Wot! No Engines? by Alan Cooper

From the rear side cover: The original objective of this book was to applaud the achievements of the large contingent of RAF pilots who volunteered to join the Glider Pilot Regiment in 1944/45 following the devastating losses suffered during the ill-fated Opera­tion 'Market-Garden' at Arnhem in September 1944. However, in order to place the account of their activities in context it proved necessary to expand the scope of the book to include a concise history of gliders and their military deployment in World War Two. The result is a fascinating journey through the bloody history of airborne assault gliders - from the German attack on Crete in 1940, via the abortive assault at Sicily in 1943, the D- Day landings in June 1944, the debacle at Arnhem in September that same year ... and finally to Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine on 24th March 1945, which heralded the final chapter of World War Two and remains in the record books as the largest airborne operation ever mounted.

The RAF pilots who participated in Varsity, many of whom had trained abroad under the Empire Flying Training Scheme, had returned to the UK in the hope of flying fighter aircraft such as the Spitfire or heavy bombers such as the Lancaster, only to discover that by this stage of the war there were now so many trained pilots that they were 'surplus to requirements'. Whilst disappointed at this state of affairs, they were less than enthusiastic at the prospect of flying gliders, even if it was their ticket to operational flying.

Despite their misgivings, however, many volunteered and went on to play an important role in Varsity, a contribution hitherto largely overlooked by historians, a sad omission given that 61 RAF and 38 Glider Pilot Regiment personnel lost their lives during the operation.

In the course of researching this book Alan Cooper interviewed many Varsity veterans and their first-hand accounts form the basis of the later chapters. Along with the recollections of former Royal Air Force glider pilots there are also contribu­tions from pilots of the Glider Pilot Regiment, members of the RAF tug squadrons who towed the gliders to their destinations and representatives of the airborne troops who flew as 'passengers'. Their tales of individual bravery, lucky escapes, tragic misfortunes, odd coincidences and bizarre occurrences - all the consequence of landing behind enemy lines and directly into the heat of battle - build a vivid picture of what it was like to participate in this historic wartime event.

The condition of the book is generally very good. The covers are clean and bright, the spine is intact, and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.