Description
Des Curtis was one of the founder members of 618 Squadron. Formed within days of the illustrious 617, 618’s primary objective was to mount a daylight low-level attack by Mosquitos on the German battleship Tirpitz within hours of the attack on the Ruhr dams. The operation, codenamed Operation Servant, was given top security classification, to the point where the subject was excluded from the minutes of the meetings of the Chiefs of Staff of the air and naval forces. The author reveals the dilemmas and conflicting priorities existing to the highest levels, setting out in detail the technicalities of developing the ‘bouncing bomb’. He also writes first hand about the tactical problems of getting to and from the target; and the tensions and strains endured by the Mosquito crews themselves, as they took the war to the German U-Boats within the sight and safety of their bases.
[Hardback]
Simon Atkin –
Really interesting and well researched history of 618 squadron by someone who was there, Des Curtis DFC LdH. 618 were tasked with flying Mosquitos converted to take Highball, a bouncing bomb similar to that used on the Dambusters raid. Never used in action, the squadron converted to attacking U-boats with a 57mm canon fitted to their Mosquitos.
The last chapter covers post-war meetings between the authors and the captain of the U-boat he sank and was quite moving.
I was privileged to meet Des Curtis briefly when he signed my copy.