A Thunder Bird in Bomber Command: The Wartime Letters and Story of Lionel Andreson, the Man Who Inspired the Thunderbirds Legend

Description

Shot down and killed in April 1944, Lionel Anderson, a low flying Mosquito intruder pilot, was part way through his second tour of operations. He had survived his first tour stooging up and down the French coast in an outdated Boulton Paul Defiant to confound the German night fighter defences and allow the Royal Air Force bombers a free run to the target. Lionel's journey to war had been one of enormous excitement, most of which had been spent training in the sunshine and mountains of Arizona, flying during the day and partying hard at the weekends. A prolific letter writer, Lionel continually regaled his parents with tales of cowboys and indians, rattlesnakes and spiders, ground loops and near misses. He also talked of his Hollywood connections, his new`pals' Preston Foster and Gene Tierney, and a movie in which he had `starred' as an `extra'. In A Thunder Bird in Bomber Command, acclaimed military aviation historian Sean Feast pieces together Lionel's story revealing a young man dearly loved by his mother and father. He was similarly worshipped by his younger brother, Gerald, who would go on to become a world renowned television producer, director, and writer. It was Lionel's connection with a little-known film that was to inspire Gerry Anderson to create a global phenomena - the legend of Thunderbirds.

Sean Feast started a career in journalism in 1985, concurrently training at the London College of Printing and later joining Maxwell Business Communications. In 1991 he joined the then fledgling advertising agency, AGA, to start its PR business, AGA Public Relations, later becoming its Managing Partner. The business re-branded to become Gravity in 2011. He has won several prestigious industry awards, notably in the area of crisis management across a diverse range of industries from aerospace to debt collection. As an author he has written or co-written more than a dozen books, including seven titles with Grub Street: Heroic Endeavour; Master Bombers; A Pathfinder's War (with Ted Stocker); Churchill's Navigator (with John Mitchell); The Pathfinder Companion; The Last of the 39-ers; and now The Alien Sky (with Andy Wiseman). He is also a regular contributor to a variety of aviation magazines, especially FlyPast and Aeroplane Monthly. Away from writing he is a qualified football referee and official mentor attached to the Herts FA. He is married with two teenage boys and lives in Sarratt, Hertfordshire.

A Thunder Bird In Bomber Command isn't just deeply moving, it's also a superb piece of social history * History of War Magazine 20/05/2015 * Overall, as with many books of this type, this is a fascinating insight into life in the RAF. It is made all the more interesting given the links between Lionel Anderson and his younger brother's later work. * Thoughts on Military History * It rattles along nicely, you get to know Lionel and then a rare operational account smacks you in the face. It is a rare treat. * Flightpath Magazine 17/02/2016 * A really interesting story on many counts, not only for the description of the training of RAF pilots in America during WW2, but of the life of an operational pilot flying older aircraft on less glamorous but equally important electronic warfare missions * Military Model Scene 04/01/2016 * There is a lot to like here, the air war stuff offers something a bit different from the norm and, all in all, the book is enhanced by the strong reliance on the US connection. Good stuff. * War History Online 24/02/2016 *