Wings of Destiny: Wing Commander Charles Learmonth DFC and Bar and the Air War in New Guinea | 
| Author: Charles Page
Publisher: Rosenberg Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 820648
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1877058645
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544994092
EAN: 9781877058646
ASIN: 1877058645
Publication Date: April 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Wing Commander Charles Learmonth, DFC and Bar, was a well-known flyer in World War 2, who was based in Pearce, Western Australia, and involved in the air search for HMAS Sydney. He fought in the skies of New Guinea, flying a twin-engine Boston attack bomber named 'She's Apples'. In January 1944, the then Commanding Officer of No22 Squadron, was killed at the age of 26 in a crash 30 kilometres north-west of Rottnest Island. Learmonth Airport was named in his honour. In "Wings of Destiny", which is an extensively researched biography of Learmonth and study of his character and achievements, Charles Page fills a significant gap in Australian World War II history. It is, page writes, "a story that needed to be told. The deeds of Charles Learmonth and his 'band of brothers' deserve more than a shoebox full of aerogrammes held together with rubber bands."
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| Customer Reviews:
 Could not put this down September 19, 2008
Providing a big hint to its content with its subtitle, Wing Commander Charles Learmonth, DFC and Bar and the Air War in New Guinea, this book by historian Charles Page looks the part on the shelf and in the hand. Delve into the pages and you're confronted by an remarkably readable and detailed biography of an immensely likeable character and one of Australia's great wartime leaders.
Charles Learmonth grew up in country Victoria to the west of Melbourne and joined the RAAF before the war. He was eventually posted to 14 Squadron and its Ansons in Western Australia. Flying convoy patrols (including escorting his brother's unit as it headed to the UK for service in North Africa, Greece and Crete - John Learmonth was eventually captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW) Charles began to build his experience that would see him emerge as an expert bomber pilot. Converting to Hudsons, the squadron was heavily involved in the search for survivors of the cruiser HMAS Sydney off the Western Australian coast with Charles playing a key part. Never without a date on a night out, Charles eventually falls in love with Marjorie who, happily, is still alive and living in Perth, Western Australia. An eventual transfer east and Melbourne wedding sees Charles join 22 Squadron and convert to Bostons. Now his career as a flyer really builds momentum. In the thick of the action soon after the squadron's arrival in New Guinea, Charles develops into an inspirational leader loved by all. He shares his adventures with well-known RAAF characters such as Black Jack Walker, Bill Newton VC and Bull Garing. Garing's inclusion gives an indication to Charles' involvement in The Battle of the Bismarck Sea and Walker and Newton ensure amusing stories abound and, in the case of Newton (and others), the grief of losing close friends is evident. Eventual command of the squadron and then a posting back to 14 Squadron as its CO sees Charles' service come full circle and, sadly, end. The squadron was then equipped with Australian-built Beauforts and the coverage of the problems this aircraft encountered and the subsequent investigations is handled expertly and with extensive detail.
The author has used his unprecedented access to the letters written by Charles and Marjorie to wonderful effect. Both were prolific letter writers and the insight they provide is remarakble. Excellent contextual research exists throughout and the feel of the era is very well conveyed to the reader. Family members, friends and acquaintances were interviewed or their correspondence used and this level of detail really adds to the picture of our hero. From the first chapter you know how things will end but as the book progresses, you'll find a friend you'll never meet in Charles Learmonth.
This book fills a big hole in the understanding of what the Boston Boys did in New Guinea but it also provides a door into the life of a remarkable man who lived, loved, partied (often) and died before many of us were born. Very hard to put down and excellently illustrated, and ignoring a couple of small typographical and factual errors, this book is simply brilliant.
 Highly recommended June 11, 2008
Wings of Destiny is the story of two brothers who both lost their lives in war service to their King and country.
W/Cdr Charles Learmonth died on 6 January 1944, when his Bristol Beaufort A9-346 of No 14 Squadron RAAF crashed into the sea during a formation flying exercise, some 18 miles north-west of Rottnest Island in Western Australia. His elder brother, Lt John Noel Learmonth MiD of 2/3 FD Regt RAA, fell captive at the fall of Crete in May 1941. He died suddenly while PoW on 10 May 1944 at Oflag IX AZ in Germany.
In January 1944 Charles Learmonth, a decorated veteran of Douglas Boston operations with 22 Squadron RAAF over New Guinea, was aged 26 and CO of No 14 Squadron RAAF. He was highly regarded as both pilot and commanding officer.
A highly experienced commercial pilot, Charles Page has gone to very considerable effort in gathering all the threads of this story, calling on Learmonth's own considerable body of war-time letters, on Squadron and other official records, on interviews with surviving servicemen, and by personal visit to the principal places on the story. The result is a well-presented, carefully researched account, beautifully and lavishly illustrated in line art, maps and photos (all of uniformly high quality), well-supported with full Source notes, Bibliography and a very serviceable Index.
At the personal level this is a satisfyingly detailed story of hard service and warm romance, with proper weight given not only to Charles Learmonth but also to his wife, his brother, and his crew. While the RAAF operations side in Australia and New Guinea is very well covered indeed, in the broader air operations context there are a couple of slips, in a brief passage on the Bristol Beaufighter (p164). While these detract little from an otherwise highly satisfying account, they are worth a brief remark.
The oft-told, supposed Japanese origin of the "Whispering Death" nickname is repeated: but it is in fact a long-debunked myth - see Wings Of the Phoenix (HMSO 1949) and Beaufighter at War (Bowyer 1976) for example. And in remarking on the Beaufighter's quiet approach, Page goes on to mention the "sleeveless valves" of the Bristol Hercules engine - a slip for the well-known sleeve-valve design.
This is Charles Page's second book, and his second valuable contribution to Australia's war-time aviation history. Highly recommended: four stars from me.
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