Lee Heide's wartime adventures read like fiction but they are
factual, brought to life by skillful characterization and dialogue.
Raised in Vancouver, he was trained as a navigator and flew
overseas in a Hudson aircraft in June, 1941. In England he joined
an RAF crew for training on Beaufort torpedo bombers. Sent to
Malta, he survived a year of the blitz on that island, with heavy
losses to his squadron. Upon converting to Beaufighters he was
twice posted as missing. The first time, he and his pilot were
washed ashore, after five days in a dinghy, on enemy-held Elba
whence they escaped by boat to Corsica. The second time his
aircraft was shot up in the Aegean and forced to land in Turkey
where he was interned. A meticulous recorder, Heide's descriptions
of places and events in the Middle East are informative and
entertaining. The title Whispering Death was the name given by the
Germans to the Beaufighter--one of the outstanding attack aircraft
of the war. Readers will not lightly put down this autobiography
Review
from Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement, Autumn 2000
This is another small-press memoir that brings us a dimension of
war that is not widely known. The author, a Vancouver native, flew
overseas in a Hudson bomber in 1941 and then, after further
training in England, was posted to the Middle East, where he flew
as a navigator on Beaufort and Beaufighter torpedo bombers over the
Mediterranean (the title refers to the nickname given to the
Beaufighter). He spent a year operating from Malta and, after
conversion to Beaufighters, survived two forced landings. The
first, in the sea, resulted in a five-day ordeal before he and his
pilot washed ashore onthe island of Elba, from which they escaped
to Corsica. This was followed by instructional duties on Cyprus,
which lasted only until a pilot friend convinced him that it was
better to be killed on operations than be killed by a student
pilot. Heide and his pilot were posted to an operational squadron
on Tobruk, and then went through a second ditching. On this
occasion, they managed to reach land, but it was neutral Turkey and
they were interned (albeit in quite pleasant conditions) for a
short period of time before returning to the squadron. The war in
the desert wound up in late 1944, and Heide was back in Canada,
newly demobilized and with a DFC and a British wife, by the spring
of 1945. A keen observer, Heide spins a good tale; Whispering Death
is an informative and entertaining book with lots of good anecdotes
and local colour.
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