I was disappointed by DGS. I had expected Robinson to do for the early war Bomber Command what he did for the BoB Fighter Command in Piece of Cake; and he didn't deliver.

The bombing missions are not presented with the same level of detail and rivetting drama of the earlier book, therefore I cannot rate this novel as highly.

It's an okay read, though more about people than about the war.

Derek Robinson is certainly one of the best writers of wartime aviation fiction, as demonstrated in superb books like Goshawk Squadron and Piece of Cake. In Damned Good Show, Robinson attempts to use the same winning formula that he used in six previous novels about fighter units to dramatize a notional RAF bomber squadron in 1939-1941. However, Damned Good Show is simply not in the same league as Robbinson's previous novels.
It is entirely too derivative, with too much cloned from Piece of Cake but without the drama or trademark dry humour. Indeed, there is little to laugh about in this novel.

Damned Good Show consists of three episodic sections: the antics of two quirky pilots (Langham & Silk), the arrival of intelligence officer Skull Skelton, and the film producers who are sent to the squadron to make a film of a bomber raid over Germany. Unlike previous Robinson novels, character development in Damned Good Show is minimal, indeed the entire book feels like it was produced from left-overs. The final section of the novel results in a merging of all three subplots into a rather dull and untidy mush. As in his last few novels, Robinson continues the disturbing trend of adding annoying civilian female characters into what is essentially an all-male environment. Certainly Zoe Herrick, a fabulously wealthy Anglo-American nymphomaniac, detracts far more than she adds to Robbinson's portayal of Bomber Command. Indeed, her marriage with pilot officer Langham is so improbable and absurd as to cause the reader to wonder why the title of the novel was not Damned Silly Show.

Nor is the presence of "Skull" Skelton much of a comfort here, for readers who enjoyed him in Piece of Cake and A Good Clean Fight. Transferred to Bomber Command, Skull appears as more of a carping whiner here, than someone with insight who will improve unit efficiency. Nor are there any interesting squadron or flight leaders in Damned Good Show; commanding officers like Rafferty or Hunt come and go as ciphers without any of the panache of someone like squadron leader Rex.

Robinson's main points about Bomber Command - that it couldn't hit within five miles of most targets in night raids over Germany in 1939-1941 - are already fairly well known. Although Skull and other intellectuals raise the issue of whether the heavy losses of sustained night bombing are worthwhile, Robinson presents the case that there was little alternative in 1941. Britain had no other means of hurting Germany or showing the Soviet Union and the USA that it was still in the fight. Actually, Robinson is not correct in this theory and there were many others at the time who felt that the enormous resources poured into Bomber Command could have been better applied elsewhere. If even a few hundred RAF bombers had been diverted from Bomber Command in 1941 to anti-submarine patrols, the German U-Boats would have been seriously affected. More effort could have been put into modernizing the Desert Air Force and the RAF in Singapore, where the payoffs would have been sudden and apparent. Instead, Britain's political leadership was bamboozled for years into wasting scarce resources and lives on a campaign that never held much promise of success.

Derek Robinson has proven himself to be the best writer about
air combat in World Wars I and II. This novel centers on the
first couple of years of the british bomber command. Some of
the characters from his other novels (e.g. the intelligence
officer "Skull" Skeleton) appear here--a nice way of helping
give continuity--Fighter Command (Piece of Cake), Bomber
Command (this novel), North Africa (A Good Clean Show), etc.
The novels pull no punches--terrible tactical theory, hugely
inflated combat claims, etc--you learn a lot about little-known
historical details, things that the military establishment
would rather be forgotten. These are not anti-war novels, but
novels which often stess the dichotomy between the individual
pilots and aircrew and the military bureaucrats who lay down
policy. The example that best springs to mind (Goshawk
Squadron, air combat in WW I) is when Squadron Commander
Woolley is told that headquarters deosn't want any more silk
scarves issued (too expensive). These scarves are needed
because the pilots must continually turn their heads to look
for enemy aircraft--no silk scarves means bad chafing and less
head-turning and more danger. Woolley puts a couple of bullets
through the briefcase with the HQ demand.

Robinson's best novels are his WW I novels--5 stars, with
Goshawk Squadron being the best. The WW II novels are close--
4 to 5 stars. My star ratings are usually based on how often
I would reread a novel--I reread Goshawk Squadron about once a
year--similarly Piece of Cake. 4-star novels are not quite as
rereadable. There are a couple of 1-star books that I will
reread once in a while, for amusement--these books really
deserve much less than 1 star. Some books I keep, some get sold
to used bookdealers. Derek Robinson's novels I keep--and often
get a backup copy for my office.