I first read this in the early 70's and can no longer read small print but found a large print hardback copy on Amazon for 5 USD. At the time I thought it the best WW2 fictional writing I had yet read. It is on it's way and after 50 years I am most interested to see , no pun intended, if it holds up to my memory of it. I thought Deighton had a true knowledge of the war and his subject, having read the non fictional "Fighter" as well as others of his and found the one day format fascinating . I thought the descriptions of characters and the results of consequences well developed. I remember being emphatic.But that was 50 years ago. I looked on "Search" and found no references but wondered if any of you had any thoughts on this book. at my current reading rate it will take me months to get though it, AMD and other eye stuff. I read the forum on a 25.5 LED screen so I can do well here . Any comments appreciated, non will change my views probably but I enjoy others insights, the way I learn. I have had the great pleasure to have stayed in Woffenbuttel several times over a 10 year period. This ancient lovely timbered little town appears to have gone unscathed in spite of being on the southern edge of a line between Cambridgeshire and Berlin and due south of Wolfsburg. I have stood on abandoned small block control towers in the Fens and imagined what bombers forming up must have been like and visited Berlin in 1960 through the Magdeburg corridor and thought about that end but in Woffenbuttel I think about Deighton's "Bomber" , though it survived, and I think about all the young men, on both sides of that terrible time , who who once were there in the war....................... and how easy my life has been compared to theirs. I look forward to a second read. Gaines
IMPO it's still a great book and easily the most powerful novel I've read about the WWII airwar. Like you, I first read it in my 20s when I knew very little about the subject and returned to it a couple of years ago. Much reading and research had lessened its impact on me, and one or two of the attitudes in it seemed rather '1970s' to me. But it still conveys the drama and tragedy of the Bombing Campaign. By adopting a rather detached, 'objective' style Deighton brilliantly succeeds in creating one of the great anti-war books. And I always like the 'epilogue' about the old airfield with his warning about the steps in the Control Tower.....if you climb the steps, be careful - you may end up writing a book about it !
Got both. Fighter was excellent and still holds true..I have bomber on book case...been there for years unread...At the least you've got someone here to get it off the bookcase...Thanks for reminding me.
