The Story Of An Australian Dambuster
The Depression and then the Second World War changed Charlie Williams' life. At 31 he joined the RAAF, trained as a wireless/air gunner and was sent to the UK, where he served with the RAF in Bomber Command. In May 1943 he was killed when his low-flying Lancaster bomber hit a high-voltage cable on the daring Dambusters Raid.
This book tells the story of this personable yet unassuming young flier, from his north Queensland childhood through his education, enlistment in the RAAF, his training in Australia and England, his operational flights over German-occupied Europe, up until his untimely death.
It also puts Charlie Williams' sadly brief life in the broader context of the twentieth-century history, through early European settlement of north Queensland, the English education system in Australia, the genesis and details of the Empire Air Training Scheme, the day-to-day and operational details of life for those in Bomber Command, and the conduct and course of the war both in Europe and the Pacific.
Above all, this is an account of the life and times of a young Australian for whom Britain was both a distant land, half a world away, and the embodiment of a living heritage.
