Editing H. E. Bates (section)

===World War II short stories===
During World War II, he was commissioned into the [[Royal Air Force]] solely to write short stories. The [[Air Ministry]] realised that it might create more favorable public sentiment by emphasizing stories about the people fighting the war, rather than facts. The stories were published originally in the ''[[News Chronicle]]'' with the pseudonym "Flying Officer X". Later they were published in book form as ''The Greatest People in the World and Other Stories'' and ''How Sleep the Brave and Other Stories''. His first financial success was ''[[Fair Stood the Wind for France]]''. After a posting to the Far East, this was followed by two novels about Burma, ''[[The Purple Plain (novel)|The Purple Plain]]'' in 1947 and ''The Jacaranda Tree'' (published in 1949), and one set in India, ''[[The Scarlet Sword]]'' (published in 1950).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jacaranda Tree :: HE Bates |url=https://hebates.com/library/the-jacaranda-tree |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=hebates.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Scarlet Sword :: HE Bates |url=https://hebates.com/library/the-scarlet-sword |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=hebates.com}}</ref>

He was also commissioned by the Air Ministry to write ''[https://hebates.com/library/the-battle-of-the-flying-bomb The Battle of the Flying Bomb]'', but because of various disagreements within the government, it was cancelled, and then publication was banned for 30 years. It was discovered by Bob Ogley and published during 1994 with the title ''Flying Bombs over England''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hebates.com/library/the-battle-of-the-flying-bomb|title="The Battle of the Flying Bomb." :: HE Bates|website=hebates.com}}</ref> Another commission which has still to be published is ''[https://hebates.com/library/the-night-interception-battle-1940-1941 Night Interception Battle]'' concerning the difficulty of tracking enemy aircraft at night.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hebates.com/library/the-night-interception-battle-1940-1941|title="The Night Interception Battle 1940-1941." :: HE Bates|website=hebates.com}}</ref>