Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

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This is no ordinary history book. This is no run-of-the-mill, over done book on a very famous plane. This is a book which shines a light into the soul of the Spitfire: it tells the story of the people. The author could have focused just on the pilot's stories, or how the Spitfire handled itself in battle, however, by choosing to add in some historical facts about WW2 at the same time, I feel as though I have travelled through time, learning more about those 6 years we were at war in a way I wasn’t taught or have read about previously. The way he covers people on the ground too really adds to the depth of what you are reading. The author follows the careers of a group (fewer than 25?) Spitfire pilots AND mechanics, men AND women, Americans, Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians,; Polish and Indian pilots have brief parts, as does one bomber pilot from Jamaica. In the telling he covers the entire war in which Spits saw action, including Malta, Africa, Italy, Burma and the Soviet Union, and the stories include training, scrambles and dog fights, bail outs, captures, the sudden death of comrades, romances, escapes with the French resistance, and, in one unforgettable tale, an RAF mechanic stealing(!) a Spit to make his first flight ever which is purposely INTO(!) a battle zone. As I approached the end of the book I thought this was a solid treatment of the view of the war from the pilots, and was prepared to be let down by the winding down of the war. But the ending was surprising and not what I expected. Instead of heroic welcomes or happy ever afters, the epilogue describes PSTD, divorces, depression and accidental deaths, but it is surprisingly uplifting rather than melancholic.

For many British people of a certain age, the Spitfire has the status of a national icon, although I think that’s less the case for younger people. The other main Battle of Britain fighter plane, the Hawker Hurricane, has nothing like the allure of the Spitfire. Early in the book the author poses the question: The Spitfire’s maiden flight was on 5 March 1936. It entered service with the RAF in 1938 and remained there until 1955. Some of the planes had modifications made to their under the wing mountings. Instead of carrying bombs, the planes could carry two small barrels of beer, something that was very popular with pilots! The Spitfire was a thing of beauty to behold, in the air or on the ground, with graceful lines of its slim fuselage it elliptical wing and tail plane. It look like a fighter and it certainly proved to be just that in the fullest meaning of the term. It was a aircraft with a personality of its own-docile at times, swift and deadly at others-a fighting machine par excellence."(p.376)

The few romantic liaisons really tugged at my heart strings, Joe and Betty more so than they probably should have done. We are introduced to the Spitfire, of course as a fighter, but also in ground support, as a fighter bomber, as a reconnaissance aircraft, and even, in a lighter moment towards the end of the war, as a beer tanker, with barrels fitted to the bomb carriers beneath its wings. It didn’t take long to fall in love with the Spitfire. Pilots, mechanics, land girls, civvies – they all fell under her spell.’ A love story indeed. It pays homage to the men and women who designed the Spitfire, built her, maintained her and flew her — as well as to the Spitfire herself. The Spitfire was more than an aircraft. It was a symbol of hope, of courage and resilience, and became a legend. With its elliptic wings, it was easily recognisable in the wartime skies and became an icon, giving hope to those Allies civilians watching below. It inspired kids watching to become fighter pilots — on Spitfires.

Because so many Spitfires were built, there were plenty of leftovers after the war. This meant that when filmmakers produced the iconic film Battle of Britain in 1968, they could use the actual planes flown in the battles. Many were also flown by veteran pilots. A really interesting look into the history and use of the Spitfire, one of the most renowned planes from the Second World War. Of course you can't just write a story of the plane, so the heart of this book are the short vignettes of the pilots and (a few) groundcrew who lived and worked with the plane through the war. Twenty-three thousand Spitfires were built between 1936-1946. It was flown in all theatres of war, Britain, NW Europe, North Africa, Malta. Italy, USSR, and SE Asia. It rarely disappointed and almost always impressed. Today only 240 are know to exist and of these 60 are airworthy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superma... Nevertheless, no matter how good the book may seem, it has some negatives. The stories are from first-hand accounts from those who flew it during WWII, which means that the book instead provides a primitive history of the spitfire instead of diving too deeply into it. However, unlike many similarly formatted books, this one gives accounts of people outside of England and through the subsequent campaigns in Malta, North Africa, Italy, France etc. This makes it stand out from nearly every other one of these books. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works in Southampton . In accordance with its role as an interceptor, Mitchell designed the Spitfire’s distinctive elliptical wing to have the thinnest possible cross-section; this thin wing enabled the Spitfire to have a higher top speed than several contemporary fighters, including the Hawker Hurricane. Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith took over as chief designer, overseeing the development of the Spitfire through its multitude of variants.

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Accompanying those love stories however, are the paragraphs of the real cost of war and the toll it takes on its participants. While Sptifire is a love story that glorifies the namesake aircraft, it does not do that at the cost of romanticizing the glory of warfare. Nichol did an outstanding job highlighting the mental and physical tolls taken on the pilots and how it effected them for years to follow. At several points the text specifically mentions “shedding the boyish idea of the glory of war” as the aviators became men. Just yet another fantastic element in an already fantastic book. Partly I think the answer lies in its name. The plane’s lead designer, R.J.Mitchell, wanted to call it the Shrew, thereby demonstrating that, however brilliant he was as a designer and engineer, he would never have made it as a marketing man. The name Spitfire was chosen by the Chairman of the Supermarine company. The striking design of the aircraft is also part of the reason, the elliptical wings and tailfins giving it an unmistakeable profile. While it hasn't convinced me that the Spit was superior to the Hurricane, I have a new regard for the aircraft. It's always nice to be challenged in your prejudices.

While the Spitfire was in service, there were 20,351 total built. Today there are just 179 left today in various states of decay. Nichol doesn’t spend much time pondering his own question. Instead the book provides a history of the Spitfire, primarily through first-hand accounts from those who flew it during WW2. In Britain today the Spitfire is very much associated with the Battle of Britain, but Nichol’s book takes us through the subsequent campaigns in Malta, North Africa, Italy, France etc. There’s also a short section about the use of Spitfires in the Burma campaign, and another interesting one about the work of the mainly female pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary, who flew planes from the factories where they were manufactured to their operational airfields. In this book John Nichol is unlike any other book I have read on this airplane. This is not a book for people who want facts, figures and technicalities or strategy. This is about the pilots and mechanics who flew and maintained the Spitfire during WWII. It's their passion for the planes they were flying which makes this such a great read. Many of those interviewed for this book have now left us, and without their experiences would have been lost to posterity. John Nichol's book is not merely a book it is a tribute to the people who flew them.What is it about the Spitfire? …Why, over eighty years after she first flew, is the Spitfire regarded as the very symbol of Britishness; … Why is this particular aircraft loved so much? John Nichol's book tells the stories of dozens of pilots, both men and women, and the sacrifices they made during the war. It's finely balanced between the technical side and development of the Spit, and the personal accounts of the pilots, many now in their 90s. In parts, it's incredibly moving, especially when you think many of these pilots were under twenty when they first took to the skies.