ound this book on my dad’s old Kindle, good for me since I had jury duty in a few day’s time and this would be more compact than a 1980’s paperback (most would fit in your back pocket). So it worked out well for me.

So, Hornet Squadron is the usual Derek Robinson fare; a squadron made up of arch-types and fuckups that is muddling through the worst of it – in this case, World War One. It’s an interesting link-up book, since Hornet Squadron was the name of the squadron in Piece of Cake, and Woolley, the horrific squadron CO in Goshawk Squadron, is part of this group – an earlier version of his caustic self, pre-death, you might say.

Since this is earlier in the war (than Wolley’s SE5a’s) the squadron is equipped with Sopwith Pups, great planes – for their time – but falling behind against the Albatross DIIIs and DVs and occasional Pfalzs. There is also a mention of Fokkers, but I’m not too sure what these would be – monoplanes? A bit too late. Triplanes? A bit too early. Yes, there were Fokker biplanes in that time but they were a lessor threat and hardly showed up in most contemporary accounts. A bit baffling.

Overall, it was a fun read (and that’s while sitting for hours in a jury holding area, not getting picked, not once). Typical Derek Robinson stuff – great air sequences, squalid boys-to-men adventures, good dialog. I was a bit confused at one point – Woolley breaks both ankles in a crash. I thought maybe he was done. But then – surprise – he shows back in the book. And Kindles, at least the early ones like this cast off I had, are hard to search. So yes, I found out he had returned but no mention was made of that fact – other than “Woolley said”. Caught me by surprise.

One thing – the squadron gets re-equipped with Bristol Fighters which the RFC used in a terrible way and got slaughtered on their debut battle. Wondered, knowing that fact, if that is how this was going to play. It was. I had to learn a lot of new character names.

So, overall, a fair book, but not (in my opinion) better than Piece or Goshawk. But that’s my opinion. If you find this for cheap (such as on your late father’s kindle) give it a look.

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