The Research

I received a good deal of help with the research for this book and to all of those who assisted me I am very grateful. I was greatly assisted by Nick Papillon, a very patient and committed helicopter flying instructor, based at Blackbushe Airport in Surrey, who kindly read through the helicopter flying sequences and put forward a number of valid suggestions to make sure I used the correct airfield terminology and procedures.

I am also greatly indebted to a wonderful gentleman named Sam Wright, who flew in Bristol Beaufighters during the War as a navigator and who has published a book about his experiences, ‘Beaufighters, B.O.A.C and Me’, (ISBN Number 1 873203 86 1). After a peacetime career flying commercial airliners he emigrated to Australia. Having made contact with him via his publishers we corresponded via e-mail and he graciously answered all of my questions regarding flying the Beaufighter in the Second World War. For a man who flew 1,420 hours for the RAF and who now, in his mid-eighties has mastered modern technology, I have the deepest admiration.

For an excellent personal account of day to day life in Guernsey during the German Occupation I found a book called ‘There Is An Occupation’ by Miriam M. Mahy (ISBN Number 0 9519767 0 2) most useful. ‘Marianne in Chains’ by Robert Gildea (ISBN Number 0 330 48865 1), although based purely on the French experience of 1940 - 45, helped me to understand the complexity of the relationship between the Occupiers and the Occupied.