FAR EAST RAF LIBERATORS, subtitled ATTACKING THE JAPANESE: ROY ANDREWS AND 215 SQUADRON

[Matt Poole]

Matt Poole submitted a new resource:

FAR EAST RAF LIBERATORS, subtitled ATTACKING THE JAPANESE: ROY ANDREWS AND 215 SQUADRON - Roy's 35 ops coincided precisely with 215 Sqn's Lib tenure. All of 215's Lib flights are described.

I couldn't resist announcing the availability of my hardcover book FAR EAST RAF LIBERATORS, subtitled ATTACKING THE JAPANESE: ROY ANDREWS AND 215 SQUADRON. This book has officially been released via Pen & Sword (its publisher), amazon.co.uk, and all UK-based booksellers. Note, however, that it still won't be released outside of the UK in countries like the US, Canada, and Australia for a few weeks.

The correct cover and some basic accurate info can be found here...

Read more about this resource...

 

[Wildcat]

Hi Matt,

Congrats on the new release, I am thoroughly looking forward to purchasing it! I loved your previous book, "RAF Liberators Over Burma". Highly recommended to those who enjoy a great aircrew memoir or fans of the Burma air war.
Cheers

 

[Matt Poole]

Thanks for the enthusiastic words, Wildcat. I keep a document with comments about the first book, and I'll be adding your statement about enjoying the first book into that Word file!

I see that you're likely Down Under. The book hasn't been released there yet, but it will be. In fact, amazon.com.au has not even listed it for pre-ordering, which is very strange, as every other Amazon site I've seen has had it listed for months as a pre-order. Peribo is the company which markets the book in Australia, and it is known that they have not come through. Things are changing for the better, and both myself and Pen & Sword are actively involved. Eventually I hope you will enjoy this new book as you did my first book. No, I KNOW it, and that's said not out of arrogance, but because of my overwhelming sense of confidence. Cheers from the crazy Washington, DC area.

 

[Matt Poole]

This fiasco with amazon.com.au has continued. Ridiculous!

First the site did not list the book for pre-ordering, unlike the 21 other Amazon sites I could access and read; I couldn't read the China and the Egypt sites.

Then, something like three months after publication, in mid-October 2025, the Aussie site did FINALLY offer the book for sale. FOR THREE OR FOUR DAYS ONLY!!

Bizarrely, after 15 October 2025 the book's presence on amazon.com.au disappeared; it was not offered for sale on this site, for the longest time, though my first book continued to be advertized and sold.

Then suddenly, a week or so ago -- after a mere time frame of nearly four months -- FAR EAST RAF LIBERATORS, subtitled ATTACKING THE JAPANESE: ROY ANDREWS AND 215 SQUADRON, showed up as a book sold by amazon.com.au.

And guess what? An erroneous version of the cover is now depicted! Instead of properly showing the correct cover, the site has chosen the erroneous preliminary version. Among other errors and imperfections that were swiftly changed by Pen & Sword Books (to their credit), TWO authors were listed - F/Lt Roy Andrews and myself. Yet for complicated reasons I was the sole author (despite using Roy's self-published memoir for part of the book). In fact, on the printed book's cover I am properly listed as the sole author. (I insisted that Roy be named in the subtitle, and I explained my use of the memoir in the Introduction.)

The many Amazon sites, overall, have proved funky, too. Forgetting australia.com.au, the other Amazon sites all initially showed the wrong cover, but then switched to the correct cover. Then, for some crazy reason, all of them changed back to the original erroneous first cover after weeks or even months! They have not changed back again despite being asked!

Fun and games in the bookseller world!

 

[Wildcat]

Hi Matt, sorry to hear about the issues you are having with Amazon. I grabbed my copy in August last year from the Australian site. Congratulations on another fantastic read highlighting the often forgotten men who fought over Burma. I hope you continue with similar work!

 

[Matt Poole]

Thank you, Wildcat, for your very kind words. But you said you bought the book last August "from the Australian site"? This was amazon.com.au? But my constant diligent monitoring of that site on the Internet showed (on my computer) that the book was not offered for sale at the time in the amazon.com.au system. So I am confused!

I goofed up by not emphasizing the Australian connection in the subtitle of the book, but when trying to find a publisher (and definitely wanting a hardcover book, which I was told was not likely via an Australian publisher unless I contributed financially to the printing process) I kept Australia out of the title, for fear of not being offered a contract with a UK-based publisher because Roy Andrews was in the RAAF, not the RAF. (Turns out I was wrong in this assumption...or so I was told.)

Thus, I will lose sales Down Under, especially, to those who would have otherwise knowingly purchased a unique World War II book focused upon an Australian airman. Oh well, but I have much to be grateful for, and I'm fortunately not in it for the royalty money (which will just be beer money, anyway, given the Burma/Thailand/India area of interest. NOT the air war over Europe or a juicier topic like the Dambusters Raid or Spitfire fighters)!

 

[Wildcat]

Thank you, Wildcat, for your very kind words. But you said you bought the book last August "from the Australian site"? This was amazon.com.au? But my constant diligent monitoring of that site on the Internet showed (on my computer) that the book was not offered for sale at the time in the amazon.com.au system. So I am confused!

I goofed up by not emphasizing the Australian connection in the subtitle of the book, but when trying to find a publisher (and definitely wanting a hardcover book, which I was told was not likely via an Australian publisher unless I contributed financially to the printing process) I kept Australia out of the title, for fear of not being offered a contract with a UK-based publisher because Roy Andrews was in the RAAF, not the RAF. (Turns out I was wrong in this assumption...or so I was told.)

Thus, I will lose sales Down Under, especially, to those who would have otherwise knowingly purchased a unique World War II book focused upon an Australian airman. Oh well, but I have much to be grateful for, and I'm fortunately not in it for the royalty money (which will just be beer money, anyway, given the Burma/Thailand/India area of interest. NOT the air war over Europe or a juicier topic like the Dambusters Raid or Spitfire fighters)!

Hi Matt, I just looked at my order history on amazon.com.au which shows I placed my order on 16 August 2025. I have looked at my invoice and it shows that it was dispatched from Amazon EU despite being ordered from the .au web address and paid in AUD. Either way, it was displayed on the .au site.

 

[Matt Poole]

Very strange that it did not show up for the longest time on the Internet, and I've had no other internet problems! Thanks for going to the trouble of look up your order details, Wildcat, and I must assume that the book has been available via amazon.com.au all along.