GREATNESS IN THE AIR

By Andress, Boyle
MISSION COMPLETED, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry (Methuen, 25s.).
T"thirst for action seems to have been horn in Sir Basil Embry, and the proof can be savoured on nearly every page of this enthralling book in the matter-of-fact tones of the man himself.
There is no knowing how many little epics have been played down in the interests of unanalytical, muted autobiography: I counted at least half a dozen, excluding Emory's own further recollections of his fantastic escape from Occupied Europe in 1940. Anthony Richardson turned that material to good account in " Wingless Victory," a successful book which introduced the Air Chief Marshal to the general public for the first time in his flamboyant, evergreen fearlessness.
But " Mission Completed " goes far beyond that, offering not just an episode but a lifetime of episodes which reflect without a shadow of overstatement something more of the real Embry, yet tantalisingly deny us any conclusive self-portrait except such as we may choose to reconstruct for ourselves according to whim, taste or knowledge from between the lines. It is as if the author, in his modesty. has for once suffered a really effective attack of nerves at the passing-out parade of his memories. A apity, surely ! For though Embry is undoubtedly a modest man, on this exceptional record of achievement he has precious little to be modest about.
CAUTION
PERHAPS the clue to this is in Jthe preface, where he states laconically: " I have written this hook because I was asked to do so by many of my friends who were anxious that I should record my experiences and reflections on 35 years' service with the Royal Ait Force" That note of caution, in such marked contrast to the fine mixture of overdaring and controlled impulsiveness which characterised him even as a young pilot in Iraq and India between the wars, suggests that we have not heard the last from Embry yet. I, for one, hope not. Catholics at any rate will be the poorer without some broader hint of the personal reasons and providential unwindings of circumstance which led to his conversion, of which there is no trace in this volume.
Before the days when he slipped in and out of enemy hands like a determined eel in his brief role as a reluctant prisoner-of-war, Embry was one of the rare survivors of a suicidal attack on the Maastricht bridges. Within weeks of his escape, he was planning (in the air as much as on the ground) his own contribution to the night-fighter battles against the Luftwaffe.
Versatility and exceptional powers of leadership were perhaps his greatest qualities; and when we recall that after emulating the feats of Cunningham in the darkened skies of the blitz, Embry, even as a highly placed Group Commander, went on to emulate the spectacular precision bombing raids of a Gibson or a Cheshire, those qualities may be judged in perspective.
FRUSTRATION
was the R.A.F. which, in a I sense, "made " Embry, for it is hard to imagine him spreading or being allowed to spread his wings so wide in the older and more staid services. At the end, it was the R.A.F. which failed to find an outlet for his matured talents. Embry's remarks about the frustration he endured at N.A.T.O. through the unrealistic hampering of N.A.T.O. defence planning by anonymous political blockheads are quite in character but tend to peter out inconclusively. Having been retired, presumably for being too outspoken, he has since started a new life in a new country. And nobody who takes the delightful trouble of reading his story will quarrel with the refreshing buoyancy of one of his final phrases: "I feel certain that I still have something to contribute to life, and I face the future with optimism, confidence and faith."