Chris J. Bain

Chris Bain spent 33 years in the RAF as a fighter and recce pilot, attaining the rank of Squadron leader. He flew day fighter/ground attack Hunter FGA9s on active service in Aden and South Arabia, where he flew Dakotas and commanded the RAF's Mountain Desert Rescue Team. On posting to Germany, he then flew fighter recce Hunter FR10s. After converting to VSTOL Harriers in 1970, he flew them throughout Europe becoming both a QWI and an FRI, spent a tour flight-testing them, and commanded the Harrier unit in Belize. He was flight commander of the RAF's only strategic recce unit - No 1 PRU. Heading the RAF's Weapons Briefing Team at the Dept of Air Warfare, he lectured on air power subjects worldwide.

He has one son who is a Ryanair pilot, and lives with his wife Jan in Southwest Scotland.

My Second book, ENTITLED 'DESERT ROSE', is now published in electronic format on Amazon Kindle. It is a thriller novel based on my experiences in the Yemen in the 1960s. It includes an adventure treasure hunt looking for the Queen of Sheba's ancient empire, a spy story chasing Al Qu'eda and Bin Laden and a love story interwoven.

A woman, long since given up for lost, kept prisoner in a place forgotten by the modern world. A CIA/MI5 operation to find Bin Laden, covered by a hunt for ancient treasure, in a lawless land of pirates, drug-smugglers and Bedouin bandits. Based on first-hand combat experience in the Yemen, Desert Rose is the tale of soldier-turned-mercenary Johnny Baron’s return to the desert to hunt out terrorists, make his fortune and settle some deadly old scores.

A Puff Adder and a Collie called Scrufy are also important characters.

If you've never been to the Yemen, reading Desert Rose makes you feel as if you were right there. Not only is there a wealth of fascinating historical and political information, but there's a real knack for getting across a sense of place. In fact some of the best passages in the book are inspired by the “sweltering, singeing lash” of the sun in the desert, or the “weird tract of narrow alleyways and passages” in the ancient towns and villages. The descriptions of flying are equally visceral and compelling, making the reader feel as if they were strapped in next to the narrator, feeling the g-force or watching the dawn break, seeing “the wings and nose turn shades of carmine, claret and crimson”.

The love-lost, battle-hardened narrator gets some good lines and offers a nicely cynical perspective on all the international skulduggery. There’s also a lot of exciting action with the enthralling Indiana-Jones-meets-James-Bond plot rising to a final crescendo.

My first book was a memoir published in 2007, entitled:'COLD WAR HOT WINGS'

This is a semi-autobiographical memoir of an ordinary "Joe" fighter pilot over the period from the early sixties to the nineties during the latter 30 years of the Cold War. After setting the scene with the influences, training, a fighter pilot's psychology and "a day in the life of ...", the rest of the book is divided geographically into 3 sections. They depict the author's time in the Middle East, Europe and Central America.

In the Middle East the author flew with, and concentrates mainly on, the Hunter DFGA Strike Wing of RAF Khormaksar, its part in Aden, the Radfan campaign and South Arabian operations from 1964-to 1967. Dakota and Desert Rescue Team operations are described, as is the appalling Yemeni inspired, Nasser-fuelled terrorism that led to the British withdrawal in November 1967.

In Europe, the book, and the author's career, varied enormously. He flew Hunter FR with the Gütersloh wing, converted to Harrier Mk 1s with no 2-seat trainers, and flew VSTOL missions throughout UK, Germany and Belize. Flight-testing Harriers is explained, as are global overt and covert, strategic recce missions in Canberra PR9s including customs and police support most notably during the Moors Murder investigation.

At the Dept of Air Warfare, the RAF's senior academic establishment for the study of all aspects of air power, the author became a nuclear weapon specialist, running the Weapons Employment Course, and lecturing worldwide to other air forces and defence organisations. Gulf War ops are described with detailed facts and figures from the authors time with the US Defence Intelligence Agency in Washington DC.

His 3 years flying Harriers on numerous visits to Belize from 1975 to 1982 is the subject of the final section, culminating in his time as the first permanent CO of the Harrier unit there. The country and its people as well as the air presence there are portrayed.