Frank Barnard – author of Blue Man Falling, To Play the Fox, Band of Eagles
If anyone wants to join in as a friend (or even an enemy), all contributions gratefully received. Launches for Heroes are in planning for end-March early April at various locations: London, Tunbridge Wells, Rye, Sevenoaks, Tenterden. Anyone interested in coming along just let me know and I’ll keep you informed about location/dates/times.
High And Over, the just-completed novel, has received an enthusiastic response from Headline Review: ‘ very good, wonderful raw energy, vivid characters, great flying scenes, great sense of period, a terrific piece of storytelling.’
So far so encouraging, but there are some structural issues to work out and also they’re not so mad about the title. I’m delaying the excerpt until these discussions are concluded. But overall it’s a relief to know there’s such enthusiasm in Euston Road. Meanwhile, I’ve had many e.mails from readers saying they think it’s a great idea. Slightly untypical, below, was one from Kevin Bolt who says he doesn’t need the preview:
Dear Frank,
Just finished reading your three books and was totally gripped, finishing them over a couple of weeks. When I finished To Play The Fox and couldn’t find a sequel, my stomach sank that maybe that was simply the end. So I hunted down this site and was relieved to find you’re keeping busy. Don’t leave us hanging on too long to find out what’s in store for our boys Kit and Ossie! No need to release a sneak chapter as far as I’m concerned, I’ll buy it the second it hits the shelves regardless,
Kevin Bolt
Dear Frank Barnard,
I’m writing to tell you how much I enjoyed To Play The Fox. I found it thrilling, informative and very moving. I can’t wait to read the other two books and the sequels I’m sure you have in line. Very pleased to see that my old friend Julian Fellowes thinks highly of you as well,
FB: David’s mention of Julian Fellowes, he of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, provided a clue to the fact that this is the David Weston of the Royal Shakespeare Company who understudied Ian McKellen’s Lear on the 2007 worldwide tour and has had a notable career in the theatre, in films and on television. His diary of the Lear tour is due for publication by Rickshaw Publishing in September. Covering McKellen is an excellently written, insightful and amusing account, a future classic of its kind; I’m planning to review it for Oldie soon.
Two things worth reporting.
Tony Calvey (see October) stunted his Stampe biplane over our house recently, concluding his display with an inverted pass. Unfortunately we did not have visitors at the time, which denied me the chance to remark nonchalantly: ‘ It’s one of my readers. Happens all the time.’ Soon I hope to take up Tony on his invitation to go for a flip. 
A little ‘hands-on’ at the controls of a biplane, even a high-powered one like the Stampe, will not only be fun but help with writing my sequences about flying over the Western Front in 1915 (see High And Over).
About the same time a friend of mine, Chris Hoggarth, who owns a Porsche wangled me a place in a driving day at Silverstone in February. This means I’ll have a chance to try out various models of the new 911 Carrera GTS.
As I’m renewing my competition licence for next season it’s a great opportunity to get my (somewhat rusty) hand in.
Mick ‘Taffy’ Payne writes:
Dear Mr Barnard,
I have just finished reading ‘To Play The Fox’. I don’t normally read fiction but my wife found this book on the shelf in a charity shop. This is no detriment to you, Frank. It makes no difference to what I consider a very good book indeed. Being an old Taff and very much ex-Services it took me a little while to discover the flow of this book, which I did as I went along. Now, how do I find ‘Band Of Eagles’? Does my wife search high and low or will I find it in Waterstone’s?
Anything that flies I read about),
Mick ‘Taffy’ Payne
9 September 2010
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the recent update on your blog. Who says writers have it easy?
Your new book sounds like a must-have for the Christmas list for 2011. Shame we have to wait a bit longer but I suppose that will make it all the more enjoyable once it’s there. Any sign of the characters of your first three novels?
