders.

Moving to Transport Command after the war, his involvement in flight-testing some of the technology that has now become standard aviation equipment, he travels to RAF stations in a dozen countries during the diminishing years of the British Empire. Through hardship, disappointment and triumph, this book matures with its author's recollections, and so holds a personality of its own, to emerge a man of reflection, and the acceptance of fate as a philosophy for life.

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About the Author

Born in Bombay 1923, Peter grew up in India as a colonial under the British Raj. Educated in the Cathedral School, which emulated the public school system of the British Homeland, he went on to join the RAF as a boy.

He saw an exciting flying career throughout wartime 1940s, and continued to fly throughout the British Empire for the remainder of his career and beyond. Spending time in South Africa, and Australia, to name a few. Peter now lives in retirement in the West Midlands of England.

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Excerpts

"I was studying a coloured brochure sent by RAF featuring life as an apprentice at Halton. 'What's that?' asked Mr. Serdival, the English master from across the table. I passed the brochure to him, which he studied for a short time, then sliding it back, said 'And they'll be the best twelve years of your life...'"

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