Gibbs joined the RAF in 1934 initially flying bombers but ending up on aircraft carriers Furious and Courageous flying Swordfish and Sharks which were torpedo bombers. When the war started , he was flying Beaufort torpedo bombers over the North Sea and the English Channel with very limited success.

Sent to Cairo in 1941 to serve on Air Staff at HG, he negotiated himself into the role of Flight Commander of the only Beaufort squadron in the Middle East. On his suggestion, the squadron moved to Malta to make attacking flights shorter and more successful in stopping Rommel’s supply chain from Europe to North Africa.
Combined with Beaufighters for protection from fighters, he led his Beauforts on raids on German shipping for three stressful months. Most of this period Malta was also under constant air attack by German and Italian air forces which meant the Beauforts had to be protected on the ground and when taking off. The efforts of this squadron did have an effect on Rommel’s desert campaign as his supply line was definitely damaged by their attacks.
Gibbs wrote this book in 1943 immediately after the events described thus it gives a fresh view of events from his perspective. It was intended as a sequel to Not Peace, But a Sword (published in 1943) but not published until the 1990’s.