Meint Dijkstra (long-term Cambridge resident but Dutch national, hence unusual name)
10 September 2010
Dear Meint,
Just caught your e.mail after a research trip to Brooklands. As to Kit and Ossie I’m afraid they don’t have a place in the current book much to their chagrin. I had them bound for Pantelleria and Sicily with the Eighth Army, Patton etc but the publisher went for this new concept first. Maybe next time. I quite miss them myself actually,
Frank
11 September 2010
Hi Frank,
On the one hand I can’t wait to read more about Kit and Ossie, on the other your new book sounds mighty interesting too. After three books I still feel there’s plenty of life left in the dynamic duo so, if you have the motivation left, keep them coming please. Plenty of historic moments and figures left to incorporate as well, although I enjoyed the fictional elements of the book just as much. On a slightly separate note, magic scenes at Duxford last weekend with sixteen Spitfires taking to the air at
the same time,
Meint
12 September 2010
Dear Meint,
Much appreciated. I was last at Duxford for the 70th anniversary of the Spitfire, in a marquee signing books alongside Alex Henshaw and other distinguished pilots. Most embarrassing because they’d done it and I’d only made it up. The result was I was almost totally ignored by the aviation buffs and sold just two copies of Blue Man Falling, both to women who felt sorry for me,
Frank
From: Ian Edwards to Frank Barnard
Hi Frank,
Thoroughly enjoyed your trilogy, well written, well researched. Annoyed me that a ruddy journalist could capture that spirit I remember so well!
I guess you had brilliant fighter pilot consultants but I noticed one glitch.
I flew Sunderlands but never heard them called Grannies; Flying Porcupine yes, Queen of the Skies yes. Also, in your Malta book, you mention the navigator going aft for a pee. Sorry but the heads were in the bows, stainless steel flush toilet and wash-basin I’ll have you know. Hangover from Empire flying boats I guess. As you came in the front door the heads were under the co-joe’s seat, then a stairway to the upper deck, then a hatchway to the wardroom. There was a flap in the top of the nose we used to stick a hand through and wipe the windscreen in flight, I kid you not!
Also I always thought the engines were dead quiet, especially downstairs where we chatted off-intercom until a blast from the hooter got one of us to get on i/c. By contrast Lancasters and Lincolns were the pits: you couldn’t hear yourself scream off-intercom. I complained after my first trip and one of the hairy-ass elders said: ‘ It’s when you DON’T hear those Merlins boy that you pray!’
By the way, are we going to see the return of Kit, Ossie and the gang in your fourth novel?
To: Ian Edwards from Frank Barnard
Fascinating stuff Ian, even the bit where you tell me I got it wrong about the location of the lavatory on the Sunderland! I thought I got it off one of those exploded technical drawings so beloved by schoolboys of my era, but there you go. As to the nickname ‘Granny’ I certainly came across it during my research but can’t quite recall where as much of the original delving is filed. Perhaps another old Sunderland hand can comment? I’m afraid the usual suspects won’t feature in the next book which is shaping into an ambitious family saga set in Kent, Sussex and France and includes pioneer aviation and combat flying during both world wars.
I’m often asked, as well, what happened Bebe Dubretskov, the devilish little Russian countess of Blue Man Falling and Band Of Eagles but who failed to appear in To Play The Fox. Some have suggested she deserves a novel of her own but frankly I’m scared of the woman…
Further down the track, depending on how long that track may turn out to be, the chaps may well invade Pantalleria, Sicily and Italy in that order but there are a number of other ideas queueing up including motor-racing between the wars and a thriller set in a background of 1950s provincial journalism. The trouble is, this unexpected career came somewhat late…
Mr Robinson has a loyal fan base that I’ve dubbed The Robinson Army and from its ranks over the past few years various champions have ridden out to compare my work unfavourably and even to suggest that they are derivative or worse. My protests that I have never read a Robinson novel for fear of being influenced by style or content are disregarded. So, I thought I would go to the man himself.
