Fonthill Media has published ‘RAF Liberators Over Burma’ a book by Bill Kirkness DFM and Matt Poole, the former having flown with 159 Squadron during WWII in India

The RAF air war versus Japan in the Far East is grossly underrepresented in print; the Kirkness memoir lessens this gap with its valuable contributions
Thirty-two combat ops may seem like too many to individually chronicle in a single memoir; however, each op’s narrative is compellingly, and uniquely, presented and the cumulative result is that Kirkness’ final, harrowing, op is the most riveting of them all.
Lavishly illustrated with previously unpublished photographs RAF wireless operator/air gunner Bill ‘Enoch’ Kirkness flew thirty-two B-24 Liberator bomber sorties, twenty-eight of which were against Japanese targets in Burma. He was credited with downing the night fighter that killed a crewmate and severely damaged his Liberator; his aircraft’s crash landing abruptly ending his first tour. Bill was subsequently awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal. His memoir of Wellington ferry flights, Liberator training, and ops with 159 Squadron typifies aspects of the human spirit, which any young man immersed within such a conflict would have likely experienced. Bill wore his heart, not just his
sergeant’s stripes, on his sleeve. His story is a compelling, dignified account of an average man’s war from 1942 into 1944 in the UK, the Mediterranean, Africa, and onwards through his first operational tour based in India. Matt Poole, an expert on 159 Squadron and RAF Liberator activities against the Japanese, seamlessly enhances Bill’s narrative with added historical detail. Although Bill passed away in 1994, Matt vowed, in retirement, to help bring the memoir to a wider audience.

-Publication: 26 October 2017
-Hardback
-256 pages
-54 mono images

ISBN: 978-1-78155-656-6 - RAF Liberators Over Burma - Bill Kirkness DFM and Matt Poole

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