- Author
- Book reviewer
- Subjects
- Naval Aviation, Book reviews, Aviation, Naval Technology
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 2008 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
On a positive note, the author and publisher may or may not have realised that this is a work of highly reliable oral history – a field of research now rapidly developing at tertiary level and recognised as important. The mode of the story is very personal but each entry correlates with several others, thus ensuring multiple cross-referencing which supports authenticity. The chronological progression is a matter of public record and the profuse picture content strongly illustrates much of what each contributor has provided.
The book is big, well bound, easy to read and the cover shouts ‘pick me up’ with irresistible attraction. It is a ‘must have’ for anybody who has ever served any time in and on RAN Gannets. On a broader scale it is one of the best yet describing everyday (and night) operational life at sea in the confined working environs of an aircraft carrier and the inherit dangers of the business.
As oral history it is first class.
Those wanting to know more precise technical detail about the aircraft as a machine and as a weapons system rather than mainly about the people associated with it will find a little of that information by hunting through the text but generally will have to wait until such a definitive work is produced.