Post by Deleted on May 28, 2008 9:07:05 GMT 12
As the other thread mentions Alan's book is now available and I can tell you he and his family are absolutely thrilled with it. Unfortunately the distributor of Grub Street's book in NZ has gone into receivership and they have not yet appointed a new one.
We will be having a book launch in the near future - likely to be be two - one in Auckland and one in Hamilton where Alan lives.
Alan tells me that he is not a public speaker but I think I can get him to tell a story or two about particular events.
If anyone has any ideas for venues I would be interested to hear. Flying school, aircraft hangar, bookshop etc.
For those interested in the book I would like to point out a couple of events of great interest. Alan flew in the North Africa campaign and one day while flying from Bizerte he was overwhelmed by 15+ Me109's. Later while flying from Broadway, Wingate's forward airstrip 100 miles in side Japanese held territory, he was the only survivor from his squadron after an engagement with the Japanese. Three Spitfires were destroyed on the ground in the first pass by the Japanese which left Alan and his CO, Whitamore, fighting off 20+ Japanese fighters. Whitamore was killed in the first few minutes leaving Alan alone with 20+ of the enemy. He survived after a dogfight lasting 45 minutes and even managed to shoot one down. Interestingly I have managed to locate a Chindit who saw the action from the ground - it was so memorable that he can even remember exactly where he was standing.
I am going to try and get Alan to talk about this at the launch
I will post information on where the book launches will be in due course. Come along and meet one of our few remaining WW2 fighter aces with the opportunity to have a book signed to yourself.
We will be having a book launch in the near future - likely to be be two - one in Auckland and one in Hamilton where Alan lives.
Alan tells me that he is not a public speaker but I think I can get him to tell a story or two about particular events.
If anyone has any ideas for venues I would be interested to hear. Flying school, aircraft hangar, bookshop etc.
For those interested in the book I would like to point out a couple of events of great interest. Alan flew in the North Africa campaign and one day while flying from Bizerte he was overwhelmed by 15+ Me109's. Later while flying from Broadway, Wingate's forward airstrip 100 miles in side Japanese held territory, he was the only survivor from his squadron after an engagement with the Japanese. Three Spitfires were destroyed on the ground in the first pass by the Japanese which left Alan and his CO, Whitamore, fighting off 20+ Japanese fighters. Whitamore was killed in the first few minutes leaving Alan alone with 20+ of the enemy. He survived after a dogfight lasting 45 minutes and even managed to shoot one down. Interestingly I have managed to locate a Chindit who saw the action from the ground - it was so memorable that he can even remember exactly where he was standing.
I am going to try and get Alan to talk about this at the launch
I will post information on where the book launches will be in due course. Come along and meet one of our few remaining WW2 fighter aces with the opportunity to have a book signed to yourself.
