Goodbye, Mickey Mouse is a historical novel by Len Deighton published in 1982. Set in Britain in early 1944 it tells the story of the 220th Fighter Group of the US Eighth Air Force in the lead up to the Allied invasion of Europe. The Group is based at the fictional Steeple Thaxted airfield in Cambridgeshire.
The novel successfully evokes wartime Britain with the effects of rationing and the simmering antipathy the British servicemen felt towards their well-paid American allies. It also features Deighton's trademark technical and operational details of the P-51 Mustang fighter which the Group flies. The aerial scenes are few and brief but powerfully capture the terror and excitement of bomber escort missions over Germany.
Each chapter is titled by the name of the main character it deals with. The central storyline revolves around a love affair between a new pilot, Captain James Farebrother, and an English girl, Victoria Cooper. Another major plot line follows Lieutenant Michael Morse, nicknamed Mickey Mouse, who is racing to be the first American pilot to break Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 kills from World War I.
This novel has no relation to either Walt Disney or the fictional creation of Mickey Mouse.
LEN DEIGHTON'S 14th novel, ''Goodbye, MickeyMouse,'' tells, among other things, about what it was like to fly fighter planes over Germany during the last stages of World War II.
But what is most intriguing about ''Goodbye, MickeyMouse'' is that it explores a profound but little noticed aspect of war - namely, the necessity it creates for parents to send their children off to death.
Literally, ''Goodbye, MickeyMouse'' is what a dying pilot says at the end to one of his sidekicks, Lieut.
Set in Britain in early 1944 it tells the story of the 220th Fighter Group of the US Eighth Air Force in the lead up to the Allied invasion of Europe.
Another major plot line follows Lieutenant Michael Morse, nicknamed MickeyMouse, who is racing to be the first American pilot to break Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 kills from World War I.
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