R I P Geoffrey Wellum

[Duckfoot1606]

Just read the sad news of the passing of the above at age 96.

He was the youngest British pilot (aged 19) to fight in the Battle of Britain and featured in the documentary “Spitfire” which premiered in cinemas on Tuesday this week, physically frail but mind as sharp as a pin.

We have lost one of the last of the few, there can’t be many of these heroes left now.

A

[TheLurker]

If you haven't done so already then I suggest you read his autobiographical fragment, "First Light", covering his time as a trainee then front-line pilot.  Amusing and sobering by turns and, as you might expect, no grand-standing.

[Nick H.]

That's the best book by a pilot I've ever read. I must read it again.

[Psychler]

We have lost one of the last of the few, there can’t be many of these heroes left now.

Eight or nine, I believe!

Edit:
Actually, six or seven. I believe!

[hatler]

First Light is an amazing book. It conveys a real sense of immediacy. For someone who hadn't written anything before that, and that he wrote it some 40 years after the events described makes it all the more remarkable.