Stirling to Essen

I have a great many books on RAF Bomber Command, this ranks as one of the very best. A book definitely not to be missed. * Malcolm Osborn, Aviation Author * I thoroughly recommend you to get a copy of the book…I know my father is going to enjoy this equally as much as me because he was there! * Phillip Jeffs, author of ‘Macrobert’s Reply’ * Fighting High and Roger have done an excellent job and I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in RAF Bomber Command, the Short Stirling aircraft, and what it must have been like flying in those dark skies facing danger on a regular basis. This is the book of the year for me and for many of you it should be as well. * Aviation Enthusiast Book Club * This is an interesting story which puts the pieces of a jigsaw together, the individual stories of a bomber crew during WW2 along with the missions of XV squadron, the targets that were attracting the attention of bomber command at that stage of the war and a local aspect of what it meant to follow up the story of a wartime crash at Godmanchester. * Military Model Scene * Leivers writes very much in the style of Martin Middlebrook, empathising with his subjects and having done much detailed research, and his passion is infectious. Anyone interested in Bomber Command would enjoy this and it is a rich addition to the existing archive on this topic. * Army Rumour Service * This is the kind of story one would expect to have been showcased in one of the 1960s/1970s/1980s war comics such as Warlord etc. It’s an inspirational and deeply fascinating story of a man and his aircraft, together with the crew who shared his adventures with him. Larger than life but all true. Amazing! * Books Monthly * A story of heroism, friendships, loyalties, the intense bond they felt as a crew and, ultimately, the results of that unbelievably fickle finger of fate that controlled their destinies. * Aeroplane Magazine *

Born in Daybrook, Nottingham, in 1955, Roger Leivers eventually moved to the Cambridgeshire town of Godmanchester in 1989. Here he became involved in volunteer groups, and launched annual local historical war walks to raise money for the local museum and the upkeep of the town’s war memorial. This led him to be involved with The Porch Museum, with a special interest in the effect both wars had on the town and its people.