Fat Albert

Shropshire Blue, Volume 3

'Another excellent volume, breaking down a single posting into a multitude of interesting individual stories.'
Ron Powell joined the C-130 Hercules fleet as a pilot just as the Falklands War started. So his early months on the aircraft, affectionately known to its crews as Fat Albert, are dominated by frequent visits to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
But this third volume of Shropshire Blue also chronicles flights across much of the rest of the world, from Las Vegas to New Zealand and northern Canada to the Falklands. Highlights include flights into Hong Kong, East Berlin, Beirut, Cape Canaveral at the time of a Space Shuttle launch, and Ethiopia during famine relief operations. Along the way, there are airborne emergencies, touch and go medical evacuations and a cast of amazing characters, good and bad.
Shot through with humour, this richly illustrated memoir provides a fitting tribute to an aircraft with a long and distinguished record in RAF service.
Once again, the cover design is by Martin Butler.
As well as three volumes of Shropshire Blue (so far), Ron has written a brief illustrated history, The Battle of Britain, Hitler's First Bloody Nose; an acclaimed novel, Wings Over Summer, set in the same period; and a sequel, Wings Over Malta.
More about his life and writing can be found on his website, ronpowell.co.uk.