There are three ways of reading this book:
As a biography that teeters on the brink of being a hagiography
As a "Boys' own" story of a (the?) bomber pilot's valour
As a modern business book on risk appetite and people management

If one has never read books written in this period nor seen BBC interviews of politicians that conclude with the politician being asked if there's anything else they'd like to tell us, then it's a book that more Hagiography than biography, but understanding that period a little does just tip in over the other way. However the strength of the book there is much more the brilliance of the subject than the writing.

The Boys' Own angle is classic. The Bomber Command VC winner awarded for sustained courage over years of flying rather than a single (or near single) act of valour is all but unique. The bombers and missions he flew, the techniques he developed and pioneered all weave together to be a classic of that genre.

Modern risk appetite? Reading this book with a different eye you perceive a man who faced incredible danger, but assessed the risks and benefits of his actions and despite what he was doing - 100 missions against the Axis and witness to the Nagasaki atomic bombing - almost never admitted to feeling fear. He then took that attitude of having already risked all into his post-war work of setting up and running the Cheshire Homes and other charitable initiatives accepting risks in how he ran things that many would balk at, but to him must have seemed rather minor. That attitude to risk enabled him to achieve what many said was and still seems impossible.

Cheshire's risk management strategy seems to have been to be doing the right thing and persuading others to help. He led by example, as he had during the war, and used his personal charm (helped no doubt by his fame and his VC) to secure support. It is obvious that he was a natural leader and those of us now studying such topics could do worse than read this book through that lens. ( )

Postwar biography of one of the Royal Air Force's most extraordinary bomber pilots: the second commanding officer of the elite 617 "Dambuster" squadron. The fact that Cheshire was an extraordinary person as well as an extraordinary pilot just makes the story that much more interesting.