Flying Blind: A Memoir of Biplane Flying over Waziristan in the Last Days of British Rule in India

The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, an ominous date in history--only two years before the outbreak of World War II. He was nineteen years old and handicapped by astigmatism. After arrogantly fooling the medical examiners, he bluffed his way through flight training, encountering a series of flight training adventures which could have ended his career.

His luck continued when he was sent to Imperial India during an insurrection led by the infamous Faqir of Ipi. There he flew the Westland Wapiti, an open cockpit biplane of World War I vintage, and lodged in a battlemented mud and brick fort where the aeroplanes were pushed inside the walls at night to shield them from sniping Wazirs.

From the naivety, enthusiasm, and confusion of youth, Morley-Mower develops into a mature man who finds love, adventures, and himself while serving his country.

His fascinating account of army and air operations over the wild and lawless terrain of the Afghan border is filled with detail, immediacy and human interest. It is supported by diary entries, giving dates and descriptions of individuals who played prominent roles in the campaigns. It, therefore, provides a unique contribution to the military and political history of the period; a history almost entirely ignored by scholars because of the advent of a world war.

FLYING BLIND is a glimpse into a way of life during the last days of the British Empire in India, an era which ended after World War II. It deals with a period in the author's career before MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE: The Western Desert, 1941-42, in which he described his adventures as a Hawker Hurricane pilot during General Erwin Rommel's campaigns in Libya and Egypt.

When the war ended, his status as a pilot was revoked because of his eyesight but, taking advantage of a little used privilege, he appealed to King George VI to reinstate his flying career. He won.