About the book: 1986 / “Far from the Native Home” - an expanded and corrected reissue of V. Parkhomenko’s book “Four Anxious Years,” Time Flies. How long has it been since I played “Papanin” with the boys, dashing around the yard on a red scooter and, convinced that I was cultivating courage in myself, jumping on the tram steps as I walked? How long have you been raving about the flights of Chkalov and Kokkinaki? How long ago have I, under the howl of air raid sirens, raised my head, peered into the blue summer sky, trying to guess from which side the fascist bombers would appear??