Book Review: ‘Fighters in the Blood: The Story of a Spitfire Pilot – and the Son Who Followed in his Footsteps’

Abstract

For those who have had the privilege of poring over the exquisite entries in 8 Squadron’s 1960s photograph albums and wondered when, why and where the shock-haired Fg Off Robertson had acquired his now long-established given name of ‘Black’, the answer is revealed in his book, Fighters in the Blood. Air Marshal Robertson rose to the highest ranks of the Royal Air Force during a period that encompassed Britain’s withdrawal from Empire, the sharp-end of the Cold War in Germany and the ‘Peace Dividend’ that followed. As a pilot, tactical commander and Whitehall Warrior, Black Robertson was at the heart of an Air Force tuned for war’s ultimate expression which mercifully never materialised. Deterrence succeeded, which meant that for Royal Air Force fighter pilots of Robertson’s