Angels Twenty: A Young American Flier a Long Way from Home

by Edwards Park

Book Overview

Here, the columnist Edwards Park presents a memoir of his life as a World War II fighter pilot stationed in New Guinea. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0075821257
• ISBN13: 9780075821250
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
• Length: 195 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Engaging, thoughtful narrative from an Anti-Hero perspective

Back in 1977, Edwards Park published the sparkling "Nanette", a fictionalized account of his days as a neophyte P-39 pilot in New Guinea. "Angels Twenty" could almost be considered the non-fiction companion volume. There is no shortage of action-packed fighter combat oral histories on today's shelves, and readers interested in combat anecdotes of the P-39 and P-47 may be appeased by this book, if not sated. Yet Mr. Parks offers something more, well, soulful -and wrly humorous. The author is a gifted story-teller, and the perspective he offers may be one unfamiliar to the public: The anti-hero fighter pilot. The author's adventurous journey from uncertain tyro to capable veteran is refreshing and memorable (an underlying theme seems to reflect a great truth: In the flying business, there is little that is more satisfying than earning the respect of your peers). I was completely absorbed by the mirthy and genuine "Angels Twenty". I was left feeling as though I'd just finished hearing Mr Parks recount his tale fireside. I was also reminded of the closing words to the introduction to "Nanette": "That was the way we were". Mr. Parks' work is eminently enjoyable, and could perhaps offer insight to my largely untried generation.