The chilling reality of a young RAF fighter pilot during World War II


Title: War

Author: Roald Dahl

Publisher: Penguin Books, London

Year published: 2017

336 pages

Roald Dahl’s War is a powerful, largely autobiographical collection that chronicles his intense and often harrowing experiences serving as a fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force during the early years of World War II. 

The narrative begins shortly before the outbreak of conflict, depicting Dahl's comfortable but unchallenging life working for the Shell Oil Company in Tanganyika, East Africa. 

This period of relative colonial calm is abruptly shattered by the declaration of war, prompting his swift journey to Nairobi to enlist in the RAF. 

His initial flight training is described with a keen eye for detail, capturing the sudden, life-altering transition from civilian life to the rigors and dangers of military aviation, establishing the fundamental shift in his reality.

The core of the book details his deployment to the Middle East theater. One of the most critical episodes is a near-fatal crash-landing in the vast Libyan desert. 

Ordered to fly his Gloster Gladiator to a forward base, he receives incorrect coordinates and runs out of fuel, resulting in a brutal, uncontrolled descent that fractures his skull, smashes his nose, and leaves him temporarily blinded. 

His agonizing rescue by a British patrol and the long, slow, painful recovery in an Alexandria hospital vividly illustrate the immediate, raw violence and physical toll exacted by the conflict. 

The account of his recuperation captures his fierce determination to return to duty despite the severity of his injuries.

Against medical advice, Dahl manages to rejoin the fighting, flying with 80 Squadron during the desperate Battle of Greece in the spring of 1941. 

This section of the collection is an adrenaline-fueled portrayal of aerial warfare. Flying the outdated Gloster Gladiator biplanes, the small contingent of British pilots finds themselves massively outnumbered by the technologically superior German Luftwaffe. 

Dahl writes with gripping immediacy about the short, intense dogfights, the immense courage of his fellow pilots, and the constant, chilling reality of a life expectancy measured in weeks. 

He recounts the moment of his first successful air combat kill, a temporary triumph overshadowed by the swift and brutal attrition of his squadron mates and the overwhelming, inexorable German advance.

As the Allied forces are overpowered, the book tracks the chaotic retreat first from Greece and then from Crete, a demoralizing sequence of events that highlights the strategic failures and human costs of the campaign. 

The cumulative stress of combat, compounded by lingering, debilitating headaches resulting from his earlier crash, eventually leads to Dahl being declared medically unfit for frontline flying duties. 

His service then takes an unexpected pivot, removing him from the cockpit to the diplomatic stage. He is transferred to Washington D.C. as an Assistant Air Attaché. 

This later part of the book shifts in tone, offering an insider’s view of the complex social and political maneuvers of wartime Washington. 

Here, his keen observational skills are applied to the world of intelligence and diplomacy, detailing his foray into covert work and his interactions with powerful and influential figures, revealing a different, quieter but equally consequential battle being fought behind the lines. 

Throughout the work, Dahl’s distinct, witty, and unsentimental voice provides a deeply personal and unforgettable testimony to the courage, terror, and absurdity he experienced as a young man thrust into the maelstrom of world war.

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