Errol Martyn. For Your Tomorrow—Volume III, Biographies and Appendices. Volplane Press 2008 ISBN 978-0-473-12828-9 (pb) ISBN 978-0-473-12828-6 (hb), paperback or hardback, explanatory notes, bibliography, glossary, appendices, 16 statistical tables, vessel listings. 640 pages pb $67.50 hb $87.50

In the three volumes of For Your Tomorrow, the author's object was simple: to record how each of some 4800 New Zealand airmen and women died in allied air service, from 1915 to 1998, and to provide a biographical note for each one. The task, however, was immense.

In achieving his aim, Errol Martyn has created a fundamental reference work that will be of interest and use for many years to come not only in NZ, but also among all those with a need for details of losses in British Commonwealth air operations, as Martyn has cast his NZ net widely. The rolls encompass all those who died
"if at the time of their death they were:
a member of the NZ Forces,
NZ born or
had received secondary education in NZ for a number of years."
Beginners and experienced researchers alike will find much of value in these books.

Volume I (Fates 1915-1942) and Volume II (Fates 1943-1998) gave, in date order and fully indexed by name, a brief yet comprehensive account of the immediate cause of loss, derived from a range of source records. Here is an example:

“Easter Sunday 13 Apr 1941
MIDDLE EAST
Attack on enemy columns on the Bitolj-Prilep road, Serbia
211 Squadron, RAF (Paramythia, Greece - 'W' Wing, 204 Group, Greece)
Blenheim I L1434 - took off at about 1500 with five others, all of which failed to return. No Allied fighter escort was available and the formation was intercepted on its way in to the target and shot down by enemy fighters. Battle-damaged, L1434 ditched or crashed into shallow water in the SE corner of Lake Prespa, where Albania shares a border with Greece. All three crew died and are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial. In 1993 a Greek Air Force recovery team was reported to have salvaged most of the remains of the Blenheim from the lake.
Pilot: 40885 Flt Lt Lindsay Basil BUCHANAN, DFC, RAF - Age 23. 44+ ops. Air War forYugoslavia, Greece and Crete refers to an unconfirmed report that Buchanan and another of his crew later died of injuries in an Albanian hospital. It also states that only two airmen survived from a total of I8 aboard the six Blenheims - yet only 10 names are recorded in CWGC registers, suggesting perhaps that the 'hospital' report may relate in some way to others of those who survived.”

These first two volumes are important not just for these chronological lists of NZ crew losses; nor simply for the other valuable explanatory material on offer; but equally for the painstaking assessment and sifting of primary source materials which, under press of war and in careless peace, suffer a range of inconsistencies and omissions to trap the unwary. All this is explained with neat precision by the author.

In the recent release of Volume III (Biographies), Martyn's long labours have at last come to a close. The main body of this final volume is made up of neatly abbreviated individual biographies, whose brief form belies the rich detail so carefully packed within, as this matching example illustrates:

“BUCHANAN, Flight Lieutenant Lindsay Basil, DFC
40885; b Palm Nth 4 Nov 17; Palm Nth BHS & Otago & Victoria Univ Colls; student. Selected for RAF SSComm by Apr 38, emb for UK 7 Apr 38, arr 10 May 38: RAF & to Brough/4E&RFTS as Pilot u/t 16 May 38, SSComm [wef 16.5.38] & 1 Depot 9 Jul 38, 3FTS 23 Jul 38, Pilots Badge c.25 0ct 38, 1 Depot 18 Mar 39, to Egypt & 113 Sqn (Hind, Blenheim) 8 Apr 39 [att 102MU for anti-gas cse 4-13 Dec, att Heliopolis for LTI cse 8 20 Jan 40], 211 Sqn (Blenheim- 44+ ops) 2 May 40, c/ldg after air combat damage (uninj) 13 Feb 41, kao 13 Apr 41 Alamein Memorial - Column 240. Son of Andrew Ruthven & Olive Ethel Buchanan (nee Tallott), Lockwood, Kairanga. [OHT3 & phot. TWN 23.4.41 ]”

On top of all this, there is new supporting material (explanatory notes, bibliography, glossary, and summary tables) quite simply breathtaking in scope and depth. As a final gesture to posterity, Volume III again carries forward the honourable burden of its predecessors, by way of additions and amendments that correct and amplify the listings of the earlier two Volumes. Example:

“Vol I p117: BUCHANAN, LB -it is correct that only two airmen survived the raid, though one of them was killed only two days later: all 17 who died now appear on the online edition of the CWGC register.”

Thus Volume III brings the whole work to a magnificent conclusion. The three volumes of For Your Tomorrow are work of the very highest standard. As a set, they offer a rich harvest indeed, which, if for reference rather than for reading (as Jefford once said) yet represent a truly remarkable achievement, worthy of formal recognition in Martyn's own country and high praise everywhere.

Privately published: Volplane Press, Errol Martyn, PO Box 6482, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8442, New Zealand. Email errol.martyn*AT*xtra.co.nz. Limited copies of earlier volumes may be available.

This post has been edited by Don Clark on Aug 16 2008, 10:21 AM