Download or read book The Silver Spitfire written by Tom Neil and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliantly vivid Second World War memoir by one of 'the Few' Spitfire fighter pilots. Following the D-Day landings, Battle of Britain hero Tom Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron. As the Allies pushed east, Neil commandeered an abandoned Spitfire as his own personal aeroplane. Erasing any evidence of its provenance and stripping it down to bare metal, it became the RAF's only silver Spitfire. Alongside his US comrades, he took the silver Spitfire into battle until, with the war's end, he was forced to make a difficult decision. Faced with too many questions about the mysterious rogue fighter, he contemplated increasingly desperate measures to offload it, including bailing out mid-Channel. He eventually left the Spitfire at Worthy Down, never to be seen again. THE SILVER SPITFIRE is the first-hand, gripping story of Neil's heroic experience as an RAF fighter pilot and his reminiscences with his very own personal Spitfire.
Download or read book The Silver Spitfire written by Roger Harvey and published by . This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Silver Spitfire written by Matt Jones and published by Air World. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recovery and renovation of a Second World War Spitfire to museum standards is always a special event. To then restore it to flying status is an even greater accomplishment. If that was the whole story of The Sliver Spitfire this would still be a worthy subject for a book - but this Spitfire, MJ271, or G-IRTY as she is also known, built more than 70 years ago as a short-range interceptor fighter - then went on to fly round the world.MJ271 was sent to its first frontline unit, 118 Squadron, which was then based at RAF Detling in Kent as part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, on 18 February 1944. While at Detling, MJ271 took part in a total of sixteen operations. More sorties followed with other squadrons and with pilots from many Allied nationalities at the controls. Though undertaking many offensive sorties in a reconfigured dive-bomber role over occupied territory, and suffering Category 'B' damage, MJ271 survived the war.She was handed over to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, eventually being sold to the War Museum at Delfzijl and then on to other organizations. It was during this period that MJ271 acquired her silver finish. Her last move was to Boutlbee Flight Academy, now Spitfires.com, in 2016. It was there that the idea grew of attempting something which had never been achieved before - to fly a Spitfire around the world!On 5 August 2019, MJ271 set off from Goodwood aerodrome, the former Battle of Britain fighter station then known as RAF Westhampnett, on its record-breaking flight. This unique event saw the Silver Spitfire cover a staggering 43,000 kilometers in a total of 74-legs through twenty-four countries, flying across Greenland and the Atlantic to the United States via New York, Las Vegas and California. The Spitfire then flew north before heading westward into Russia and to Japan, before making its way across the rest of Asia. After a set of brief stopovers in the Middle East, it flew across Europe to return to the UK.Told through a panoply of astounding photographs, each stage of the Silver Spitfire's remarkable history and unrivaled world tour is displayed in this beautiful tribute to this great icon of British engineering and pioneering spirit.
Download or read book Silver Spitfire written by Matt Jones and published by Air World. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recovery and renovation of a Second World War Spitfire to museum standards is always a special event. To then restore it to flying status is an even greater accomplishment. If that was the whole story of The Sliver Spitfire this would still be a worthy subject for a book – but this Spitfire, MJ271, or G-IRTY as she is also known, built more than 70 years ago as a short-range interceptor fighter – then went on to fly round the world. MJ271 was sent to its first frontline unit, 118 Squadron, which was then based at RAF Detling in Kent as part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, on 18 February 1944. While at Detling, MJ271 took part in a total of sixteen operations. More sorties followed with other squadrons and with pilots from many Allied nationalities at the controls. Though undertaking many offensive sorties in a reconfigured dive-bomber role over occupied territory, and suffering Category ‘B’ damage, MJ271 survived the war. She was handed over to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, eventually being sold to the War Museum at Delfzijl and then on to other organizations. It was during this period that MJ271 acquired her silver finish. Her last move was to Boutlbee Flight Academy, now Spitfires.com, in 2016. It was there that the idea grew of attempting something which had never been achieved before – to fly a Spitfire around the world! On 5 August 2019, MJ271 set off from Goodwood aerodrome, the former Battle of Britain fighter station then known as RAF Westhampnett, on its record-breaking flight. This unique event saw the Silver Spitfire cover a staggering 43,000 kilometers in a total of 74-legs through twenty-four countries, flying across Greenland and the Atlantic to the United States via New York, Las Vegas and California. The Spitfire then flew north before heading westward into Russia and to Japan, before making its way across the rest of Asia. After a set of brief stopovers in the Middle East, it flew across Europe to return to the UK. Told through a panoply of astounding photographs, each stage of the Silver Spitfire’s remarkable history and unrivaled world tour is displayed in this beautiful tribute to this great icon of British engineering and pioneering spirit.
