Product Description
Shah’s reminiscences of life in the Royal Indian and nascent Pakistan Air Forces range from the trials and tribulations of a young recruit to the observations of a mature aviator.
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The Author Air Cmde Mansoor “polly” Shah, of the Pakistan Air Force started his career as a young pilot in the pre independence Indian Air Force. This book covers his career – right from the days as a young pilot officer in a transport squadron , thru the days when the Pakistan Air Force was growing up, to its highs and lows during the wars.
Written in detail, with the right amount of humour and insight, it sheds lights on many issues the PAF had to face during its growth. His profiles on various officers on both sides of the border make interesting reading – esp his comments on senior PAF officers and their conduct in war.
In many cases Polly Shah takes the option of not naming some of the officers while telling thier stories (or blunders) this is sort of dissapointing as you will have to end up doing your own research as to whom he is refering to.
This is only the second or third autobiography by a PAF officer and is a welcome one at that as it refers to a Pre-47 period which is rare to find in the subcontinental aviation litterature.
Rating: 5 / 5
A must read for all history buffs who are interested in Pakistan Air Force and the pre-partition Royal Indian Air Force. The book revolves around the authors observations of various incidents and events that he witnessed. These are sometimes hilarious, sometimes mind boggling and sometimes bizzare.
The 1965 war is not covered in great detail but narrative of 1971 war sheds new light into the whole scheme of affairs at that time. The insight, clarifications and achievements of PAF during 1971 deserves to be told to the people of Pakistan who have a lot of misconceptions in this regard.
Only drawback of this book is that the author is very generic when describing flying related events and assumes that the reader will have no knowledge of aviation. (May be I have made this comment as I am a hard core aviation enthusiast)
On the whole a good book that revolves around events, politics and some strategy.
I have yet to find a book on Pakistan Air Force that takes the reader in the cockpit of a Fury, Attacker, F-104 or a RB-57. I hope someone does this soon.
Rating: 3 / 5