The following exchange of emails, or extracts at any rate, might be of interest:
From Frank Barnard to Derek Robinson, 9 March 2010
You’ve got a heck of a lot of loyal readers out there and quite a few of them accuse me of stealing your ideas. I’d like to reassure you that I’m absolutely not guilty. It’s quite okay for your fans to say my novels aren’t as good as yours but they are original work and only inspired by source material that inevitably we must share. I was given a copy of Piece Of Cake when I was about to embark on Blue Man Falling but never dared read it for fear of being influenced by prose or plot. In fact I almost junked the MS at an early stage because when I telephoned research at Hendon Aviation Museum and told them what I was planning the researcher said: ‘ Oh yes, Derek Robinson country.’ ‘ Oh my God,’ I said, ‘ you mean he’s covered the same subject?’ ‘ Don’t worry,’ he said,
‘ there’s always room for more.’ On such a small comment turned the somewhat belated career of a budding novelist aged 72. Meanwhile, I’ve borne in mind the fiercely critical comments of The Robinson Army and can only say I’m striving to do better…
Kind regards, Frank Barnard (5066609 LAC Barnard)
From Derek Robinson to Frank Barnard, 13 March 2010
First, let me congratulate you. To make it as a successful novelist at the age of 70-plus says much about your determination, and I reckon determination to be one of the key characteristics of a proven writer. There must be a hundred thousand people out there who said they were going to write a novel when they retired, and as a result there are probably fifty-thousand not-bad half-written novels gathering dust on a top shelf because the writer abandoned them when he discovered how damn difficult the job is.
You are right about my loyal readers and I am constantly surprised and impressed by their passion. I just wrote the books but now I seem to have become part of their lives. One unexpected bonus has been the emails I get from all over, especially the English-speaking countries (but even Finland, Switzerland and Greece). It’s very encouraging-but I can see that The Army’s attitude is a bit hard on you. Look at it this way: it’s just another occupational hazard. One day, some young journalist may be accused of stealing your ideas. Meanwhile I’d like to mention your email in my monthly column called Readers Write on my website. Maybe that will pacify some of the sharpshooters in Robinson’s Army,
Best wishes, Derek Robinson, (2533407 Corporal, acting, paid)
So, an interesting exchange and I certainly recommend Derek Robinson’s lively website, and of course his books. Meanwhile, here’s an anecdote that haunts me. Peter Cook met an acquaintance in Hampstead. ‘ What are you doing these days?’ he said.
‘ Writing a novel,’ said the acquaintance. ‘ Neither am I,’ said Cook. So easy to have gone that way…
Dear Frank,
I had just finished reading your novel which I had enjoyed immensely when I looked at the acknowledgments. To my pleasant surprise you mentioned the book “Basic Aerobatics” which I wrote some 25 years ago with Ron Campbell. I am so pleased that you found it of use in your research especially as it was written with the Cessna Aerobat aircraft in mind as opposed to the types which are mentioned in your book. Having read all three of your published novels I look forward with keen interest to the next.
On Monday I celebrated my 72nd birthday so I think we must be of similar age. I share your passion for Citroens having owned a succession since the late 1960’s starting with an Ami 6 Break, though the 2cv was never one of them. This due to the vociferous opposition by my son, then age 6, to being dropped off at his primary school in such a vehicle. We settled for a Dyane instead.
My son and I own a Steen Skybolt aerobatic biplane which we keep at Leicester. If you are ever this way and would like to have a trip do please let me know.
Kind regards,
Barry Tempest FRAeS
[click image to view full size]
A nightmare vision that haunts old World War 2 aces of both sides?
Bizarre image supplied by Barry Tempest. It appears to be real, not a DGI blue-screen fantasy…
Dear Frank ,
I have just finished reading your really excellent book about RAF activities during the fall of France, which in most respects seems to have been thoroughly well researched. However whilst this may already have been pointed out, on page 83, & page 239, you refer to the Germans using an MP44 sub machine gun. This would not have been possible in 1940 since
MP 38
Yours sincerely,
David Thurgood.
Hi Frank,
As I am interested in classic aeroplanes and cars my wife came home with Blue Man Falling just before Christmas which she thought I might like believing that I had not seen it. Having read ‘Fighter Pilot’ some years ago when it came to light in my Uncle’s cottage I have been fascinated by that period in history ever since and your book was one I just could not put down. To me it painted such a memorable and interesting picture of what life was like and I was hooked.
