From the inside cover:
'Bugs' Bendell joined the Royal Air Force in 1953 just as the service was converting to jets. His career spanned 34 years and in that time he became on of the best fighter pilots of his generation.
He racked up more than four thousand hours in aircraft as varied as the Tiger Moth, the Harvard, the T33, the Vampire, the Hunter and the Mach-2 capable Lightning, Republic's F105 and the Phantom F4. His distinguished flying career encompassed the foremost interceptors and ground attack aircraft of the day. It was the time of massive technological advance; from subsonic, cannon armed fighters to supersonic, multirole jets loaded with missiles, computers and radar. NEVER IN ANGER is full of the excitement and risks of flying some of the world's most famous fast jets..
Bendell's career took him to Canada, Germany, North Africa, Cyprus and, in a remarkable testament to his skill as a pilot, to the USA where he instructed American pilots on the F105.
It was while serving on detachment with a Phantom squadron in Norway in 1970, that he began to experience loss of his sense of touch and bouts of exhaustion. Some eight years later after presenting more serious symptoms including double vision, partial paralysis and lack of co-ordination, he was eventually diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. He was forced to retire in 1987.
Like thousands of other men who served in Britain's armed forces over these years, Bendell's story is one of quiet endeavour and extraordinary achievement. But it is also a story of personal courage in the face of a debilitating disease.
'Bugs' Bendell joined the Royal Air Force in 1953 just as the service was converting to jets. His career spanned 34 years and in that time he became on of the best fighter pilots of his generation.
He racked up more than four thousand hours in aircraft as varied as the Tiger Moth, the Harvard, the T33, the Vampire, the Hunter and the Mach-2 capable Lightning, Republic's F105 and the Phantom F4. His distinguished flying career encompassed the foremost interceptors and ground attack aircraft of the day. It was the time of massive technological advance; from subsonic, cannon armed fighters to supersonic, multirole jets loaded with missiles, computers and radar. NEVER IN ANGER is full of the excitement and risks of flying some of the world's most famous fast jets..
Bendell's career took him to Canada, Germany, North Africa, Cyprus and, in a remarkable testament to his skill as a pilot, to the USA where he instructed American pilots on the F105.
It was while serving on detachment with a Phantom squadron in Norway in 1970, that he began to experience loss of his sense of touch and bouts of exhaustion. Some eight years later after presenting more serious symptoms including double vision, partial paralysis and lack of co-ordination, he was eventually diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. He was forced to retire in 1987.
Like thousands of other men who served in Britain's armed forces over these years, Bendell's story is one of quiet endeavour and extraordinary achievement. But it is also a story of personal courage in the face of a debilitating disease.
