For Raynor Barber, World War Two changed his understanding of life. In hindsight, everything that happened to him before being posted to New Guinea with the RAAF’s 30 Squadron was just in preparation, and everything following, merely a consequence of that nine month Tour of Operations. By telling his story, a younger generation of Australians are given the opportunity to understand the reality beyond the heroism.

      Put on a different pair of shoes – you are leading a team of Beaufighters over enemy territory in New Guinea. You are flying low over the water to avoid radar detection; so low, that when you look behind you see the backwash spraying up over the tail.

      You’ve done this before, but an inexperienced pilot looks back and panics, pulling his aircraft up to two hundred feet before realising what he’s done. Your cover is blown.

     Reaching land now; you fly over a low ridge and see the airstrip below, anti-aircraft fire blazing. You know for every visible tracer bullet there are five you cannot see. You have to fly through what looks like a solid wall of fire. 

     Your plane shudders; you know you’ve been hit. Something sears through your leg and you feel warm blood collecting in your boot. The cockpit is so narrow you can’t even reach down to check the wound. How do you feel?

     This book puts the reader in the cockpit at tree-top level over the seas and jungles of enemy territory. Raynor revealed the true meaning of the word Courage in telling his experiences as he saw them.