British & Commonwealth - Armed Forces, War Narratives, Europe - Armed Forces - Biography, Historical Biography, Military Biography, World War II, British History - General & Miscellaneous, Aviation - Military

First Light

Name: First Light
Author: Geoffrey Wellum
ISBN: 9780750519533

by Geoffrey Wellum

Write a review

Overview

Geoffrey Wellum joined the Royal Air Force in 1939, at age seventeen. After piloting Spitfires during the Battle of Britain and flying nearly 100 missions over occupied France, he was mentally and physically exhausted—an old man at age twenty-two. Now, drawing on notes he wrote at the time, Wellum re-creates his wartime experiences. The book vividly evokes the realities of wartime flying—the camaraderie, the scrambles, the dogfights, the night flights, the foul weather. But it also gives us a moving portrait of a boy who anguishes over the loss of friends during training, broods over fears of failure—and survives to become a battle-hardened ace, inured to death but never unaffected by it. Richly detailed, engagingly written, and emotionally resonant, First Light is a treat for military history buffs and anyone drawn to dramatic coming-of-age stories.

Author Biography: Geoffrey Wellum (Cornwall, UK) left the RAF in 1961 and worked for a commodities brokerage in London until his retirement.