War Diary of an Airman

Vivian Ridler, destined to become a distinguished Printer to the University at Oxford (1958-78), as a young man spent the war serving in the RAF: first in Orkney, then at the height of the conflict in Nigeria, before a period postwar as an intelligence officer in Germany. But why Nigeria, seemingly so far from the battle fronts? It transpires, as this previously unpublished 1943 war diary reveals, that his two Nigerian locations (Ijeja, near Lagos, and Kano) formed key links in the so-called Takoradi Route. This remarkable network of airbases, running from Takoradi in what is now Ghana all the way across Africa and up to Cairo, conveyed from 1940 to 1943 a crucial 5,360 aircraft to British forces in North Africa. Without them the Allies would have lost the Desert War, and quite possibly World War II itself. The Desert War was fought for supremacy in the Middle East, source of vital oil supplies. For nearly two years Rommel with his Afrikakorps consistently outwitted his opponents, until defeat came in November 1942 at the battle of El Alamein - where Allied success depended hugely on Takoradi-supplied air superiority. Vivian Ridler's war diary conveys vividly the challenges of working in the tropical heat of West Africa. As an RAF wireless operator, he guides hundreds of planes in and out of Ijeja and Kano airfields. Inexperienced pilots often crash or are blinded by intense sandstorms. Debilitating malaria dogs the ground staff. The fog of war leads to constantly changing diktats from on high.Meanwhile Vivian's closest friend David Bland - navigator in a Pathfinder bomber - is shot down over Berlin and incarcerated in Stalag Luft III. An appendix tells his story. An extensive Epilogue also publishes extracts from the diary of the children's novelist Violet Bradby, chronicling the war's closing stages from the Home Front as Vivian, her son-in-law, arrives back just before D-Day.Richly illustrated with photographs, propaganda posters and informative maps, War Diary of an Airman gives a fresh perspective on a world-shattering conflict.