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 The War Diaries of André Dennison - JRT Wood - Ashanti - 1989 - 394pp, indexed, black and white photographs - Hard cover with dust cover in good, clean and tight condition. Another fighting soldier, Johan Meiring, Bronze Cross of Rhodesia, said about Dennison that somehow his battles seemed bigger brighter and bolder. His war was always noisier, far noisier, than the fights of other soldiers. At one stage of the Rhodesian conflict, A Company 2-RAR held the current record, notching up the largest single kill of the war, eliminating 32 of the enemy after a bloody day-long battle on Rhodesia's south-eastern border with Mozambique - But Dennison's war was largely a blunt, no frills operation. There was no glamour in the killing ground. The glamour was at home. She was his pert attractive British wife, Helen. After the failure of this, his second marriage, and her subsequent return to her aristocratic home in Britain, there were other glamorous women. There were other wars, too. Egypt, Cyprus, Aden, Borneo, The Oman and Northern Ireland. Of these he spoke as little as he did of his women. But there were unguarded moments when Dennison hinted of dark deeds. Like the elusive IRA leader holed up in his Londonderry safe house, where the frustrated SAS could not legally reach him for months on end. Then came the mysterious, never explained shotgun blast in the dark of the night, snuffing out the IRA man on his own doorstep when he answered the coded knock known only to his mistress. There was an equally inexplicable incident when the newly arrived British Commissioner designate, Field Marshall Lord Carver, flew in to meet 2-RAR. Moving down the line of officers at 2-RAR HQ in Fort Victoria, the Field Marshall paused to exchange a few words with each. Introduced to Dennison, he paused briefly but then moved on wordlessly, ignoring the outstretched hand. Dennison never spoke about it and no one thought of asking Lord Carver. Mostly he kept his thoughts to himself and wrote of the war as he had seen it. He would labour into the night over his diary, recording events while memories still jangled fresh in his mind. There were reports of large fireforce actions and of 2-RAR officers and men receiving bravery awards. And there were tersely worded Combined Operations HQ's communiquÌ©s announcing deaths in action.

A VERY RARE PHOTO ALBUM to A  South African born pilot who flew for the RFC and was killed in aerial battle flying for 27 Squadron in a DH9 D469 over Dormans on the 16th July 1918. He was Lt H G S Phipson.He is buried at Dormans French National Cemetery  The photo album starts with the German East African Campaign,goes onto the German South West campaign then the South African troops on board ships going to the UK and France. It then has flying photos till the end.Almost all have handwritten descriptions.Some are faded with time.There is also a great portrait of him wearing his RFC uniform with pilot wings. A rare lot to a South African hero. 141 photos in black and white and 1 studio portrait   

No Parachute: A Fighter Pilot IUn World War 1 Author: Arthur Gould Lee   Publisher: The Adventurers Club, London     Edition: Second Edition, 1969 Condition: Good. Wear to cover, edges and corners, foxing of pages, other wise clean with tight binding Binding: Hardcover   Pages: 234. Various black & white photographs         Additional Information From the young airmen who took their frail flying machines high above the tenches of World War 1 and fought their foes in single combat there emerged a renowned company of brilliant aces – among them Ball, Bishop, McCudden, Collishaw, Mannock – whose legendary feats have echoed down down the   last century. But behind the elite there were, in the Royal Flying Corps, many hundreds of other airmen who flew their hazardous daily sorties nin outdated bplanes without achieving fame. “ No Parachute: A Fighter Pilot in World War 1”  is the story of one of these unknown flyers. Please note that we refer the right to close our auctions at any time Please refer to all images for condition, as this form an integral part of the description Payment to be processed within 2 days of auction closing Item will be posted on the first Saturday following receipt of payment. We are not responsible for damages to or loss of items once posted The item is second hand and sold as such with no warranty or guarantee implied, expressed or given. Regretfully, no buyers from outside the borders of South Africa