Biographies have been thin on the ground in recent years and, with few subjects more deserving of coverage than William George Barker, the present volume is more than welcome. As a top ace, holder of the Victoria Cross, the main participant in some famed sorties and with a colourful life back on the ground, there is plenty to write about regarding this Canadian pilot.

In a short few years Barker went from farm boy to leading air ace with more medals than any of his countrymen. He was literally thestuff of legends and the author has carefully traced Barker's career, relating the various stories about him and, apparently, not always deciding which of the two versions is the correct one. The task is an unenviable one to be sure given the extrovert nature of the man who did everything from stunting over Piccadilly Circus to appearing as a character in Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro. His service in Italy alone is enough to fill a book and Wayne Ralph has managed here, as elsewhere in the book, to relate the story clearly with balance and perspective.

This latter quality is particularly evident when he covers Barker's post war years. Like some other VC holders, Bill Barker found it difficult to adjust and settle down and took up various jobs including a spell in the RCAF that ended on a markedly sour note. He married above himself and, cut from his roots, took to drink -his biographer doesn't gloss over the shame of the fallen hero. Ironically Barker was on the road to recovery when he was killed in a flying accident in 1930 having pushed his luck just that little bit too far. His funeral was Toronto's largest ever with 50000 spectators yet today he is little remembered in his native land. According to the author, the question 'Barker who?' has been supplanted by the even sadder 'what is a Victoria Cross?'. Ralph's book should redress this matter as it is a thoroughly readable tribute to a great pilot. I have always wanted to see a Barker biography and I am in no way disappointed by this volume.

Recommended.