Carrier Pilot

'It has everything a war memoir should have' LEN DEIGHTON

'OF ALL THE AIRCRAFT I HAD EVER SEEN, THESE WERE THE MOST WICKED-LOOKING BASTARDS. THE CORSAIR LOOKED TRULY VICIOUS ...'

In 1942 Norman Hanson learnt to fly the Royal Navy's newest fighter: the US-built Chance Vought Corsair. Fast, rugged and demanding to fly, it was an intimidating machine. But in the hands of its young Fleet Air Arm pilots it also proved to be a lethal weapon.

Posted to the South Pacific aboard HMS Illustrious, Hanson...