SQUADRON AIRBORNE : NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Trevor Dudley Smith ( or Dudley - Smith, February 17th, 1920 - July 21st, 1995 ) was born in Bromley ( Kent, England ) to alcoholic parents. He hated his preparatory school, Yardley Court ( Tonbridge, Kent ), where he was beaten weekly for doing badly at Latin, and subsequently also disliked Sevenoaks School ( Sevenoaks, Kent ).

He did not attend university, having been apprenticed as a racing driver and then joined the R.A.F. He was not allowed to fly because of  an eye defect that made him hypersensitive to sunlight. He then was trained as an Engineer, working on Spitfires for the duration of the Second World War. He also wrote prolifically, having several story - books for children published while still serving in the R.A.F.

After the war, Trevor Dudley Smith eventually changed his name to Elleston Trevor, and used to live in Roedean ( by Brighton, Sussex, England ). In the 1950s, he was a bestselling author of military adventure stories, published mainly, at that stage, by Heinemann. He used to write under several pseudonyms : Simon Rattray, Howard North, Roger Fitzalan, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, Lesley Stone and Adam Hall.

His spy writing started in the early 1960s and he was often described in the blurb to his paperbacks as " Adam Hall, the mystery author of international bestsellerdom ", in classic 1960's fashion. Elleston Trevor moved to continental Europe where he stayed for 15 years ( in both Spain and France ). Proficient in karate, he also enjoyed flying kites and racing miniature cars.

In 1973, he moved to the United States, where he lived in Phoenix ( Arizona ) and where he died of cancer. Elleston Trevor truely was a prolific author, and has published the following titles : Over the Wall ( as Trevor Dudley Smith, 1943 ), The Immortal Error ( as Elleston Trevor, 1946 ), The Killing Ground ( as Elleston Trevor, 1956 ), The Volcanoes of San Domingo ( as Adam Hall, 1963 ), The 9th Directive ( Quiller series as Adam Hall, 1966 ), Expressway ( as Howard North, 1973 ), Riviera Story ( as Lesley Stone, 1987 ), Flycatcher ( as Elleston Trevor, 1994 ).

( source : Wikipedia, www.quiller.net )