Fighter Pilot: A Personal Record of the Campaign in France 1939-1940 - Softcover

Richey, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0750962356 ISBN 13: 9780750962353

Publisher: The History Press, 2016

Synopsis

One of The 30 Best Travel and Adventure Books of All Time , as selected by Gear Patrol, Winner 2015 US Travel and Adventure website

FIGHTER PILOT was written from the immediate and unfettered personal journal that 23-year-old Flying Officer Paul Richey began on the day he and No. 1 Squadron landed their Hawker Hurricanes on a grass airfield in France. Originally published in September 1941, it was the first such account of air combat against the Luftwaffe in France in the Second World War, and it struck an immediate chord with a British public enthralled by the exploits of its young airmen.

It is the story of a highly skilled group of young volunteer fighter pilots who patrolled, fl ew and fought at up to 30,000 feet in unheated cockpits, without radar and often from makeshift airfields, and who were finally confronted by the overwhelming might of Hitler s Blitzkreig. It tells how this remarkable squadron adapted its tactics, its aircraft and itself to achieve a brilliant record of combat victories in spite of the most extreme and testing circumstances.

All the thrills, adrenalin rushes and the sheer terror of dog-fighting are here: simply, accurately and movingly described by a young airman discovering for himself the deadly nature of the combat in which he is engaged.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

'One of the greatest and most stirring tales a fighting man has ever told' Evening Standard

Paul Richey landed his Hawker Hurricane in France in 1939. He was 23 years old and, like the rest of RAF No 1 Squadron, he believed in the principles of the Great War: mercy and respect. But Richey and his comrades were savagely confronted with the new realities of war. Shocked by the horror of the Luftwaffe's callous attacks on refugees, the skills of the RAF's premier fighter squadron were deployed to devastating effect.

The result was an outstanding combat record. By the time the Squadron was withdrawn it had destroyed a total of 155 enemy aircraft - for the loss of just three pilots. Richey began his journal the day he arrived in France and all the thrills, adrenaline-rushes and sheer terror of dog-fighting are captured by a man discovering for himself the true nature of the deadly combat in which he is engaged.

About the Author:

Born in 1916, he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1937. Severely wounded in action in the Battle of France, he returned to combat flying in England in 1941, leading a Spitfire squadron on offensive sweeps over occupied France. In 1942 he was sent to the India/Burma theatre to revise their fighter tactics. Invalided home in early 1944, he was later posted to SHAEF Belgium, and ended the war as a Wing Commander Operations in the War Room of the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany. A dedicated Europhile, he was working on a history of Anglo-French relations when he died in 1969.

About this edition

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0750962356
• ISBN 13: 9780750962353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248