Roald Dahl – Going Solo

Going Solo is a sequel to Boy, Dahl’s autobiography of his early life. Going Solo begins with Dahl leaving England and travelling to Mombassa in 1938 to work for Shell. He was then 22yrs old. When war breaks out he joins the RAF and is sent as a fighter pilot to Greece.

There was some debate about the authenticity of episodes in the book, especially in the first part when Dahl is in Africa. The story of the lion taking the cook’s wife is one such which was a familiar apocryphal story with some members. Never-the-less this did not take anything away from the flow of the story telling.

We realised that Dahl used some of these early experiences in his childrens' stories, for instance comparing Dahl’s cabin mate, Mr U.N. Savory (?) who wears a wig, with The Witches where “witches have no hair, and must therefore wear wigs directly on their naked scalps, resulting in a condition they call "wig-rash.”

The eccentricity of characters especially the naked joggers running round the deck of SS Mantola prompted much discussion about colonial isolation, eccentricity in general and nudist experiences (Marion’s life-drawing class in particular).

The second part of the book about Dahl’s experiences as an RAF Hurricane pilot in North Africa and Greece is a complete contrast to the light hearted beginning in Africa. Dahl joins his squadron in Greece and realises there are only 15 Hurricanes and 2 Bleinhem bombers protecting the whole of Greece. The men are outnumbered 50:1 and as a result are uncommunicative. The mortality rate is so high the pilots have nothing left but concentrate on their own self preservation.

Dahl details the incompetence of the RAF command to which the pilots are sacrificed and emphasises their vulnerability against the unstoppable momentum of the huge German army machine. There doesn’t look to be any hope.

Remembering that Dahl was only 22/23 at the time we wondered whether his sense of duty, respect for authority and innocence protected him through these horrific experiences. It took me back to reading John Buchan and tales of daring do - really a different time altogether. We wondered how young people today, with a more questioning approach, would behave in such circumstances.

In all the message of the book is anti war and anti authority. There was an underlying suggestion of unsaid questions. Questions for instance prompted by Dahl seeing a German pilot flying past in his cockpit: “Why are we here?” “What on earth are we doing?”

I enjoyed the book very much - it gave a very vivid description of the life of a young man during this time, and is told with good humour and compassion.