Various books
There is an astonishing amount of literature available, related to the Salvation Army. A colorful selection of such books is listed on the following pages.
Shadow of a Tiger
by Parker Lionel, 1994, GB
In this book Lionel Parker has written the memoirs of Victor Pederson, the first "Flying Padre", of his deployment from 1945 to 1972 as a flying Salvation Army Officer in the north of Australia.
In 1945 in the hot north of Australia around the city of Darwin, people lived in almost undeveloped areas, often far from schools, hospitals and also far from churches. In this situation the Salvation Army, with the support of the "Red Shield Units of Service", dispatched an officer who was also a Second World War pilot. He visited remote settlements as a "Flying Padre" to hold services there and take on other required services.
The first Flying Padre, Victor Pederson, only had a small Tiger Moth airplane (hence the book's title). Fortunately, he was also trained as a mechanic, because it often took skill and imagination to repair damage to the aircraft far away from the nearest workshop. The unpredictable weather conditions in this tropical area often led to dangerous situations and even emergency landings in the middle of the bush. By the time Pederson retired in the early 1970s, the Flying Padres were already an institution. To this day, Salvation Army officers regularly fly to people in the still inaccessible areas of northern Australia.
Various books
