Far East Cynic

Recent reading

While I was back in the Whining States of America, I made the obligatory run to Barnes and Noble. I picked up a copy of the Federalist to re-read, my original copy having gone long by the boards when the ex trashed all of my things as was her worthless nature. It’s always better to have the original text around when teabaggers start mis-quoting it.

The other little gem I picked up was this:

This very readable book is a biography of Philip Goodall who made his living flying first the Canberra, then the Valiant, and finally the Vulcan bomber. During his varied career, he participated in bombing missions on Egypt during Great Britain’s ill-fated attempt to save us from the gloomy future we now inhabit by trying to put Nasser in his place.

He also was able to ply his trade world wide, given that in the 50’s the sun still never set on the Union Jack and Britain had territories around the world ( as it should be). He flew to many places in Africa, based out of Malta.  He flew in Malaya and was was a member of the only V Force crew to be awarded the Malayan General Service medal. The book has a lot of private photographs from his career and talks about the role the RAF played in supporting NATO and the United States. During his 23 year career he also flew in the United States and participated in SAC bombing competitions. He writes of the funny exploits they had when off duty, wherein his squadron mates made out like bandits with the American girls. (The British accent always helps).

It is a good read and worth your time. Especially for someone like me who loved flying and anything British related.