New Book: The Diary of a Hurricane Pilot in the Battle of France: Francis Blackadder

[northeagle]

Hi All,

Pleased to say my new book is on its way out. This is the diary of William Francis Blackadder during the period of the Battle of France. If you are interested in this period you may find the diary of interest. A very long link will take you to the AmazonUK page

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Hurricane-Pilot-Battle-France/dp/1781553106/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402999502&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+dixon

Best Wishes,
Robert.

[Jagan]

Congratulations Robert.

Could you share a bit more about your connection with Blackadder and how you came about writing this book? (I understand you may have described this within the book - but curious anyway if you could share!)

[northeagle]

Hi Jagan,

I was doing research into pilots of North East England some 15 years ago, I was given a free hand at looking through papers etc of a pilot who had been on 607 Squadron. Looking around, there tended to be not very much published on the squadron at all. With a little more looking around I found plenty information, most of it unused, so I wrote the book; '607 Squadron: A Shade Of Blue'. I also wrote a few articles on various pilots of the squadron over the years between 2000 and present day for thee Flypast Magazine.

One of the treasures I found was the diary of William Francis Blackadder a diary he had kept during the Battle of France. This little book went with him everywhere and, more important, it was written at the time and not as an afterthought. I had used it for dipping into for information but it was only after reading it right through that I could see there was something in it, things that were little known or not known at all: it was then that I decided it deserved to be brought out and published. With the help of the Blackadder family, and Robert Blackadder in particular, this was what happened.

Best Wishes.
Robert.

[northeagle]

Belated update to above. Book is out tomorrow 14th Jan (according to publishers 'Fonthill Media) Amazon have ideas of their own seemingly. Hold was mainly due to my health.

Best Wishes
Robert.

[wwrsimon]

Top work Robert, I got my copy yesterday (actually my second copy - the first was damaged in transit). It looks to be a very interesting read, with some great photos, many of which I've not seen before.

Just a couple of small queries about photo captions:

On page 53, aren't the two photos ones of the same aircraft taken from different sides? One is captioned "Do 17 shot down at Calais", and the other "Do 215 which was initially mistaken for a Do 17". Both look like the same Do 215.

And on page 6, captioned "Blackadder at the Air Fighting Development Squadron, May 1945" isn't he wearing his black 607 Sqn overalls with the Squadron lion on the left hand breast pocket? He's standing next to a Gladiator - was it not taken during his time at 607 Sqn?

Regards

Simon

[wwrsimon]

Sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but this was posted on the Key Publishing Forum on Thursday by Dave Charles, 607 Sqn historian:

Sadly I have to report the passing of Robert Dixon also known as Northeagle

Robert passed away yesterday morning in hospital after a series of illnesses over the past two years

Robert was the author of a number of books on airmen and Squadrons from the North of England

These include "607 Squadron - A Shade of Blue", "A Gathering of Eagles", "Airmen of the North"

Despite battling terminal illness Robert still managed to complete his final book at the end of 2014.

"The Diary of a Hurricane Pilot in the Battle in the Battle of France" which is based on the diary of William Francis Blackadder, a Flight Commander with 607 Squadron.

Robert was always willing to share his knowledge and information through various forums such as this one, 12 O' Clock High, RAF Commands to name a few

Robert also contributed several articles to Flypast.

Regards

Simon