Boys of Ballykelly


By Gordon Blair & Norman Lindsay
February 2010
Book Guild
Distrubuted by Trans-Atlantic Publications Inc.
ISBN: 9781846244056
301 pages
$34.95 Hardcover

OUT OF PRINT

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The Boys of Ballykelly is a hilarious and bawdy exposé of the life and times of an RAF base. It was 1968 and engine fitter Gordon Blair was returning to the UK from a tour of duty in Penang and Singapore. His new posting was to RAF Ballykelly in Northern Ireland to work on Coastal Command Shackletons based there. This was a slightly less exotic location than the Far East and seemingly promised little in the way of excitement. How wrong can you be?

Blair was about to embark on three madcap years with a group of unique characters who viewed life mainly through the bottom of a Guinness glass and played hard to relieve their frustrations in this relatively remote part of the Empire. As well as the shenanigans that took place at the home base, Shackleton detachments were deployed to many parts of the world, giving opportunities for the groundcrew reprobates to party and explore the seedier side of life in more exotic and accommodating surroundings. Come along with Gordon as he conducts you through the outrageously hilarious sagas and exposes the ‘real’ RAF of the day.

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