Practically obsolete even before the war, the robust, inelegant 'Stringbags' — the Fleet Air Arm's Swordfish — unbelievably were still flying against the enemy at the end of it. Their cruising speed was 90 knots, yet they could outmanoeuvre almost every other aircraft, and the deadly aerial torpedo they carried could sink a 10,000-ton ship in minutes — and often did. Charles Lamb fought in the thick of the action; he was the last to land on Courageous before she was sunk in September 1939; he made 29 sorties over northern Europe, mine-laying, U-boat hunting and dive-bombing German troops; he attacked E-boats throughout the nine days of Dunkirk; in 1940 he was one of the two flare-droppers (later called pathfinders by the R.A.F.) who led the way to the Battle of Taranto, the most famous Fleet Air Arm action of all, when twenty Swordfish virtually destroyed the Italian Fleet, reversing the situation in the Mediterranean and cheering the entire free world with the first good news of the war. Shot down by some of the 300 Stukas sent by Hitler to sink Illustrious, Lamb flew again with his re-formed squadron; into the desert, to Greece, and from a secret, idyllic base in the Albanian mountains, leaving sunk enemy ships everywhere. Then, in Malta, with his new squadron, he successfully carried out orders to 'sink Rommel's shipping'. And, in his spare time, he made cloak-and-dagger runs ferrying British agents to and from Tunisia. The last trip landed him nose down in a lake of mud, and captivity in the unpleasant hands of the Vichy-French.

Charles Lamb was voted 'Adjutant' by all ranks; he restored discipline, settled defaulters in the boxing ring, raised morale by intimidating the enraged guards and, despite torture and semi-starvation, helped countless fellow-prisoners to survive until freedom came with the North African landings fourteen months later. After learning to eat again. Lamb joined the Pacific war in Implacable, and it was there, immediately before an attack on the Japanese, that an aircraft propeller smashed his leg and brought his wartime flying to an end. The small band of pilots, observers and airgunners who flew in the antiquated 'Stringbags' changed the whole course of the war; the magnificent saga of their fighting spirit is here given its full due by one of the indomitable men who were in the forefront of the battle — one who could not help laughing during even his most alarming exploits. Fantastic incident and casual heroism run throughout this splendid book, which also portrays the character of a man of tremendous power and purpose.

Son of a Congregational minister, Charles Lamb was born in 1914 and educated in Devon and at Caterham, Surrey. At the age of sixteen he went to sea as an apprentice with the Clan Line, later serving as a Midshipman R.N.R. in the gunroom of H.M.S. Rodney. In 1935 he joined the R.A.F. to learn to fly. In 1938 he transferred to the Fleet Air Arm with a Short Service Commission in the Royal Navy, and flew throughout the war. He was given a permanent commission in 1945. He boxed for both the R.A.F. and the R.N., later becoming Chairman of the R.N. Boxing Association's Executive Committee and an international referee. After the war he was the Navy's commentator at numerous air displays and Royal Tournaments, and was BBC commentator for the Daily Express Air Race in 1951.

As well as writing the Official History of the Swordfish, Charles Lamb has made many contributions to naval periodicals. One article, in The Navy, led to the formation of The White Ensign Association, founded by the City of London in 1958 and now in H.M.S. Belfast, to give financial advice to officers and men throughout their naval careers and during retirement, and to help them with their search for civilian employment.

Charles Lamb is married, with two sons, and lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire.