Read by Gordon Griffin
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
.Winston Churchill, 1940
Geoffrey Wellum was one of Churchill.s "few," the gallant pilots of the RAF
who streaked through the skies to repel the massive, brutal Nazi bombing
assaults that killed thousands and leveled entire cities throughout the
endless months of the Battle of Britain. To a man, they were courageous,
determined, and oh, so young. Geoffrey, known as Boy to his comrades, was
a good deal younger than most.
In First Light, Geoffrey Wellum tells the inspiring, often terrifying true
story of his coming of age amid the roaring, tumbling dogfights of the
fiercest air war the world had ever seen. It is the story of an idealistic
schoolboy who couldn.t believe his luck when the RAF agreed to take him on
as a "pupil pilot" at the minimum age of seventeen and a half in 1939. In
his fervor to fly, he gave little thought to the coming war.
Writing with wit, compassion, and a great deal of technical expertise,
Wellum relives his grueling months of flight training, during which two of
his classmates crashed and died. He describes a hilarious scene during his
first day in the prestigious 92nd Squadron when his commander discovered
that Wellum had not only never flown a Spitfire, he.d never even seen one.
Boy soon learned the golden rule of the dogfight: "Never fly straight and
level for more than twenty seconds. If you do, you.ll die." Wellum.s vivid
accounts of ferocious aerial combat contrast the mortal terror of an
innocent teenager with the grim determination of a highly trained warrior
intent on doing his job.blasting the enemy one moment, desperately trying
to shake off a pursuer the next. Few writers have succeeded more completely
in evoking the chaos and horror of war.
A battle.hardened ace by the winter of 1941, though still not out of his
teens, Boy flew scores of missions as fighter escort on bombing missions
over France. Yet the constant life.or.death stress of murderous combat and
anguish over the loss of his closest friends sapped endurance. Tortured by
fierce headaches, even in the midst of battle, he could not bear the
thought of "not pulling your weight," of letting other pilots risk their
lives in his place. Wellum.s frank account of his long, losing bout with
battle fatigue is both moving and enlightening.
Filled with affectionate portraits of Boy.s fellow fliers.many of whom did
not survive the war.First Light tells an unforgettable true story of
patriotism and fear, pride and humility, self.sacrifice and triumph. Already
a bestseller in England, this powerful and compelling memoir is destined to
become a classic, not only of military history, but also of literature.
Download File Size:255.38 MB
|
