A Walk in the Valley

Sidney Allinson is Canadian news correspondent for Britain’s The Army
Quarterly and Defence. He is the author of The Bantams: The Untold Story
of World War I, Jeremy Kane, and Kruger’s Gold: A Novel of the
Anglo-Boer War.

Each time one reads a memoir by Allied veterans of the bomber war over
Europe during World War II, one is struck by their astonishingly
matter-of-fact attitude about their bravery and what they accomplished.
This book’s title—a reference to the biblical “valley of the
shadow of death”—is highly appropriate considering that more than
10,000 Canadian airmen died during the British air offensive against
Nazi Germany. One of the lucky survivors was Robert Kensett, who
volunteered to join the RCAF and served three years as a navigator
aboard Halifax bomber aircraft.

With their requirement for mathematical and map-reading skills,
navigators were considered the “brainy” members of aircrew. They
were responsible for directing the aircraft to target destinations and
finding the way home again. Navigators did so despite their relatively
primitive equipment and having to cope with foul weather, most often in
darkness. Kensett was typical of the young volunteer flyers of his era,
and recounts his dangerous experiences with modesty and humour.

Some of the book’s impact is lost though the introductory family
history, which gives the initial impression of a personal memoir aimed
primarily at the author’s relatives and friends. However, once Kensett
gets into his wartime service, interest quickens, and he is wise enough
to include a good deal of minutiae about military aircraft routine. The
reproductions of pages from his actual flying operations and target
charts convey rare details seldom available today. Such details will
make A Walk in the Valley of particular interest to air combat buffs.