Shop H.E. Bates Online
ID
c88
Title
"The Man in Action."
Genre
Essay
Page Count
6
Word Count
4800
Publisher
Flying and Popular Aviation
Publication Year
1942
Document Types
Full-text Online
Topics
Pilots, War

Bates discusses the life of a pilot, delineates the various types of pilots and planes, and then reports the exploits of three notable pilots — A.C. Deere, J.A.F. MacLachlan, and K. Campbell.

MacLachlan is featured in another 1942 non-fiction piece, 'The First Squadron', and was the inspiration for characters in two stories by Bates, 'There's Something in the Air' and 'The Beginning of Things'.

The article closes with a lengthy report of a 'Wellington crew...who spent 57 hours in a dinghy before being rescued' which bears some similarity to Bates's 1943 story 'How Sleep the Brave'.

In Flying and Popular Aviation (Chicago, September 1942, xxxi, 3, pp. 130-133, 223, 225, 230, attached), excerpted in The Spitfire Log (London: Souvenir Press, 1985, pp. 88-93, attached).


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