I have read various accounts of WW 2 battles by the pilots who flew at that time (Douglas Bader, Bob Stanford-Tuck, Laddie Lucas, Jean Offenberg, Alex Henshaw, etc) all tremendous in their own right but I found your novel based on true experiences really hit a chord with me. There seemed to be something of everything – the opportunity to almost be there as a fly on the wall, the atmosphere, flying skills, courage, comradeship, interplay of the two main characters, romance, intrigue, right over wrong, I could go on. Two extremely well chosen characters, the public schoolboy pitted against the American rebel (with a cause) great stuff. Also, the motoring references were interesting even down to the great Nuvolari in his D type Auto Union where he won at Donington in 1938.
After reading the Blue Man Falling I ordered myself, Band of Eagles and To Play the Fox. Just finished the former so about to start the other. After that, well your next book as you mentioned in your blog might bring back Kit and Ossie, I am sure you could weave them in somewhere until 1945, although if you are doing the first world war that might be bit tricky! Who has got the movie rights? Anyway a thoroughly enjoyable read, many thanks
Kind regards
John Whitsed
Hi Frank,
Thanks very much for these books. I have only just discovered them in the local library – have read 2 and now on the last one. Unfortunately not quite in order.
I found “To play The Fox” first and found it one of those that are difficult to put down, hence getting the other 2.
I would describe the narrative as gripping and realistic, without being over the top as I have found with some other books.
I have always had an interest in aircraft from the Second World War and have had the experience of seeing a Spitfire a local airshow – fantastic. Modern aircraft may be a lot faster but the Spitfire and Hurricane I view as thoroughbreds – the epitomy of the piston engine aircraft. Last year I went down to “Warbirds Over Wanaka” and had an incredible time.
Thanks once again for tremendous books.
Kind Regards
Graeme Elliott
Dear Mr Barnard,
I’ve just finished reading “Band of Eagles” and found it equally absorbing as “Blue Man Falling”. Its a real tribute to Malta’s ordeal at the hands of the Axis’ air forces. You write so knowledgeably about the RAF and the sometimes strained, relationship between groundcrew and aircrew . Both stories are told as a serviceman would tell them. Its interesting to read a story set in the Battle of France as this period seems to have been overlooked by most authors.
I have served in the RAF for nearly 32 years (Flight Sergeant, Logistics “Mover”), and have witnessed the aircrew/groundcrew interaction on many occasions whilst deploying Tornado squadrons around the world.
A slight tangent here, but I was privileged enough to attend the 65th anniversary of the D Day landings last June and met several ex-RAF veterans of that immense operation, including one fighter controller who landed on Utah Beach with the US Marines! Its a shame that the air force rarely gets a mention in stories of that period, although I appreciate it was primarily a land/sea affair. The Typhoon ground attack squadrons lost many aircrew, based at approximately twenty temporary Forward Operating Bases in Normandy, in the first couple of months after D Day and their story is rarely told.
I am very much looking forward to reading your next novel and wish you all the best for the future.
Best regards,
Paul Amies
It’s good to hear from a satisfied reader and always something of a surprise when it’s from someone on the other side of the world, small though the world is these days.
A few days ago an e.mail came through from an ex-Australian Army Blackhawk pilot named Richard (no surname as he was once involved with the SAS) saying he’d enjoyed Blue Man Falling and Band Of Eagles. ‘I can certainly relate to the characters,’ he told me, ‘especially Ossie Wolf who is oh-so-familiar. I came across several types like him over the years, mostly Yank fighter jocks who were seven-feet tall and bulletproof, and as soon as they got into combat went to pieces.’ I think Ossie would take issue with that, in his inimitable way, so perhaps it’s just as well he’s a fictional character.
Anyway, Richard went on to say that his interest in World War Two fighters was in the blood because his uncle was the Kiwi ace Al Deere, a flight commander with 54 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, who retired from the service as an Air Commodore in 1967. Richard also reported a visit to the set of the new Dambusters film on location in Masterton NZ, ‘where they’ve built a full-size replica of a Lancaster, amazing really, and I met the last surviving Kiwi who took part in the Raid as a pilot. Now there’s a real hero.’
It’s a relief to hear that history isn’t being re-written to claim the Raid was made by B17 Flying Fortresses piloted by seven-foot tall, bullet-proof Yank fighter jocks…
