Flight of the Tiger Moth is a World War II story for young readers from about 11 to early teens. Set in Saskatchewan in the summer of 1943, it tells the story of 16-year-old Jack Waters and the young (sometimes underage) flyers of the British Royal Air Force who have been sent to Canada to train on Tiger Moth airplanes.
Jack lives with his mother and father in the village of Cairn, about 20 miles from Moose Jaw, and a couple of miles from the air base recently established to train British pilots. (Although the author has changed the spelling, this is obviously present-day Caron and Caronport.) Jack is too young to join the air force, and he wears glasses, but he has managed to obtain a part-time job working on the air base. He also talks Sandy, his sister Flo's fiancé, into secretly teaching him to fly. Sandy is a flight instructor at the Moose Jaw Air base, but soon after he gives Jack the lessons, he is sent overseas. Then Flo, who nurses at the Moose Jaw hospital, also decides to go to Britain to help in the war effort, and suddenly the war intrudes much more closely into Jack's life.
Flight of the Tiger Moth is a coming-of-age story as Jack struggles to find his own place in the world and to deal with typical teenage problems such as an overly protective mother and a pair of neighbourhood bullies. He also has to deal with training and finding a home for an abandoned pup he has rescued, and learn how to react with his first romantic crush on an older girl. Into all of these typical issues, the war intrudes, bringing other problems, including rationing of gas, missing-in-action overseas flyers, accidents at the air base, and the death of one of Jack's friends. His friendship with several of the British trainees is an important part of the story, as several of the Englishmen take part in a musical evening arranged at Cairn. The excitement builds towards a climax, as Jack must take his first solo flight following an airplane accident.
This book will help give young readers an idea of how Canada contributed to the war effort and the way the war affected those who remained at home. The characters are fictional, but the background and events portrayed are real. Jack is an engaging but realistic hero.
I enjoyed both the story and the author's use of local colour to make the setting interesting. Her unique descriptions and comparisons are all prairie-based; for example, miles of waving wheat; tree swallows that dart about like miniature airplanes; and scattered farmhouses that, seen from the air, look "like spilled sugar cubes."
Edmonton writer Mary Woodbury is the best-selling author of several other young adult books, including the Polly McDoodle Mystery series and finalists for various awards. She has also published adult collections of short stories and poetry.
Donna Gamache is the author of Spruce Woods Adventure (Compascore Manitoba) as well as many short stories for both children and adults.