Download or read book The Silver Spitfire written by Roger Harvey and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-05 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SILVER SPITFIRE is a tender and haunting love story set against the horrors of war and the drama of 20th-century turmoil, told with honesty, realism, and mastery of language by this accomplished novelist who also a poet and screenwriter. When two young Englishmen visit Nazi Germany and one marries a German girl, events are set in motion that will lead them all into a terrifying future and the stark new world of post-war Britain. Unforgettable romance, gripping action scenes, and a sweeping saga of historical events combine in this richly atmospheric and sensuously written book based on a true story: it really is a 20th-century love story for all time.
Download or read book The Silver Spitfire written by Roger Harvey and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Spitfire Series written by Jordan Silver and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains the first three books of The Spitfire Series The Mouth Shane Flanagan is Prince of the City and all around badass; that is until he comes up against Arianna Rossi the young spitfire with nothing but guts and determination on her side. They butt heads at every turn as they each battle for dominance. Who will be the victor in this tug of war as they circle each other while keeping their enemies at bay? Shane the tough young don? Or Ari the mouthy younger woman with a truck load of secrets? Lady Boss The mouthy one is back and she's chocked full of surprises; how will bad boy Shane Flanagan, Prince of the City handle the big reveal; how will he react when he learns exactly why Arianna Rossi has been hiding out in his town? Will the closeness they've only just found with each other be threatened by what's been kept in the dark and what is yet to come? Beautiful Assassin Shane Flanagan Prince of the City and his young lover Arianna Rossi whom he just learnt is actually Princess of the Underworld syndicate of the country are back in this fast paced tale of mob wars, assassinations and take overs. By day the two butt heads because Shane wants her as far away from the violence that touched his life as possible while Arianna believes in protecting her loved ones by any means necessary; but at night when the guns and other weapons of choice were on the nightstand these two hot blooded lovers relieved their passions in each other's arms.
Download or read book Silver Spitfire written by Michael J. Stevens and published by . This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Malloch s Spitfire written by Nick Meikle and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2014-04-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of one of history’s greatest fighter aircraft from WWII to its remarkable restoration in 1980 Rhodesia: “an aviation classic-in-waiting” (Airscape). In 1977, the Rhodesian Air Force retrieved a World War II–era Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 22. But while the RAF was embroiled in the Bush War, the dream of restoring the aircraft was frustrated by international sanctions. That’s when legendary pilot John “Jack” McVicar Malloch took control of the project. Not only had Jack flown Spitfires during World War II, he was also uniquely positioned to circumvent sanctions through his airfreight company, Air Trans Africa. With ingenuity, passion, and a team of trusted engineers, Jack realized the dream of putting Spitfire PK350 back in the air on March 29, 1980. In Malloch’s Spitfire, author Nick Meikle tells the full story of this remarkable restoration and reveals some fascinating insights about the aircraft. The reader is taken on a journey through the Spitfire’s life, beginning with her first test flight in 1945. The project’s lead engineer and many of the surviving pilots who flew her also share their memories. For two years, PK350 delighted those fortunate enough to see her fly. Then, on what was planned to be her last flight, Malloch’s Spitfire never returned to base.
Download or read book Supermarine Spitfire V Vol 1 written by Wojtek Matusiak and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two volumes describe Spitfire Vs used by Polish pilots in Britain during 1941-1945. This vol. 1 covers Polish 302-308 Squadrons, while vol. 2 will cover 315-318 Squadrons plus allied units. The books include listings of losses and of officially credited victories. Each volume has about 200 photographs (many of which have not been published before) and 36 color profiles (plus top and bottom views of representative aircraft).
Download or read book The Women with Silver Wings written by Katherine Sharp Landdeck and published by Crown Publishing Group (NY). This book was released on 2020 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling true story of the daring female aviators who helped the United States win World War II--only to be forgotten by the country they served. When Japanese planes executed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At twenty-two, Cornelia had escaped Nashville's debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of their lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground that morning. Still, when the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Cornelia was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army's rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings. In The Women with Silver Wings, historian Katherine Sharp Landdeck introduces us to these young women as they meet even-tempered, methodical Nancy Love and demanding visionary Jacqueline Cochran, the trailblazing pilots who first envisioned sending American women into the air, and whose rivalry would define the Women Airforce Service Pilots. For women like Cornelia, it was a chance to serve their country--and to prove that women aviators were just as skilled and able as men. While not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP helped train male pilots for service abroad and ferried bombers and pursuits across the country. Thirty-eight of them would not survive the war. But even taking into account these tragic losses, Love and Cochran's social experiment seemed to be a resounding success--until, with the tides of war turning and fewer male pilots needed in Europe, Congress clipped the women's wings. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they'd forged never failed, and over the next few decades, they came together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were--and for their place in history.
