Spitfire Pilot is the exhilarating and moving memoir of D. M. Crook,
an airman in the legendary 609 Squadron - one of the most successful RAF
units in the Battle of Britain.
Beginning with his fond recollections of his halcyon days in training -
acrobatics, night flying and languorous days spent playing sport and
nights off visiting Piccadilly Circus - Crook goes on to recount in
thrilling detail the dogfights, remarkable victories and tragic losses
which formed the daily routine of Britain's heroic aerial defenders in
that long summer of 1940.
Often hopelessly outnumbered, the men of 609 Squadron in their
state-of-the-art Spitfires committed acts of unimaginable bravery
against the Messerschmitts and Junkers of Germany's formidable
Luftwaffe. Many of Crook's fellow airmen did not make it back alive, and
the absence they leave in the close-knit community of the squadron is
described with great poignancy.
Spitfire Pilot offers a unique and personal insight into one of the
most critical moments of British history, when a handful of men stood up
against the might of the German Air Force in defense of their country.
This definitive edition, the first for more than sixty years, includes a
new foreword by David Crook's daughter and Air Vice Marshal Sandy
Hunter, Honorary Air Commodore of the 609 Squadron. The book also has an
introduction by Professor Richard Overy.
