The book that started this whole project... Fly Boy by Eric Walters

My interest in World War II goes back many years, inspired by stories written by my Great Uncle Doug Hicks published online through the Ex-Air Gunners Association.  But aside from a couple of stories, I knew little else about Doug’s experiences in the war aside from his role as a Lancaster rear air gunner.

After a mom-son road trip which included a stop at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta, I picked up a copy of  Fly Boy by author Eric Walters for my son.

From the author:  Robbie's father is a Spitfire pilot who was shot down during World War II and is now a POW. At only seventeen, Robbie lies about his identity to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force under the guise of going to a boarding school so that his mother doesn't find out...  Robbie is soon on his way to England, where he completes his training on missions bombing German targets in enemy territory. It is during one of these missions that his Lancaster is fired upon and the pilot and many of the crew are shot. It's up to Robbie and his limited piloting experience to save the crew...and himself.

Well, after reading that, my son began flooding me with questions about his Great, Great Uncle Doug’s experiences in the war.  After replying "I don’t know” too many times, I set out to find out more.  What started out as a modest bit of research to learn more about Doug’s missions and time in a POW camp, turned into a huge research mission, a blog and a book.