RAF Liberators Over Burma: Flying with 159 Squadron

British RAF wireless operator/air gunner Bill `Enoch Kirkness of Horsforth, Yorkshire, flew thirty-two B-24 Liberator bomber sorties, twenty-eight of which were against Japanese targets in Burma. He was credited with downing the night fighter that killed a crewmate and severely damaged his Liberator in April 1944; his aircrafts crash-landing abruptly ended his first tour of operations. He was awarded a prestigious Distinguished Flying Medal for his heroism. Bills memoir of Wellington ferry flights, Liberator training, and operations with 159 Squadron typifies aspects of the human spiritincluding fear and anxiety, focused determination, numbing boredom, brotherly camaraderie, heart-wrenching anguish, and comic reliefwhich any young man immersed within such a conflict would have likely experienced. Bill wore his heart, not just his sergeants stripes, on his sleeve. Bills story is a compelling, dignified account of an average mans war from 1942 to 1944 in the UK, the Mediterranean, Africa, and onward through his first operational tour based in India. Matt Poole, an expert on 159 Squadron and RAF Liberator activities against the Japanese, seamlessly enhances Bills narrative with added historical detail. Although Bill passed away in 1994, Matt vowed to help bring the memoir to a wider audience. See more