Newspaper Article

Fighter pilots of the sea

Delingpole, James

2008

Overview

This is what makes the book, which draws from his diaries and an unfinished autobiography, not just a gripping read but also an intensely poignant one. One day he treats himself to some expensive hair oil: 'Every morning when I take a drop I wonder whether I shall live to finish the bottle; a sort of feeling of academic interest.' His all-too-brief home leaves were a special wrench: 'The last day is always rather terrible. And then going round to see the children just before leaving for the train. They are always asleep and look so attractive. It is unlikely that life can provide much worse partings than these.' That was before they got to the enemy. If they ever did, their prospects were not good. In a typical piece of insane, early- war stinginess, the authorities had decided to arm the boats with only measly .303 calibre machine guns, which weren't nearly a match for the powerful cannons on their German rivals' E-Boats. [Hitch]'s greatest achievement, before his death, was to see the MGB fleet armed with something slightly more effective than popguns.

• Publisher: Solo Syndication, a division of Associated Newspapers Ltd
• Subject: Hichens, Robert