LoveReading Says
There is no doubt that war, despite its terrible consequences, is a source of great pride and nostalgia for those who survived it, but particularly those who served within it with such heroism. Ken Aedy was only 20 when the war ended but by then he had already flown Lancasters with Bomber Command and also assisted with humanitarian airlifts as action was winding up. He was a hero, although his son Mark who wrote the introduction to this book instead describes his father as an ordinary man who lived through an extraordinary time. But 57,000 of the 125,000 aircrew who served alongside Ken lost their lives, and if that isn't heroism I don't know what is.
Ken knew that his experience was both ordinary and extraordinary which is why he wrote this memoir. His target audience were his own grandchildren to whom he wanted to leave his story so that they could personally connect with the most world-changing events of the 20th century, and understand that their lives and their futures were what drove this generation to such levels of courage.
The text is what you might expect from an RAF Pilot - to the point, modest, charming and amusing. It is a very personal book, but the details of Ken's family life and the specific activities he undertook are only more interesting for this reason. Although an 'ordinary' pilot, these details are what makes the story real. Particular detail, as the title of the book suggests, is given to the machines that Ken took to the skies. There can't be many pilots who slotted into that 'Biplanes to Fast Jets' period and were talented enough to keep pace with the technology, and Ken is at his happiest describing the mystifying contents of a cockpit.
This book was a gift when it was written and it is a gift now. It's beautifully laid out and full of iconography and imagery from another time, and will suit the coffee table of any military aircraft enthusiast. The Aedys have done their family hero proud.
Greg Hackett
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From Biplanes to Fast Jets - A pilot’s life in the Royal Air Force 1942–1973 Synopsis
Published in time for 80th Anniversary Commemorations for D-Day on 6th June.
Proceeds of the launch will be donated to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
A fascinating and richly full-colour illustrated memoir, from a Royal Air Force pilot detailing his personal experiences during a golden age of British military aviation from the Second World War to the 1970s.
Ken Aedy joined the Royal Air Force in 1942, aged eighteen, having had his medical in the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground. He was taught to fly in Oklahoma in 1942 and 1943, returning to the UK on the converted Queen Mary troop ship.
He first went solo on a Tiger Moth, a biplane, and subsequently transferred to heavy bombers, learning on Wellingtons before becoming operational in Lancasters during the Second World War. He also dropped food supplies to the Dutch in Operation Manna and flew returning former PoWs back home to the UK. He was only twenty years old when the war ended in May 1945.
Ken elected to remain in the Royal Air Force after the war. He was posted to Egypt at the time of Israel’s independence in 1948 and subsequently to Singapore in 1950. He also participated in the Berlin airlift and in the first ever Battle of Britain fly-past over Buckingham Palace. In the 1950s, he transitioned onto jets including the Meteor, the Hunter and his favourite, the Javelin. He served in Germany and several stations in the UK, prior to being posted to Cyprus in the mid- to late 1960s, during the emerging Middle East crisis.
Ken had a career that traversed a huge transformation in technology from biplanes to fast jets, but his family knew little about it. In the late 1990s, Ken’s daughter-in-law encouraged him to jot down some notes on his life for his three grandchildren. When he died three years later, they discovered more than seventy closely typed pages of notes and details of his experiences.
From Biplanes to Fast Jets: A pilot’s life in the Royal Air Force 1942–1973 is not the story of a hero, but rather the story of an ordinary man’s experiences throughout an extraordinary century of geo-political turmoil and rapid technological advances.
A heartwarming, amusing and at times harrowing tale, the book is faithful to Ken’s experiences, featuring stunning photographs, paintings, diagrams and drawings of the planes he flew and key events he witnessed.
The publication is a mark of respect for Ken, on what would have been his 100th birthday, but also for a whole generation to whom we owe so much.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781916797093 |
| Publication date: |
13th June 2024 |
| Author: |
Ken Aedy |
| Publisher: |
Whitefox Publishing Ltd |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
288 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Biographies & Autobiographies
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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About Ken Aedy
Ken was born 29 May 1924; he joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 aged eighteen and enjoyed more than thirty years in service, personally experiencing the astonishing trajectory and rapid technological development from biplanes to fast jets, having flown everything from a Tiger Moth to a Javelin during his time in the Royal Air Force. He retired in 1973, partly due to ill-health. He worked for the NHS for the remainder of his career.
Ken loved to fly; was devoted to the Royal Air Force and to public service.
More About Ken Aedy