Download or read book Spitfire Pilot written by David Crook and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A brilliant first-hand account of the life of a fighter pilot” in World War II (The Spectator). Spitfire Pilot was written in 1940 in the heat of battle, when the RAF stood alone against the might of Hitler’s Third Reich. It is a tremendous personal account of one of the fiercest and most idealized air conflicts—the Battle of Britain—seen through the eyes of a pilot of the famous 609 Squadron, which shot down over one hundred planes in that epic contest. Often hopelessly outnumbered, David Crook and his colleagues, in their state-of-the-art Spitfires, committed acts of unimaginable bravery against the Messerschmitts and the Junkers. Many did not make it—and Crook describes the absence they leave in the squadron with great poignancy. Includes an introduction by historian Richard Overy
Download or read book First Light written by Geoffrey Wellum and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two months before the outbreak of the Second World War, eighteen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF . . . Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s. Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum many never return.
Download or read book The Buried Spitfires of Burma written by Andy Brockman and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rumours of buried Spitfires from the Second World War have spread around the world for seventy-five years. In April 2012, the press reported that the UK had negotiated an agreement with Myanmar for the recovery of twenty crated Spitfires, reportedly buried after WW2. Astonishingly the agreement came about through the single-minded determination of a farmer, David Cundall. Armed with a high-tech survey showing mysterious shapes under the surface of Yangon International Airport, David's expedition is equipped with JCB excavators. But instead of Spitfires, the team unearths a tale of fake history. The Buried Spitfires of Burma explores what happened next as David Cundall's dream unravelled over the course of a historical 'whodunnit' that spans seven decades and three continents. It follows one of the most bizarre stories since the sensational Hitler Diaries hoax.
Download or read book A Spitfire Girl written by Mary Ellis and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII biography recounts the heroic contributions of a female pilot who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Wellington Bombers for the RAF. A farmer’s daughter from Oxfordshire, Mary Ellis fell in love with flying at the age of eleven, when she rode in a biplane at a flying circus. Already a licensed pilot by the time the Second World War broke out, Mary joined the Air Transit Auxiliary in 1941. As a ferry pilot, she transported aircraft for the Royal Air Force, including more than four hundred Spitfires and seventy-six different kinds of aircraft. After the war, Mary accepted a secondment to the RAF as one of the first pilots to fly the new Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first fighter jet. By 1950, she became Europe's first female air commandant. In this authorized biography, Mary and biographer Melody Foreman vividly recount her action-packed career spanning almost a century of aviation. Mary says: I am passionate for anything fast and furious. I always have been since the age of three and I always knew I would fly. The day I stepped into a Spitfire was a complete joy and it was the most natural thing in the world for me.
Download or read book Gun Button to Fire written by Tom Neil and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amazing story of one of the 'Few', fighter ace Tom Neil who shot down 13 enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain.
Download or read book Spitfire Girl written by Jackie Moggridge and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiring memoir of the remarkable Jackie Moggridge: ATA girl, Spitfire expert and pioneer. 'We had returned to a different world. We had taken off in peace at nine-thirty and landed in war at noon.' Jackie Moggridge was just nineteen when World War Two broke out. Determined to do her bit, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. Ferrying aircraft from factory to frontline was dangerous work, but there was also fun, friendship and even love in the air. At last the world was opening up to women... or at least it seemed to be. From her first flight at fifteen to smuggling Spitfires into Burma, Jackie describes the trials and tribulations, successes and frustrations of her life in the sky. What Amazon readers are saying about Spitfire Girl: 'There is something for everyone in this remarkable autobiography, adventure, romance, flight, struggle, victory. Must read!' 5* 'An amazing book by an inspirational woman' 5* 'Drama, aircraft, relationships... it's all there in this great page-turner!' 5* 'I am left with real admiration for Jackie Moggridge, truly an amazing lady' 5* 'Brilliant book. What an amazing women she was' 5*.
