Bruce Barrymore Halpenny
Bruce Barrymore Halpenny was an English military historian and writer, specializing in airfields and aircraft, as well as ghost stories and mysteries. He was also a broadcaster and games inventor.
Early life
Halpenny's father was a Canadian First World War soldier who fought at Vimy Ridge, and his mother was a British First World War munitions worker from Lincolnshire. Bruce himself is from Lincolnshire, England.Military career
Halpenny served in the Royal Air Force Police in specialist units, often overseas. After being wounded, he moved across to the RAF Police on Special Security Duties, and was part of a special RAF military police unit in the Nuclear Division, responsible for protecting the nuclear weapons used by the V bombers in times of war.Literary career
In the 1950s, whilst in the Royal Air Force, he was wounded and had to undergo several operations to save his hand and arm. In rehabilitation, he started writing and research as a hobby, before turning it into his profession in later years after leaving the forces.Early years
In the early period of his writing career, Halpenny started out by writing love stories and cowboy stories for the American market under pen names. Because of his specialist knowledge of the Royal Air Force, he began to focus on military history, especially that of the RAF in the Second World War, often with deep insights, facts, and personal human interest stories. At one time, he was writing articles for up to 14 military journals around the world, when he was approached by the publishers Patrick Stephens to write the Airfield books due to his vast knowledge and authority.Military history
When he researched the British RAF airfield histories, particularly those of London, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Halpenny found that public records held very little, if any, information so he had to do all the research himself going back to the very beginning. This helped to unearth a rich source of information, which others have since used, and made Halpenny an undisputed RAF expert. For his research on the airfields, Halpenny interviewed 1,400 people, researched records and letters, and traveled thousands of miles. Halpenny visited each and every airfield he wrote about to ensure accuracy.His books quickly became essential reference books for all aviation historians. Virtually all of the information was new, in the sense that it had not appeared in the dozens of books which had been written about the RAF, new too were the many photographs that were just a selection of the thousands he collected and commissioned. In the opening chapters of his book Action Stations 2 Wartime Military Airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, there were a selection of control tower photos – this was the first time this had been done in any book.
He also wrote various military themed books from such as English Electrical/BAC Lightning to Wartime Poems. He specialized in the British jets, English Electric Lightning, English Electric Canberra and Avro Vulcan.
English Electric/BAC Lightning
The English Electric/BAC Lightning is an aviation book by British military historian and author Bruce Barrymore Halpenny about the English Electric Lightning. It was published by Osprey Publishing as part of their Air Combat series. It was a best seller in Grimsby, the home town of the Lightning.The author, known for his books on airfields and aircraft, spent nine months researching the Lightnings with the pilots of 5 and 11 Squadrons and Binbrook's own Lightning Training Flight. To gather information for the book, the author talked to men like, Sqdn Ldr Dave Carden and fellow pilots and ground staff.
The book itself gives an insight into the workings of RAF Binbrook, its Lightnings, and the men that fly and maintain them. Sqdn Ldr Dave Carden takes the reader on a typically "hair-raising mission", while another section is devoted to a pilot's experiences when his aircraft caught fire and crashed into the sea off Flamborough Head in 1981. It also deals with the Quick Reaction Alert shed, where two fully armed Lightnings and their pilots were on constant standby to intercept Russian aircraft which used to sometimes fly to within 100 miles of Spurn Point.
To Shatter the Sky
To Shatter the Sky, subtitled Bomber Airfield at War, is a book and also a BBC television programme of the same name by the military historian, author and screenwriter Bruce Barrymore Halpenny.The author was already working on the book when he was approached by the BBC to produce a related theme for a history programme, hence the book and programme sharing the same name. The programme was aired on BBC1 in late 1983 and the book launched in early 1984. The book tells of the day-to-day activities at bomber stations between 1939 and 1945, where the author had meticulously researched his material. It draws extensively on reminiscences from surviving crew members who served at stations such as Waddington, Scampton, Skellingthorpe, Binbrook, Fiskerton, Bardney, Woodhall Spa, and many others.
