Derek Robinson is a long time favourite of mine and one of my immediate choices when asked for book recommendations. Goshawk Squadron is a short, raw, 1971 novel about a Royal Flying Corps squadron flying in France towards the end of World War One. This was my second read, having originally read it several years ago.Robinson is not very well known and originally stumbling on his novel was a pleasant accident during a trawl through my dreadfully problematic recommendations on Amazon. It was my introduction to Robinson and is a very good place to start.The novel is posed as a deliberate and pointed rebuttal of the idolised version of the chivalrous, Biggles-esque air war so often used as a counterpoint to the squalor of the trenches. It savagely deconstructs this idea and shows the fight in the skies of France as equally as wasteful and squalid as the fight in the mud below, making an ultimately deeper point on the pointless nature of the war as a whole.It is worth pointing out that using Biggles as a shorthand for a glamorised depiction of World War One is a slight disservice to the original books. Although Bigglesworth ends up as a sort of Immortal Tory fighting for British imperialism across the globe and, memorably, taking an axe to a giant crab - the World War One novels are more realistic and not afraid to show the violent consequences of war, even if it is dressed up in archaisms and a Boys Own Adventure sheen. In Learns to Fly, for example, the very first scene is a 16 year old Biggles arriving at an aerodrome and seeing a dead observer being pulled from a shot-up biplane.What you actually have, with Robinson, is an extrapolation of that aspect of Biggles re-cast with an overwhelming anti-war sentiment and an adult approach to relationships, sex, death and language (there is some really excellent swearing on show here).I would say that the novel has two major missteps - the very opening scene seems off, like the result of too many drafts, too honed. It's not quite right in terms of the natural rhythm of the dialogue or the way the characters interact. This is literally the first few pages and could be a stumbling block to any newcomer. Power through it.Secondly the character of Gabriel, although delivering some powerful moments in the final chapters, is ultimately cartoonish and not befitting a novel which is otherwise very sophisticated in terms of characterisation.Robinson has written better novels than this but he has never written any with such a razor sharp focus. It is a narratively and structurally aggressive novel with a well-realised protagonist in the form of Stanley Woolley, the leader of the squadron.Woolley, only 23 and actually somewhat older than most pilots in his care, is the central focus of this novel and, although I have read criticisms that the other characters are thinly drawn, I think this is by design. The pilots are interchangeable and, sadly, disposable. That is the nature of the war they are fighting. Even so, Robinson makes each death, even of a newly introduced replacement, mean something. The fact we don't get to know them, the way in which they are so quickly lost, is exactly the point. Any other conclusion is a misreading of the novel. Goshawk Squadron is often described as blackly comic but I think this, again, is a slight and off-putting misrepresentation. The novel is very funny in parts and the staging of certain off-duty events like parties is farcical, however, Robinson could not be more serious when dealing with death or violence or the psychological toll of constant air combat. The pilots do use dark, gallows humour - an understandable coping mechanism for the most part but also an indication of how flawed (and simply how young) they are in some cases - but the book is not an uneasy or callous blend of jokes and slaughter.It is imbued with a sense of dread and urgency. Certain sequences, particularly repeated attacks on some German observation balloons towards the end of the novel, are harrowing. Any moments of levity are inevitably dashed with tragedy - which seems an accurate portrayal of warfare to me - but still a relief from the horror.It seems absurd that this group of young men are running largely on empty, flying numerous sorties every day and drinking near constantly. When I first read the novel, I thought it was a deliberate heightening of the circumstance but having now read a select amount of non-fiction and also the laughably mis-titled "Winged Victory" by VM Yeates (which is actually an only slightly fictionalised autobiography), Robinson has been proved accurate in every detail.My review may make it sound like this is hard work but it really isn't. Robinson writes lightly, there is a very readable journalistic naturalism to the novel and the flying sections are brilliantly conveyed with just enough technical language to bring sequences to life in sparse, riveting prose.
Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1971. It was criticised by some former RFC pilots who felt it denigrated the memories of those who fought the air war. Others praised it for showing the true nature of a war that was brutal mass slaughter and it was no different in the air to other services. Pilots were flying planes made of principally of wood, canvas and wire, and the engines were treated with castor oil to keep them lubricated, the fumes of which acted as a laxative that was countered by alcohol. Pilots often flew several missions a day traversing two sets of trenches where they were liable to be shot at from both sides, plus sustained anti-air barrages, to face superior planes. Tensions and fears were high amongst pilots, most of whom had only recently finished school, and they often let off steam in local villages. Robinson captures the true dark nature of war; it’s brutal realities. The tale is relatively straightforward, following the men’s exploits and relationships over a few months. The action sequences are excellent and the opening couple of chapters are amongst the best I’ve read in a while; the writing really alive on the page, laced with dark humour. It then settles down, becoming a little more mundane. Whilst some of the men are well drawn and distinctive, others are pretty indistinguishable and under-realised. And in Woolley he pushes the callous leader, who really believes he is doing the right thing by his men by trying to harden them to be ruthless, to its limits. Overall, an engaging, well written novel that shows war for what it really is.
What do You think about Goshawk Squadron (2005)?
The biting humor and depiction of war is sharp as a razor. Wooley's character is outstanding, and every page with him on it is riveting. I found the parts about the soldiers carousing without him to be less enjoyable, because they mostly seemed to be episodes that didn't really further the plot. The number of minor characters, and the lack of differentiation between them for the early part of the book made these characters flat and pale. The dogfights are outstanding in terms of detail and putting the reader into the action, but these do get repetitive. Overall though, it's an exciting, funny read, with constantly increasing dramatic velocity and magnitude.
—Jcorbman
Every second you are in the air,' Woolley said, 'someone is trying to kill you. If he does it properly you will never know. You must look for him, because he's always there.' He stared at them, and his black, pouchy eyes were full of anger at their stupid humanitarianism. 'God damn it,' he said. 'you're murderers 'turned loose against murderers! Some will come at you head-on with an axe. But the ones that think, the good ones, the professionals, they hide behind a tree and stick you through the ribs from behind. They are up there now. They go up every day and murder nice chaps like you.' Woolley made nice chaps sound like a genetic defect."they'll all be dead in a year.""That's an absurd way to think.""They'll all be dead in six months, then.""I don't see how you can possibly lead the squadron if that's what you really believe.""I don't. I personally believe there won't be one of them alive by the end of April.""Listen, I'll make you a bargain. I'll never tell the truth, if you'll never tell lies. [...] It'll show us the best side of each other."
—Jur
This is right up there with Alexander Baron's From the City, from the Plough. as maybe the best war novel i've read. Both these novels take a mighty dump on that heroic image of the gallant young men fighting for king and country, or in this case the 'knights of the sky', and in doing so they succeed in making the everyday horror of that moment in history real again. These were young, naive men subjected to just horrific realities, and Robinson brilliantly conveys the insanity of that situation with the kind of humour it deserves. Goshawk succeeds both as a black comedy (kinda like a British Catch-22, though i know that's a lazy comparison), a mad spiky condemnation of the glorification of war, an exciting boy's adventure yarn with some really visceral flying action, and a brutal eulogy for those poor bastards and all that needless loss of young life.
—Bert
