Based on its author’s extensive flying experience, this new edition of a 1944 classic includes an introduction from IWM which puts the novel in historical context and shines a light on this vital and sometimes contested aspect of Britain’s Second World War. Over the course of one night in 1942, the crew members of Wellington bomber ‘P for Pathfinder’ each reflect on the paths of their own lives, as they embark on a fateful mission deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. Cecil Lewis’ novel examines the life of every man in turn, rendering a moving account of each as not merely a nameless crew member, but as an individual with a life lived, ‘a life precious to some, or one… these men with dreams and hopes and plans of things to come’.