High Road to China

Rating:
Summary: This Is Terrific Reading ... If You Can Find It
Review: I picked up a copy of HIGH ROAD TO CHINA at the time it coincided with the release of the film (during the 1980's). After reading the book, I was anticipating the motion picture ... only to be horrifically disappointed. The film takes a mere few chapters of the book and tries to quilt a makeshift adventure vehicle for Tom Selleck, whilst the novel is actually a factual account of the pilot with fiction filling the gaps of his unpublished memoirs. It's a fascinating read and well worth the exploration for history buffs.

Rating:
Summary: Pity it can't be true...
Review: This book purports to be a true account of a British WWI ace's postwar adventures, but despite a few years of effort I have been unable to turn up the name of William Bede O'Malley on any list of British WWI aces - which often include pilots with lower scores than the 32 victories O'Malley is said to have had. The same is true regarding Conrad von Kern and the German lists.

I am forced to conclude that, alas, it is all fiction.

It's still a great story though.