Sergeant Pring and the Calcutta Hurricane

This book, a labour of love by Joydeep Sircar, is a double biography. It tells the story of the Beaufighter ace A.M.O. ‘Maurice’ Pring, the Flight Sergeant whose feat of destroying three Japanese bombers raiding Calcutta in four minutes in January 1943 made him the darling of the city, and a poster boy of the air force. And it tells the story of the rare and practically-unknown radar equipped Hurricane II C(NF) night fighter, a technological feat but a combat failure, which was sent out from England to 176 (NF) squadron. A member of the squadron remarked about these Hurricanes “....it was a classic case study that should be documented but probably never will be”. This book fills that lacuna and tells the poignantly dramatic story of how Pring and Halbeard lost their lives in unequal combat flying these Hurricanes in daylight in the defence of Calcutta. Bringing rare and forgotten events to light, this slim volume is a valuable addition to aviation history, World War II history, and a forgotten period in the history of Calcutta (Kolkata).