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the devil at 6 o'clock
an australian ace in the battle of Britain
[raaf - raf - spitfire - battle of Britain]
gordon olive & dennis newton
Queenslander, Charles Gordon Chaloner Olive, was a rare Australian. Initially trained at RAAF Point Cook in Victoria, he was in England when war broke out in 1939, flying Spitfires for the RAF. He was one of those fighter pilots who covered the Dunkirk evacuation where he was listed "missing", only to turn up afterwards slightly injured. Then he became one of Winston Churchill's famous "Few" in the Battle of Britain and an acclaimed fighter "Ace". With promotion, he formed and was given command of 456 RAAF Squadron, Australia's first and only night-fighter unit, operating with Defiants, Beaufighters and Mosquitoes to defend England. By 1944 he was back in Australia, joined the Pacific war effort and in 1945 was involved in the air defence of Morotai. During an outstanding wartime career, he flew 219 sorties in 180 hours of operational flying and was awarded a DFC. In peacetime, he was awarded an MBE in 1962, a CBE in 1978 and was on the boards of several community oriented organisations. This biography tells the eventful story of Gordon Olive's war. Australia = AUD$27 (including postage, packing and GST) PNG and NZ = AUD$39 (including economy air mail and packing) The World = AUD$43 (including economy air mail and packing)
Dennis Newton is a graduate of the University of New England and a former schoolteacher. He and Gordon Olive met in 1986 through the Australian branch of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association. In 1987, when Gordon died, he left a partly written memoir of his flying days, which the Olive family asked Dennis to complete. This book is the result. Dennis has written for various Australian and overseas magazines and newspapers and his earlier books include Australian Air Aces, Clash of Eagles, A Few of 'The Few' and First Impact. |
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