Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Product Information

The book was published in 2018 and is a compilation of stories about the experience in WWII. The stories focus on the heartbreaking tales of those who had to serve and sometimes give up their life for us to be here today. Spitfire Books offers a superb selection of books and flying memorabilia signed by some of the most distinguished pilots in aviation history.

Bestselling author John Nichol's passionate portrait of this magnificent fighter aircraft, its many innovations and updates, and the people who flew and loved them, carries the reader beyond the dogfights over Kent and Sussex. Spanning the full global reach of the Spitfire's deployment during WWII, from Malta to North Africa and the Far East, then over the D-Day beaches, it is always accessible, effortlessly entertaining and full of extraordinary spirit. Nichol doesn’t spend much time pondering his own question. Instead the book provides a history of the Spitfire, primarily through first-hand accounts from those who flew it during WW2. In Britain today the Spitfire is very much associated with the Battle of Britain, but Nichol’s book takes us through the subsequent campaigns in Malta, North Africa, Italy, France etc. There’s also a short section about the use of Spitfires in the Burma campaign, and another interesting one about the work of the mainly female pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary, who flew planes from the factories where they were manufactured to their operational airfields. A love story indeed. It pays homage to the men and women who designed the Spitfire, built her, maintained her and flew her — as well as to the Spitfire herself. The Spitfire was more than an aircraft. It was a symbol of hope, of courage and resilience, and became a legend. With its elliptic wings, it was easily recognisable in the wartime skies and became an icon, giving hope to those Allies civilians watching below. It inspired kids watching to become fighter pilots — on Spitfires. What is it about the Spitfire? …Why, over eighty years after she first flew, is the Spitfire regarded as the very symbol of Britishness; … Why is this particular aircraft loved so much?Twenty-three thousand Spitfires were built between 1936-1946. It was flown in all theatres of war, Britain, NW Europe, North Africa, Malta. Italy, USSR, and SE Asia. It rarely disappointed and almost always impressed. Today only 240 are know to exist and of these 60 are airworthy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superma... The iconic Spitfire found fame during the darkest early days of World War II. But what happened to the redoubtable fighter and its crews beyond the Battle of Britain, and why is it still so loved today?

It didn’t take long to fall in love with the Spitfire. Pilots, mechanics, land girls, civvies – they all fell under her spell.’John Nichol's book tells the stories of dozens of pilots, both men and women, and the sacrifices they made during the war. It's finely balanced between the technical side and development of the Spit, and the personal accounts of the pilots, many now in their 90s. In parts, it's incredibly moving, especially when you think many of these pilots were under twenty when they first took to the skies. The few romantic liaisons really tugged at my heart strings, Joe and Betty more so than they probably should have done. This book was so well written that it was the first time I really understood the various movements of the war. Perhaps I needed a bird’s-eye view to see it all more clearly; although maybe I should say a Spitfire’s view. If you are an aviation enthusiast we will have something that you would love to add to your collection.

The Spitfire has a devout following of all who flew her, specially on combat. It was an extension of the pilot who has only positive accolades. Coupled with the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, it was a perfect flying machine, saving many a pilot out of difficult situations, earning the grudging respect of the enemy. Like the time when an RAF pilot ran out of ammunition as two German Me109 fighters found him. A tough dog fight ensued where he continued to evade the two German fighters, who did not manage to hit him once. At the end, the two fighters flew on either side of him, waggled their wings in a sign of respect, and banked away. This is a truly fascinating book from so many angles. I suspect that many, like me, would view the Spitfire as being synonymous with the Battle of Britain, but then having a very sketchy picture thereafter. This book inks in that sketch in effect by telling the story of the second world war through the contribution of this one aircraft. The author could have focused just on the pilot's stories, or how the Spitfire handled itself in battle, however, by choosing to add in some historical facts about WW2 at the same time, I feel as though I have travelled through time, learning more about those 6 years we were at war in a way I wasn’t taught or have read about previously. The way he covers people on the ground too really adds to the depth of what you are reading.Accompanying those love stories however, are the paragraphs of the real cost of war and the toll it takes on its participants. While Sptifire is a love story that glorifies the namesake aircraft, it does not do that at the cost of romanticizing the glory of warfare. Nichol did an outstanding job highlighting the mental and physical tolls taken on the pilots and how it effected them for years to follow. At several points the text specifically mentions “shedding the boyish idea of the glory of war” as the aviators became men. Just yet another fantastic element in an already fantastic book. The author follows the careers of a group (fewer than 25?) Spitfire pilots AND mechanics, men AND women, Americans, Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians,; Polish and Indian pilots have brief parts, as does one bomber pilot from Jamaica. In the telling he covers the entire war in which Spits saw action, including Malta, Africa, Italy, Burma and the Soviet Union, and the stories include training, scrambles and dog fights, bail outs, captures, the sudden death of comrades, romances, escapes with the French resistance, and, in one unforgettable tale, an RAF mechanic stealing(!) a Spit to make his first flight ever which is purposely INTO(!) a battle zone. As I approached the end of the book I thought this was a solid treatment of the view of the war from the pilots, and was prepared to be let down by the winding down of the war. But the ending was surprising and not what I expected. Instead of heroic welcomes or happy ever afters, the epilogue describes PSTD, divorces, depression and accidental deaths, but it is surprisingly uplifting rather than melancholic. A rich and heartfelt tribute to this most iconic British machine' Rowland White, bestselling author of Vulcan 607 I would've wished more some sort of technical analysis or something more tangible than "everyone loved the plane, it was easy to fly". There were some parts where the plane and it's variants were compared to German ME109(variants) and FW190, but I would've liked more and especially to other allied aircraft.