The Silver Spitfire: The Legendary WWII RAF Fighter Pilot in his Own Words - Hardcover

Neil, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297868136 ISBN 13: 9780297868132

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2013

Synopsis

During the build up to the Allied invasion of Northern Europe, Battle of Britain hero Tom 'Ginger' Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron. Acting as a British representative, Neil was tasked with negotiating and overcoming the countless culture clashes that existed between the two allies. From encountering unfamiliar planes and uncomfortable attitudes towards the British to meeting the King of Yugoslavia and General George Patton and falling in love, Neil's time with the Americans was anything but dull. 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. Love affair and culture clashes on hold, he took the silver Spitfire into battle alongside his US comrades 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.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Neil is one of 'the Few' surviving Battle of Britain fighter aces. He lives with his wife - who he met during the war - near Diss in Suffolk.

From the Back Cover

'Some 5,000 feet beneath the slightly darkening blue of the heavens was a large, thin patch of broken white stratus cloud with little else to be seen in the vast, cold, surrounding expanse of space. I was at a little over 34,000 feet when I glanced below and observed a minute group of aircraft in finger-four formation moving like insects across the top of the white patch of stratus at about 25,000 feet. As they were small and obviously fighters, I was instantly reminded of the Autumn of 1940 and that I was witnessing, yet again, a small formation of German Me 109s over the southern counties of England, running for home. Suddenly, it was 1940 all over again. I was thousands of feet above the enemy, they had not yet seen me and I was in a prime position to attack. This was the moment! On a sudden impulse, I turned my P47 on its back and fell like a stone in their direction.'

From the Inside Flap

During the build up to the Allied invasion of Northern Europe, Battle of Britain hero Tom 'Ginger' Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron. Acting as a British representative, Neil was tasked with negotiating and overcoming the countless culture clashes that existed between the two allies. From encountering unfamiliar planes and uncomfortable attitudes towards the British to meeting the King of Yugoslavia and General George Patton and falling in love, Neil's time with the Americans was anything but dull.

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.

Love affair and culture clashes on hold, he took the silver Spitfire into battle alongside his US comrades 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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297868136
• ISBN 13: 9780297868132
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320