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Book Review: Air Bridge, by Hammond Innes
I had already added this to my to-read list when I found a copy in a National Trust second-hand bookshop. My interest was in the idea of a story set in the Berlin Airlift. Whilst that event is, in some ways, central to the plot, it was also a side-show. There were some good sections to the story, which give rise to questions about morality and ambition, amongst others, but they are stitched together in a way that hasn't dated well. None of the characters seem particularly sympathetic. The idea of stealing a plane from Germany, and flying it back to Britain undetected, seems fanciful to say the least. Bill Saeton has an engine design he believes will revolutionise flying, but it's unclear how much, if any of it, is his own work; he's run out of funding but he's prepared to do everything and blackmail or sacrifice anyone to get it into operation. It's the old story that the ends justify the means, and it's not hard to imagine a similar plot for our times involving tech bros.
I had already added this to my to-read list when I found a copy in a National Trust second-hand bookshop. My interest was in the idea of a story set in the Berlin Airlift. Whilst that event is, in some ways, central to the plot, it was also a side-show. There were some good sections to the story, which give rise to questions about morality and ambition, amongst others, but they are stitched together in a way that hasn't dated well. None of the characters seem particularly sympathetic. The idea of stealing a plane from Germany, and flying it back to Britain undetected, seems fanciful to say the least. Bill Saeton has an engine design he believes will revolutionise flying, but it's unclear how much, if any of it, is his own work; he's run out of funding but he's prepared to do everything and blackmail or sacrifice anyone to get it into operation. It's the old story that the ends justify the means, and it's not hard to imagine a similar plot for our times involving tech bros.