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Derek Robinson | |
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| Born | 12 April 1932 Bristol |
| Pen name | Dirk Robson |
| Occupation | screenwriter, author, Rugby Union referee, broadcaster |
| Nationality | British |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education | University |
| Alma mater | Downing College, University of Cambridge |
| Period | 1971–present |
| Genre | fiction |
| Notable works | Goshawk Squadron , Piece of Cake , The Eldorado Network , A Darker History of Bristol A Load of Old Bristle: Krek Waiter's Peak Bristle, Run with the Ball |
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Derek Robinson (born 12 April 1932) is a British author best known for his military aviation novels full of black humour. He has also written several books on some of the more sordid events in the history of Bristol, his home town, as well as guides to rugby. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1971 for his first novel, Goshawk Squadron. [1]
After attending Cotham Grammar School, [2] Robinson served in the Royal Air Force as a fighter plotter, during his National Service. He has a history degree from Cambridge University, where he attended Downing College, [3] has and worked in advertising in the UK and the US and as a broadcaster on radio and television. He was a qualified rugby referee for more than thirty years and is a life member of Bristol Society of Rugby Referees. [4] He was married in 1964. [5]
Following his research of historical records for his novel Piece of Cake (1983), Robinson became convinced that it was the supremacy of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom's coastal waters that caused Adolf Hitler to postpone invasion plans and not the Battle of Britain, as commonly accepted. [6]
Novels set in squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) during the First World War:
Novel set in the inter-war era:
Novels set in RAF squadrons during the Second World War:
Novel set in the Cold War:
All eight of Robinson's aviation novels were released in paperback editions by MacLehose Press in 2012–2013.
Novels featuring Luis Cabrillo:
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The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. Remaining Pups were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pup's docile flying characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing and takeoff experiments and training.
The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service capable of speed higher than 200 mph. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.
No. 78 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, is the squadron number plate of RAF (Unit) Swanwick based at London Area Control Centre, Swanwick, Hampshire. The squadron was allocated the role in early 2021.
Piece of Cake is a 1988 British six-part television serial depicting the life of a Royal Air Force fighter squadron from the day of the British entry into World War II through to one of the toughest days in the Battle of Britain. The series was produced by Holmes Associates for LWT for ITV and had a budget of five million pounds.
Hornet Squadron is the name of a fictional Royal Flying Corps, and later Royal Air Force, fighter squadron featured in a number of novels by British author Derek Robinson.
Piece of Cake is a 1983 novel by Derek Robinson which follows a fictional Royal Air Force fighter squadron through the first year of World War II, and the Battle of Britain. It was later made into the 1988 television serial Piece of Cake.
No. 213 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The squadron was formed on 1 April 1918 from No. 13 (Naval) Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service. This RNAS squadron was itself formed on 15 January 1918 from the Seaplane Defence Flight which, since its creation in June 1917, had had the task of defending the seaplanes which flew out of Dunkirk.
Winged Victory is a 1934 novel by English World War I fighter pilot Victor Maslin Yeates that is widely regarded as a classic description of aerial combat and the futility of war.
Royal Air Force Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch is a former Royal Air Force sector statiion in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex, located to the southeast of Romford. The airfield was known as Sutton's Farm during the First World War, when it occupied 90 acres (360,000 m2) of the farm of the same name. It was used for the protection of London, being 14 miles (22.5 km) east north-east of Charing Cross.
Number 19 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, is the squadron number plate of the UK's Control and Reporting Centre which has responsibility for NATO Air Policing Area 1. The unit was allocated the role in 2021.
RAF Montrose was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Forfarshire in Scotland. It became the first operational military aerodrome to be established in the United Kingdom on 26 February 1913.
Number 92 Squadron, also known as No. 92 Squadron and currently as No. 92 Tactics and Training Squadron, of the Royal Air Force is a test and evaluation squadron based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. It was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps at London Colney as a fighter squadron on 1 September 1917. It deployed to France in July 1918 and saw action for just four months, until the end of the war. During the conflict it flew both air superiority and direct ground support missions. It was disbanded at Eil on 7 August 1919. Reformed on 10 October 1939, the unit was supposed to be equipped with medium bombers but in the spring of 1940 it became one of the first RAF units to receive the Supermarine Spitfire, going on to fight in the Battle of Britain.
No. 66 Squadron was a Royal Flying Corps and eventually Royal Air Force aircraft squadron.
No. 64 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed on 1 August 1916 as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. It was disbanded on 31 January 1991 at RAF Leuchars.
No. 112 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It served in both the First World War and Second World War and was active for three periods during the Cold War. It is nicknamed "The Shark Squadron", an allusion to the fact that it was the first unit from any Allied air force to use the famous "shark mouth" logo on Curtiss P-40s.
No. 225 Squadron RAF is a former Royal Air Force squadron.
The Nieuport Nighthawk was a British fighter aircraft developed by the Nieuport & General Aircraft company for the Royal Air Force towards the end of the First World War. Although ordered into production before the aircraft first flew, it did not enter large scale service with the RAF owing to unreliable engines. Re-engined aircraft did see service in Greece, serving from 1923 to 1938.
The Eldorado Network is a 1979 espionage novel by Derek Robinson, published by Hamish Hamilton. Three sequels followed: Artillery of Lies in 1991, Red Rag Blues in 2006, and Operation Bamboozle in 2009. The first novel, like all of Robinson's work, is based on fact, in this case a genuine double-agent known as "Garbo".
No. 150 Squadron RAF was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force during both World War I and World War II. In the early 1960s it was briefly reformed as a Strategic Missile squadron operating the Thor IRBM.
No. 223 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Originally formed as part of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), the Squadron flew in both World Wars.
