Soon after his arrival, 92 Squadron moved from Duxford in Cambridgeshire to Pembrey in Carmarthenshire. Wellum led a flight of eight Spitfires to be carried on aircraft carrier HMS Furious, sailing from the Clyde to the Mediterranean, and then land them on the island. I'm very glad that this finally found it's way to publication, and it should be regarded as one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War.

First Light: Dramatising the real Battle of Britain - BBC First Light: Dramatising the real Battle of Britain - BBC

You read with sadness the loss of many good pilots and friends but still the men continue flying day after day facing terrible odds. He describes a hilarious scene during his first day in the prestigious 92nd Squadron when his commader discovered that Wellum had not only never flown a Spitfire, he'd never even seen one. Although just 18, he was not the youngest pilot to fight in the battle, an honour which is currently held by Martyn Aurel King, born 15 October 1921 - [7]) despite being nicknamed "Boy" by his colleagues.I've had a distant fascination with Spitfires for 10-ish years now, so imagine my excitement when I was reading the detailed accounts of flying one. It's less about the actual flying and more about the physiological effects on the lead person, the combat stress. If you do are interested, watch it indeed, after all it's a real WWII hero that the story is about, and hero's they were, as in Winston's words, never have so few done so much for so many.

First Light: The True Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in

I've very nearly got the same feeling as I had when they put me in charge of night flying that dreadful night at Kidlington. As a straight memoir, First Light would be a good book for the almost impressionist way it brings to life the stress and tension of being a front line fighter pilot during the Second World War.And the real one was based at Wycombe air park and our replica was 80 miles away on the drama set outside Dunstable. Two months before the outbreak of WWII, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum leaves school to become a fighter pilot with the RAF. Then we found a friendly pilot, prepared to have the back cockpit of his two-seater Russian YAK trainer converted to look like a Spitfire cockpit interior. In First Light, Geoffrey Wellum tells the inspiring, often terrifying true story of his coming of age amid the roaring, tumbling dogfights of the fiercest air war the world had ever seen. Perhaps the only reason this book gets four stars is that the writing, as one would expect, is less than the best.

First Light on Vimeo First Light on Vimeo

GEOFFREY WELLUM, a veteran of the Battle of Britain, was the youngest fighter pilot (at 18) in the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have fought in that battle. Wellum claimed a Heinkel He 111 shot down on 11 September, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September 1940.

Wellum has contributed to various television documentaries on the Battle of Britain, including Spitfire Ace produced by RDF Media/Channel 4 (2004), [17] Dangerous Adventures for Boys produced by Channel 5 (2008), [18] and The Spitfire: Britain's Flying Past produced by the BBC (September 2011).

First Light: Original Edition - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books First Light: Original Edition - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books

We are witnesses as Wellum grows into manhood, growing in both confidence and skill to the point where he becomes fearless. In July 1940 as the Battle raged in the skies above, a kid, fresh out of school, with a dream to fly, walked into the world of ‘the few’ during a defining moment in World History and the turning point of the Second World War.Viihdyttävä ja vetävä kirja sisältää kaikesta huolimatta paljon kiehtovaa tietoa hävittäjien käsittelystä ja vaihtelevista taistelulennoista. This is a great story and in finishing I would like to add the following comment from a great historian about this book: "A work of exceptional quality. If England had fallen to Germany, the country could not have been used as the launching point for the D-Day landings and the liberation of Europe.