Derek Robinson (novelist)
Derek Robinson (born 1932) is a British author best known for his military aviation novels full of black humour. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1971 for his first novel, Goshawk Squadron. Robinson served in the Royal Air Force as a fighter plotter.
Novels set in squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) during the First World War:
- Goshawk Squadron (1971) is set in 1918 with the squadron flying the S.E.5a.
- War Story (1987) is set in 1916 with Hornet Squadron flying the F.E.2b. and F.E.2d
- Hornet's Sting (1999) is set in 1917 with Hornet Squadron flying the Sopwith Pup and the Bristol F.2B Fighter.
Novels set in RAF squadrons during the Second World War:
- Piece of Cake (1983) is set during the Phony War and Battle of Britain with Hornet Squadron flying the Hurricane. There is a TV mini-series (1988) with the same name based on this book.
- A Good Clean Fight (1993) covers the Desert Air Force during 1942 with Hornet Squadron flying the Curtiss Tomahawk.
- Damned Good Show (2002) covers RAF Bomber Command's early bomber operations and has fictional No. 409 Squadron RAF flying the Handley Page Hampden.
Novels about spying during the Second World War:
- Kramer's War (1977) is set on the island of Jersey in 1944.
- The Eldorado Network (1979), about counter-espionage in WWII Spain and Portugal.
- Artillery of Lies (1991)
Other books include:
- Invasion, 1940 (2005), a non-fiction work about World War II which aims to debunk "two powerful myths": first, that the RAF alone prevented an invasion of Great Britain by Hitler's Germany; and second, that such an invasion force would inevitably have conquered Britain.
- Kentucky Blues (2002), about life in a nineteenth-century American town.
- Rotten with Honour (1973), about Cold War-espionage.
- Rugby: A Player's Guide to the Laws
- Red Rag Blues (2006), about espionage and the McCarthy witchhunts in 1950's America. Features characters from The Eldorado Network and Artillery of Lies.
- Better Rugby Refereeing (2007), co-authored with Ed Morrison.