PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND : SPITFIRE
Prix régulier 39,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| Book cover finish | Perfect paperback |
| Special feature | Reprint ( Second Printing ) |
| Condition | Used, very good condition |
| Number of pages | 436 |
| Published date | 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Size | 13 x 20 x 4 cm |
| Author | Leo McKinstry |
| Editor | John Murray |
Description
Introduction
FLYING OVER THE coast of France with No. 611 Squadron on a sweltering June afternoon in 1941, Pilot Officer Wilfrid Duncan Smith was feeling hot. The sun was beating through the canopy of his Spitfire, and the burden of flying four combat operations a day was beginning to take its toll. On this scorching afternoon he was part of a Spitfire formation providing a high escort to twelve lumbering Blenheim bombers, which had been instructed to bomb the railway marshalling yards at the coastal town of Hazebrouck. Having crossed the French coast at 28,000 feet, Duncan Smith's Section suddenly came under attack from a wave of Messerschmitt 109s. His Section broke, and, through expert turning, he and his Section Leader, Flying Officer P.S.C. " Polly " Pollard, managed to latch on to the tails of two of the 109s, closing on them fast from 200 feet above. " As the 109 filled the width of my windshield I opened fire with everything I had. I was that close I could not miss. I blasted into the side of the cockpit and engine. Bits flew off and thick smoke gushed ; the log rolled slowly over and plunged vertically. "* ( ... )
Captivating in its grace and beauty, thrilling in its speed and power, the Spitfire's heroic role in defending Britain made it a national icon of patriotic courage. The author tells the gripping Spitfire saga from its beginnings as the brainchild of brilliant designer R.J. Mitchell, through its epic battles in the Second World War, to its final days in the R.A.F. of the 1950s. Using a wealth of unpublished material, this critically acclaimed book rediscovers the plane that gave Britain her finest hour.
* The reader will notice some differences between this very excerpt from the introduction, and the original text from the book, indeed. As a true R.A.F. and Commonwealth air forces enthusiast since 1991, who has studied the matter for the last 19 years, I have made the necessary corrections, so the reader will learn the exact terms with the right spelling.
Mehdi Schneyders.