The book also recalls the stories of those that did not survive or were shot down over enemy territory. A routine flight from RAF Skellingthorpe that turned into a nightmare, and memories of raids on Nuremberg, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, where airmen watched their comrades shot out of the sky by a barrage of deadly enemy flak, all help to paint a picture of what it was like to be an airman based in wartime England.
The book was the basis for a BBC television programme with the same title, which plots the history and present conditions of seven RAF and USAF airfields in the East Midlands. Halpenny scripted the programme and merged wartime film footage with up-to-date shots. The film cameraman was Dick Kursa, the film editor was John Rosser, and the producer was Mike Derby. First shown on BBC1 at 10.15pm on 11 February 1983.
Little Nellie 007
Little Nellie 007 is a 1991 book by Bruce Barrymore Halpenny about the James Bond autogyro, Little Nellie, as featured in the film You Only Live Twice, and her creator, Wing Commander Retd. Ken Wallis.The book, known to James Bond fans, and also used as a reference book for other Bond books, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, as well as providing all the location shoots for the film, and also a brief history of aviation legend Ken Wallis. Halpenny and Wallis were friends and both ex-Royal Air Force.
The book briefly delves into Ken Wallis's early family connections with aviation, then onto his own World War II exploits, first as an operational pilot in the Army Co-operation Command flying Lysanders and then as an operational captain of Wellington bombers. Finally, the reader is brought to Wallis’s post-war activities and early stunt filming in Brazil, and Italy.
The book then gives the behind the scenes information about Little Nellie, a Wallis WA-116 Agile, and the filming.
;Bibliography
- James Bond 007: Aproximación a una saga by Luis Saavedra Castaño — Published by Saimel Ediciones, 2000. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized February 26, 2008
Bomber Aircrew of World War II
The book has first hand accounts by veteran RAF aircrew and their support staff, giving an insight into life in RAF Bomber Command as well as the creation and development of the bomber airfield for a new form of war. There is also a full account of all of Bomber Command's Victoria Cross awards. Reviewers have noted that the book also features previously unpublished photographs.
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra subtitled The History and Development of a Classic Jet is a book by British military historian and author Bruce Barrymore Halpenny about the English Electric Canberra. Illustrated throughout, the book includes interviews with Wing Commander K H Wallis, the man Halpenny attributes as having "saved the Canberra".The book looks at the development of the aircraft during the early days of jet power and beyond. Each of the many marks and variants are described. The type's record of service with RAF Squadrons is given together with descriptions of the many experimental models.
In the introduction, the author states, “it was a matter of producing either a technical book, or one that would appeal to a wider readership, setting out the true Canberra story: marks, variants, overseas orders, squadrons, records, experimental Canberras, camouflage, markings, and most importantly, the truth about bombing up the aircraft; also serious problems with which the Canberra was sent out to operational R.A.F. stations." He chose the latter and the finished article is an "outstanding" tribute to a remarkable aeroplane, though those that were deep aviation fans were unhappy that it was not a technical book. A case that the author could not satisfy everyone.
The book took 18 years to complete and the acknowledgments cover two full pages - a testimony to the thoroughness of Halpenny's research. Among the many firms and names mentioned, one in particular comes in for special mention. W/Cdr. K H Wallis, who saved the life of the Canberra by inventing the system of loading bombs for as late at 1951 at R.A.F. Binbrook, not a single aircraft was capable of delivering bombs, simply because the fuselage was too low to the ground!
With Canberra's introduction came the early Rolls-Royce Axial Flow Avon engine, a full description of which, its history and development is given in Chapter 2 - the author even tells us how a jet engine delivers its thrust.
The book displays a collection of photographs - some never seen before, also the history and deployment of no less than 81 Squadrons each of which flies the Canberra in its various marks and roles.