Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. New York : Viking 2002. Print.
There are some days in the early spring when the weather is such that, no matter where you are, either in town or countryside, England is at her best and it's good to be alive. I notice that it is just such a day as I emerge from the underground at Holborn, turn left, and walk down Kingsway....I am seventeen and a half years old and, I suspect, a rather precocious young man. It was some six months ago when I first wrote to the Air Ministry...and very much wanted to fly an aeroplans, so could they give me a job, please?
Description:
I've only been up in a small plane a couple of times, but the thrill and freedom of soaring in the air made a lasting impression. So I was captivated by the very personal memoirs of World War II RAF airman Geoffrey Wellum in this memoir First Light.
In this compelling stream-of-consciousness book, Wellum details his adventures learning to fly for the RAF and then entering numerous combat and escort missions during the War...all starting at the ripe old age of 17 1/2 years old. (He lied about his age and got into the RAF, even though he had no knowledge of planes or how to fly). One month after entering RAF training, England entered the War, making Wellum's flight instruction more intense and rushed (and real).
Wellum and his fellow students are rushed into action before completing their training. Aerial combat exercises were never undertaken. Nevertheless, he is assigned to the newly-formed 92nd Squadron and, at 18, is by far the youngest pilot. Unlike the older, veteran 92nd squadron pilots, Wellum has no dog-fighting experience, much to the consternation of his commanding officer who feels Wellum will be useless for the foreseeable future.
Wellum is shown for the first time a new Spitfire plane, much different from the bi-wing planes of his training and, with no instruction, told to take it up to get used to it. What follows is a harrowing take-off, flying, and landing sequences that Wellum feels are so bad they will bump him out of further training and the RAF completely. His first night landing is so far off course that he clips a landing tower and takes off one of his Spitfire's wings.
And we readers are with him in the cockpit throughout these and all his future flights as he clearly, if nervously, narrates his thoughts, fears, and unwillingness to give up. We are with him post-missions in the officers' mess and local pubs where friendships are sealed and recently-departed comrades remembered.
We are all young, all paddling the same canoe, and as the evening progresses [at the local bar] the
certain knowledge that few, if any, of us will survive to see the end
of the war bind us even closer together....the thought of the
possibility of being killed is not unduly worrying or upsetting. One
just ignores it. Each is convinced that it cannot possibly happen to
him.
Wellum and the 92nd Squadron begin by flying missions to defend England from attacking German planes. Two, even three sorties are required each day, all of them exhausting, tense, and death-defying. We readers experience what such fighting, terror, confidence, and survival tractics a pilot experiences during these encounters.
And Wellum loses his friends and fellow squadron companions on a regular basis. Sometimes they are seen being shot down; others simply fail to return from a mission. And still the flying missions continue.
As the War begins to turn, Wellum' squadron is assigned to escort huge British supply convoys across the Channel from England to France, providing air cover and dog-fighting with any German planes which try to attack these ships. Sometimes the loss of these British boats and their contents signal a huge setback to the troops in France, while other that Wellum helps slip through enemy fighters provide relief that bolsters the Allies' war effort. Longer and longer distances to each flight are required as Allied forces push deeper into France, requiring air support for all troop movement even all the way to Malta.
The narration is breath-taking in its clarity of each flying situation and how Wellum responds. Sometimes he almost panics, sometimes he gets lucky, and sometimes he draws on extraordinary calm skills to see him through the flight and back to base.
I was fully engrossed in this man and his adventures aloft, constantly reminding myself that he was only a teenager taking on these incredibly taxing, dangerous missions. Fortunately, Wellum took copious notes daily, of his missions and thoughts so his accounts of life in the RAF are highly detailed and personable, reflecting his and other pilots' feelings about fighting the enemy in the sky:
Coupled with fear, I now also feel a sense of anger. What right has this German to fly his snotty little aeroplane over our England and try to kill me? Who invited him?....The bloody arrogance of it! Well, you'll not shoot me down you black-crossed sod.
For anyone interested in flying, World War II dog-fighting, and aviation training along with the teamwork and execution of aerial missions, First Light is your book. Highly recommended.
Often, after take-off and on the climb up, especially if we are top cover at 25,000 or more, a wonderful remote feeling of unreality seems to come over me. It's almost like a drug. Complete freedom from earthly worries or fears for the battle that will almost certainly develop after we cross the French coast. I just can't be bothered to get scared any more....I find it an environment of great beauty. It brings on a happiness and, almost, I look forward to the next operation before the one I'm on is finished. It's like getting your second wind.
[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]
Dahl, Roald. Going Solo
The children's book author relates his adventures learning to fly in World War II and later entering combat missions in Africa and Greece. Riveting as he takes you right into the cockpit with him and tells you his thoughts throughout each step in his aviation and combat experiences. (Previously reviewed here.)
Happy reading.
Fred
[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]
