

Phoenix Squadron: HMS Ark Royal, Britain's Last Top Guns and the Untold Story of Their Most Dramatic Mission
Rowland White
January 1972: the tiny outpost of British Honduras is threatened with imminent invasion by battle-hardened, US-trained Guatemalan paratroops. Britain's response must be immediate and decisive. But there is only one deterrent the government can offer: HMS Ark Royal, once the Navy's most powerful warship, now a white elephant on the verge of being scrapped.
To save the small colony, she must launch a pair of Buccaneer fighter bombers on an unprecedented long-range mission. But first the old carrier must make a high-speed, 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic towards the Gulf of Mexico. The odds of arriving in time are very slim indeed...
Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts and previously unseen, classified documents, Rowland White has pieced together one of the most audacious and thrilling missions of post-war British military history.
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Reviews for Phoenix Squadron: HMS Ark Royal, Britain's Last Top Guns and the Untold Story of Their Most Dramatic Mission
Jeremy Clarkson From the cockpit of a fighter jet to the violently pitching deck of an aircraft carrier at night, Rowland White combines pulse-pounding tension with riveting detail. If only all military history was written like this...
Andy McNab [A] page-turning thriller of a book... White's obvious passion infuses every page and is highly infectious, while the level of detail should send any budding Tom Clancy rushing to the bookshops
James Holland
Daily Telegraph
Reads like a Patrick Robinson or Tom Clancy novel...This is a cracking read
Navy News
A gutsy, you-are-there true story that throbs with the sound and fury of carrier operations. Military history as it ought to be told
Robert Gant Written in breathless prose that gives it the feel of fiction... A well-researched yarn
Daily Telegraph
A remarkable story told with skill and dedication... I enjoyed it. And I learned a lot
Len Deighton A true story that reads like a Tom Clancy novel
Defence Focus
Clearly states the case for naval aviation in our uncertain age. An aircraft carrier loaded with fighter bombers is still the big stick...
Stephen Coonts