Author: Michael KennethSmith

Publisher: Independentlypublished

ISBN: 979-8353656456

Unless you are a historymaven, you probably are unfamiliar that thousands of Polish airmenserved in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in England as crew members offighters and bombers. They were the most significant foreign forcewithin British aviation. One air unit was the 303 Squadron, whichincluded famous aces such as Josef František, Witold Urbanowicz, andJan Zumbach.

Michael Kenneth Smith’sAll is Fair tells the fictionalized story of an ace Polishairman, Jan Orlinski, who began training as a fighter pilot in 1938in Poland at eighteen. He attends the prestigious Air Force Academyof Poland in Deblin, where he becomes an outstanding, fearless pilot.Unfortunately, Poland is invaded by the Germans in 1939, and theLuftwaffe bombers attacked the Deblin airfield. Jan joins the battlebut is shot down and winds up on a farm suffering from severalcracked ribs.

Jan plans to proceed toFrance through Romania, where he believes the French modern fighterplanes might be adequate to deal with the German Messerschmitt andcontinue the struggle against the Germans.

Jan finds his way with twoother fighter pilots, Syd and Withhold, to Romania, where they arenot welcomed and almost end up in prison. They receive orders fromthe Polish consul in Bucharest to board a ship and sail to Beirut,where they would meet another boat to Marseille. France was eager torecruit competent airmen, as many of theirs were killed in action.

However, the Frenchgenerally rejected the combat experience of the three Polish airmenand they were not permitted to fly the more sophisticated Frenchaircraft.

After the Germansbombarded France, Polish airmen were instructed by their superiors toleave France and head for England. They were warned that an attack onthe British mainland was inevitable and that Britain badly neededthem.

Jan lands in Liverpool,England on the Arandora Star without his two friends, withwhom he will later reconnect. For the first two weeks, Jan never seesthe inside of an airplane. He attends classes to learn Britishfighter tactics and eventually is assigned to fly a single-seatfighter aircraft known as The Hurricane. He becomes part of the 303Polish fighter squadron.

One evening, after hisinaugural flight in a Hurricane, Jan meets in a dance hall a prettywoman, Sophie Gordon, and he is instantly smitten. The two havesomething in common when Jan tells Sophie he is a pianist.

The couple commence apassionate love affair, but little does Jan realize who Sophie is andwhat role she will play in his life.

Once again, Janexperiences a near-life and death encounter. While flying for theBritish, he is shot down in the North Sea, wrecking his Hurricane,and lands near a German rescue buoy. He is transferred to Dulag Luft,a German prisoner of war camp. He escapes the camp and while tryingto cross the Pyrenees is captured and shipped to Spain’s infamousconcentration camp, Mirando de Ebro, where he spends four hundred andtwenty-one days in captivity.

During all of hisescapades Jan loses his best friend, he becomes skeptical aboutSophie's faithfulness, and to top it off, he gets into an unfortunateargument with another Polish airman, who suffers a head injury anddies. Before their entanglement, the Polish airman had made somedenigrating remarks about Sophie.

Smith’s realism standsout in the story, making its historical setting immediate and vivid.He seamlessly integrates known facts with fiction regarding actualevents of the Polish airmen who heroically fought on behalf ofEngland in World War ll. The narrative is intricately sketched andeffectively constructed. Finally, Smith keeps you speculating who isthe real Sophie Gordon with a concluding twist that you may or maynot see coming.

Follow Here To Read Norm'sInterview With Michael Kenneth Smith