THIS MONTH'S BOOK REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 2003

MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE


Over the years, we've read dozens of autobiographies of famous and not-so-famous pilots who flew during World War II. Thus, it comes as an extraordinarily pleasurable surprise to find not just another "I was there" sort of book, but rather a brilliantly composed, honest, and literally breathtaking book.

Authored by Wing Commander Geoffrey Morley-Mower, DFC, AFC, the book Messerschmitt Roulette takes you where you never imagined you could go -- into the desert sands of North Africa, faced off against the Afrika Korps and the most deadly Luftwaffe ace of all time, Hans-Joachim Marseille of I/JG27.

The book, from specialty publishing house, Airlife Books, sent to us by Stackpole Books in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, covers the wartime experiences of a British recce pilot whose mission it was to command Australian recce pilots in Egypt and Libya during 1941 and 1942. Their mission involved long over desert flights, all the while hoping that they wouldn't be spotted and intercepted by the Luftwaffe, which flew superior planes, principally the Me-109. As Morley-Mower quotes from a squadron mate in his book, "The 109 can out climb us, out dive us and it beats the hell out of us in level flight."

The style of Morley-Mower's writing is such that it takes you in and puts you there beside him in the cockpit. Clearly, his talents at writing are as good as flying, and he has a certain tone that he uses in describing particularly hazardous moments that is quite compelling, if not even somehow bland, flat and almost emotionless.

From beginning to ending, the book reads very well. The author, in his usual tone, notes early on, "A relative of mine on my mother's side, Captain Maurice Hewson, Royal Navy, was captured by the French during the Napoleonic wars, His narrative, Escape from the French, 1803-1802, was published in 1981. Perhaps this story of my adventures in World War II will, like his, interest readers two hundred years from now."

Happily, we can report that readers won't have to wait two hundred years to read this book.

Book Review by: Thomas Van Hare



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