Best British WW2 air war autobiographies for a teenager

[Watcher]

In my time I've read them all. I was lucky enough that the librarian at Surbiton library filled the shelves with them. Sadly now my feeble ageing memory won't drag them up from the depths. My son's 18th birthday is coming up in April and I'd like to buy him maybe four or five of the classic books.

From memory I'm thinking:

• The Closterman autobiography;
• Reach for the Sky - Douglas Bader;
• Cat's Eyes Cunnigham's book ?
• Whelan's book?
• The fighter account written during the war by the pilot who was very badly burned and subsequently killed on his return to service.

You can tell how I'm struggling here!!

If you have any other suggestions I'd welcome them.

TIA

Watcher

[Black Knight]

How about 'Lost voices of the RAF'? - an anthology of stories from people from the earliest days [1911 or so] to the 1st Gulf War. Each is a short story and can be read individually.

[Seahawk]

For the FAA fighter perspective you're unlikely to do better than Norman Hanson's Carrier Pilot (Corsairs): vivid, humorous and moving, doesn't feel dated when you read it. In fact I think I'd put it at the top of my list. There are two good ones by Swordfish pilots, War In A Stringbag by Charles Lamb and Bring Back My Stringbag by John Godley/Lord Kilbracken. Certainly the second, maybe both, cover Taranto but both offer "much much more".

Not sure John Cunningham has written an autobiography but the book by his navigator is excellent: Night Fighter by Rawnsley and Wright.

The book by the pilot who was badly burned is The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary. Also worth considering is Paul Richey's Fighter Pilot (Hurricanes during the Battle of France). On the Bomber Command side there's Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast Ahead and Leonard Cheshire's Bomber Pilot: as a kid I preferred the former but I reckon I might appreciate the latter more now. Scarily vivid stuff about being lost over Germany in a Whitley with half the fuselage blown out: more fear and raw courage than glamour.

"Whelan's book": Geoffrey Wellum's First Light?

I loved the Closterman book when I was a kid but the gloss has been taken off it by discovering that a lot of it is not true, or at least didn't actually happen to Closterman.

This thread could run and run!

[Troffa]

Seahawk has named the best two in my opinion, Enemy Coast Ahead by Gibson and Fighter Pilot from Paul Richey. Excellent pair of books, especially the recent "Un-censored" edition of Gibson's tome.

Cheers,

Troffa

[dadgaddad]

I would recommend Carrier Pilot, too, although it makes for grim reading in places and that's before they even finish training.

[PDH]

Wing Leader by Johnnie Johnston

Popski's Private Army by Vladimir Peniakoff

Enjoyed both immensely as a young boy.

P

[theclay]

i can personally recommend Geoffrey Wellum's First Light

[cmatthewbacon]

This lot may help -- I've read them all over the years, many in yellowing, garishly covered Pan originals from jumble sales! Most have been republished more recently, though, by Cassell, Penguin or Pen and Sword. A lot of these have "New and used from £0.01" if you don't want to buy new ones -- and Abebooks.co.uk is a happy hunting ground as well...

"Tumult in the Clouds by James Goodson (not strictly "British", but he did start in the RAF)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tumult-Clouds-Penguin-World-Collection/dp/0141042869

"Nine Lives" by Al Deere

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0907579825

"Pathfinder", by Don Bennett

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pathfinder-Bomber-crews-C-T-Bennett/dp/0907579574

"We Landed by Moonlight", by Hugh Verity

http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Landed-Moonlight-Landings-1940-1944/dp/0947554750

First Light, by Geoff Wellum

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Light-Penguin-World-Collection/dp/0141042753

Fighter Pilot, by Paul Richey

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0304363391

Test Pilot, by Neville Duke (more than half of it is about his early and WW2 flying experience)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Test-Pilot-Neville-Duke/dp/1904010407

Wing Leader, by Johnnie Johnson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wing-Leader-Top-scoring-Allied-Fighter/dp/0907579876

War in a Stringbag, by Charles Lamb

http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Stringbag-CASSELL-MILITARY-PAPERBACKS/dp/030435841X

Wings on my Sleeve, by Eric "Winkle" Brown

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wings-My-Sleeve-Worlds-Greatest/dp/0753822091

Lancaster Target, by Jack Currie

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lancaster-Target-Jack-Currie/dp/0907579280

Luck and a Lancaster, by Harry Yates

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luck-Lancaster-Survival-Airlifes-Classics/dp/1840372915

bestest,

M.

[Seahawk]

Another vote for Hugh Verity's book (Lysander flights to occupied France) and Neville Duke's (the title is because at the time it came out he was more famous as a test pilot than as a war veteran).

Another one: Typhoon Pilot by Desmond Scott, RNZAF. A more recent book that left an abiding impression on me of the losses these ground attack pilots suffered and the strain upon them, more so than some of the older, more gung-ho accounts.

[Procopius]

I'm quite partial to Wing Leader and Nine Lives, myself.

[blueliner]

Also consider:

Geoffrey Page - Tale of a Guinea Pig

Geoffrey Wellum's - First Light - mentioned above, is Outstanding, as is Enemy Coast Ahead

Richard Hillary - The Last Enemy

My recommendation of First Light is based on this: Wellum is a teenager when it starts, and is 21 when it ends.

He realizes that at that young age, he has just experienced the pinnacle achievement of his life. Where to go from there...?

Edited February 18, 2014 by blueliner

[Potato Pete]

Another vote for Nine Lives, War in a Stringbag, Night Fighter and Lancaster Target.

Also No Moon Tonight - Don Charlwood

[mhaselden]

I love Wellum's 'First Light' and Verity's 'We Landed By Moonlight'.

One that hasn't been mentioned is Jim Bailey's 'The Sky Suspended' - a great book, highly recommended. I think Partridge's 'Operation Skua' is also worth a read. I'm also partial to Bond's 'Flying Tiger's Diary'.

[Watcher]

Thank you very much for your suggestions; plenty to work on there.

[Terrain Safe]

Tom Neil's book 'Gun Button to Fire' highly recommended, as is 'First Light'. Two great books which really took me there.

[MikeC]

Focus on Europe - Ron Foster, a New Zealander flying Mosquitos from Benson with 544.

Sky Spy - Ray Holmes (the man who shot down the Dornier which crashed on Victoria station during the Battle of Britain) - interesting insight into the RAFVR training scheme pre-war, after which he flew fighters during the BoB, did a tour as a ferry pilot, another as an instructor, and finally as a PR Spitfire pilot - very interesting.

Flying for Freedom - Alois Siska, a Czech flying with 311 (Czecoslovak) bomber Sqn.

[davidelvy]

I would echo Stringbag's mm suggestion of Carrier Pilot by Norman Hanson. It is a very easy read with plenty of humour mixed in with grim reality. I would also suggest They Gave me a Seafire by Mike Crossley. The humour is similar, but there's a bit more technical information.

[Graham T]

The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary, Richey's Fighter Pilot & bader's Reach for the Sky are all good, but don't neglect "the other side" as Galland's Duel of a Eagles is a very good read.

[JohnT]

All good reads

If I had to pick just one then go for First Light

One not mentioned try Roland Beamont "My Part of the Sky"

[BomberBrit]

I've added a few of these onto my "to buy" list. My Kindle is oddly lacking air biographies from WW2.

Anyway, I'll throw in a suggestion too. "I sank the Bismarck" by John Moffat is an excellent read about his time as a Swordfish pilot and the mission to attack the Bismarck. Great book. Well written and detailed, but not overly so where you feel overwhelmed with facts and figures like some biographies.