"Roald Dahl - Superb Yarn" Topic

My 8 year old has a collection of Roald Dahl Books which weve been working through with all the usual kid's stories: Mr Fox, Chocolate Factory, Giant Peach etc but also has his his war time memoirs – Going Solo.

He starts off as a rep for Shell in East Africa then goes off to Greece in a Hurricane, after voluntering for the air force following the outbreak of war. His descriptions of his daily life, his attitudes and combat experiences are superb. How on his first combat flight he chases 6 JU88s alone as their rear gunners train in on him and by sheer flook manages to down one whilst staying in the air himself.

Their force of 16 planes dwindles as it faces 1000 luftwaffe fighters and bombers. My boy finds it a gripping story and we hate to put it down, loads of suspense until the next installment.

My favorite Roald Dahl 2WW air combat story is, "Death of an Old Old Man." It's originally in the book, "Over to You." But my copy is included in the Folio Society Book "Complete Tales of the Unexpected."

Did you know that Dark Horse Comics had recently reprinted Dahl's first ever book, The Gremlins, written while he was in the RAF, and which popularised the RAF story about the little blighters who sabotage planes? It comes with illustrations by the Walt Disney studio, which bought the rights to make a film (though they never did).