Winged Victory

Winged Victory is a now out of print, 1934 novel by an English World War I fighter pilot named V.M. Yeates. It deals with the futility of WWI, the schizophrenic existence pilots of this period lead, and the malady involved with flying early biplanes. Its main protagonist, Tom Cundall, plans to quit the Royal Air Force when his active service is up, and start a life on a Home Countries farm with his friends. However, by the time he is due to leave the Air force, all his friends have "gone west". This leaves him a broken man.

Related Topics:
Out of print - English - World War I - V.M. Yeates - Schizophrenic - Biplane - Tom Cundall - Royal Air Force

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The book is semi-autobiographical, with V.M. Yeates also having lost all his friends in the war. T.E. Lawrence praised it on its release with the words "Admirable, admirable, admirable. One of the most distinguished histories of the war...masterly". However, it fell out of print due to a lack of an interested publisher, and was soon left to the ravages of time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It gained a brief resurgence in popularity during World War II with RAF Bomber pilots due to its accurate descriptions of air warfare, however it has since disappeared again, and may only be found occasionally on eBay, usually in the United Kingdom.

Related Topics:
World War II - RAF Bomber - EBay - United Kingdom

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was republished on April 30th 2004 by Grub Street Publishing. ISBN: 1904010652

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~