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Flying For King and Commonwealth: The Adventures of a Canadian Pilot with the RAF in WWII

by Hartley Rogers

203 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-2776; ISBN 1-4251-1017-7; US$18.50, C$19.75, EUR13.25, £9.50

Put yourself in the author's shoes and discover what it was like to train to be a pilot in the airforce in WWII, and then to be posted overseas to fly with the RAF on some dangerous missions.

About the Book

When he left high school and enlisted in the air force during WWII Rogers wanted to be a pilot and his ambition was fulfilled in February 1944 when his wings were pinned on his uniform by His Excellency the Governor General of Canada, The Earl of Athlone. However, he did not anticipate flying over German-held territory at low altitude in a slow, unarmed aircraft, in broad daylight. But this is what happened after he was posted to RAF Transport Command and took part in dropping supplies to the surrounded British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem, in the Netherlands.

Although participating in what has been described as the bravest flying or suicide missions, he never dropped a bomb or fired a gun. While in a parked aircraft at Antwerp a V2 rocket exploded within one hundred feet of the aircraft. Included in his story are the contents of over a hundred letters to his mother, brother and father. He survived to fly VIPs from London to Brussels and casualties from France to England. On returning to Canada at war's end Rogers went back to school and after a lot of studying, became an electrical engineer. On retiring from business he and his wife attended six reunions with his former associates in England and had three visits to Holland.

About the Author

Hartley Rogers is a retired electrical professional engineer and former RCAF pilot. He flew with the RAF Transport Command in support of the war in Europe in 1944/45 and returned to school in Canada at the end of hostilities. Rogers lives near Bath, Ontario, with his wife Barbara.