 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (April 2008) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Guy Gibson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph |
Publication date | 1946 (Censored) 2003 (Uncensored) 2015 (Ebook) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) Ebook |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 978-0-85979-118-2 |
Enemy Coast Ahead is an autobiographical book recounting the World War II flying career of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO, DFC. It covers his time in RAF Bomber Command from the very earliest days of war in 1939 through to 1943.
Gibson wrote the book aged 25 in 1944 whilst off operations. He had by this time completed two full tours, each of 30 operations, with Bomber Command (with 83 and 106 Squadrons), another one as a night-fighter pilot with 29 Squadron and, as leader of the famous Dam Busters raid against the dams of the Ruhr Valley (Operation Chastise) with 617 Squadron in May 1943.
It was first published in book form in 1946, to much critical acclaim and a fully uncensored account released in 2003. The book was serialised in the Sunday Express during the winter of 1944-45, following his death in September 1944, when his Mosquito crashed near Steenbergen in the Netherlands.