H.E. Bates Companion

A "Flying Officer X" tale of a twenty-year-old pilot, McAlister, who is shot down, loses his arm, and then flies solo again. The character of McAlister is based on the charismatic Squadron Leader of the No. 1 Squadron Fighter Command at RAF Tangmere, James MacLachlan (DSO, DFC and two bars). ‘Mac’ lost his left arm in an encounter over Malta but, with the aid of an artificial limb, was back flying in just over two weeks. MacLachlan also appears as Anderson in "There’s Something in the Air." In the News Chronicle (April 22, 1942), Argosy (July 1942), There's Something In The Air (1943), How Sleep The Brave and Other Stories (1943), Something In The Air (1944), The Stories of Flying Officer 'X' (1952).