Sunday 30 November 2008

RAF Harrier Ground Attack Falklands

Yes, I actually read some non-fiction. And very interesting it was too, even though I know absolutely nothing about the Falklands War. Or I didn't until now. It's basically the autobiography of Squadron Leader Jerry Pook, spreading the (as far as I can tell) pretty much untold story of the ground attack sorties flown pretty much exclusively by the RAF pilots who were sent in as attrition replacements. He tells of how the navy was incompetant, the Harrier equipment dodgy, and gives plenty of detail about just what went on. I really enjoyed it actually. It was a lot longer than it first looked because the print was pretty tiny. So if you've any interest in history or aeroplanes or anything like that, it's a very good book to read. If not, you might still find it fairly interesting. I should probably start assessing the reliability and all that of the book now as source material, but I don't think it matters. It's an eyewitness account. Maybe it has a little bias, maybe it says very little about anything bar the ground attack sorties, but I read it out of interest, not after using it as a source. Anyway, it's well worth reading.

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