Free (nook/Kindle/Kobo) Complete Flying Officer X Stories [Vintage WWII Pilot Tales]

[ATDrake]

The Complete Flying Officer X Stories by the late H. E. Bates (Wikipedia) is a collection of his vintage WWII tales which were originally pseudonymously commissioned by the Royal Air Force to provide inspiring-yet-relatable heroic pilot action adventures for the populace, loosely based on Bates' encounters touring various RAF stations, free courtesy of publisher Bloomsbury's Reader imprint, who are e-printing this new collection of 1940s shorts with some of his additional literary stories and a new introduction by Bates' grandson, as well as a foreword by author Patrick Bishop.

This is part of their ongoing promotion of their reprints of Bates' works, as one of the major literary figures in their stable, from which we've previously received another short story which is still free in multiple venues if you missed it earlier: Castle in the Air.

Currently free @ B&N (also UK), Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK), Kobo & Google Play (both available to Canadians). Price-drop-check linkage for iTunes, where Bloomsbury freebies often also go free.

If it happens you like this one and wish to read more of the author's writing, selected collections of his shorts and several of his classic novels are now available as low-priced reprints from Bloomsbury, and are couponable @ Kobo (also eligible for bonus VIP discount and Super Points).

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because getting a glimpse into what's essentially vintage historical wartime propaganda written by a major literary talent is a nifty treat which will probably be of interest to a fair-sized cross-section of Gentle Readers.

Enjoy!

Description
The Flying Officer X stories were written by Bates in his unprecedented role as an official war writer with the R.A.F. during WWII, where he animates the realities faced by pilots tasked with protecting the skies from enemy aircraft.

The resulting stories that appeared under the pseudonym Flying Officer X are portraits of individual pilots narrated by an observer who, like Bates, is on the inside of the air force without being a pilot.

These portraits recount the personal history of the pilots, and convey the individual qualities and forces that motivate them. They blend the action and suspense of aerial battles, friendships cut off too soon, and life enduring against all odds.

In true Bates style, the New York Times noted "These are tales told in impressive quiet, tales that are innocent of even the suggestion of flagrant heroism that colors so many stories about combat pilots."

Bloomsbury Reader is excited to collect these stories into one volume for the first time, along with five additional stories from the same period, never before included in a collection: 'Fishers' sees a bond between two soldiers from very different walks of life; 'Happy Christmas Nastashya' sees an English officer encounter a young woman in service to her country in Russia; 'The Bell' follows a young flying officer as he travels back to a familiar pub to reminisce about a lost friend; 'From this Time forward' exposes the raw emotion of losing a loved one; and 'Three Thousand and One Hours of Sergeant Kostek' shows us a man of extraordinary character and flying ability.

The collection also includes a new introduction by Patrick Bishop, bestselling author of Bomber Boys: Fighting Back 1940-1945.