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With Difficulties to the Stars

by Eric William Wall, Edited by Pamela Jenkins

170 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-1351; ISBN 1-4120-6440-6; US$17.38, C$19.99, EUR14.28, £10.00

Anecdotal experiences of an RCAF clerk remustered to Aircrew. The training and Flying Instructors School; Wilf Curtis's help to the Royal Navy fighter pilot training then finishing with civilian flying.

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About the Book

About the Author

Excerpts

Catalogue Information

About the Book

The Story begins in September 1939 and is about a young 19-year-old man who is determined to be a pilot in the R.C.A.F., even though they tried hard to discourage him because of his lack of education.

Being determined to join the R.C.A.F., Wall signed on as a Clerk with the hope of remustering to Air Crew later.  Fortunately, for him, his first assignment was as secretary to Squadron Leader Wilf Curtis, later Air vice-Marshal Curtis, Head of the R.C.A.F.

It is a dedication to "Wilf" Curtis "My Guardian Angel".

Throughout the book, it gives incidents of his guardianship.  Curtis was in charge of establishing 75 Airfields for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, so Wall was in on the birth of the plan.

Later Wall and Curtis were posted to Air Force Headquarters in Ottawa at the same time.  There, Wall carried out many special jobs and was in the next office to Billy Bishop, Canada's most celebrated war hero.

Finally, Wall remustered to Aircrew and the story takes you step by step, through pilot training and on to Flying Instructors School.

He then received a posting to Brantford and Hagersville, Ontario as a flying instructor.

Later he transferred to the Royal British Navy (Fleet Air Arm) to train as a fighter pilot where he attended the Greenwich Naval College and Tern Hill for aircraft carrier training.

There are numerous interesting anecdotes in the book not directly related to flying which makes it an interesting read.

After VJ Day, Wall, returns to Canada and obtains his Commercial Pilots License, which took him to Dauphin, Manitoba to pick up a war surplus Cessna Crane and take it to the Toronto Flying Club.  After putting the plane in A1 shape to fly, he flew it to several cities in Canada and the U.S.A. and there are several interesting stories about these trips.

Anybody interested in flying and the B.C.A.T.P., or any schools or young groups curious in some of the personal experiences of the people who participated in World War II, will find this book an interesting and entertaining read.

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About the Author

The author has lived in the peaceful Skiing village of Saint-Sauveur in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montréal for 50 years.

From Saint-Sauveur he has ventured forth to 32 different countries on business but he has always been happy to return to his beloved hometown after each trip. His trips abroad could very well be the subject of a second book - "The Trails and Tribulations of Traveling"

His hobbies are now picture framing and selling his art collection on eBay.  "With Difficulties to the Stars" is his first and only book, which tries to give the reader an idea of what it was like to train as a pilot in World War II.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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