"I have read no book approaching this ? His story is exhilarating and profoundly moving." Daily Telegraph 'Fighter Pilot' was written from the immediate and unfettered personal journal that 23-year-old Flying Officer Paul Richey began on the day he and No.1 Squadron landed their Hawker Hurricanes on a grass airfield in France. Published in September 1941, it was the first such account of air combat against the Luftwaffe in the campaign in France in the Second World War and struck an immediate chord with a British public enthralled by the exploits of its young airmen. It is the story of a highly skilled group of young volunteer fighter pilots who quite literally flew in the face of overwhelming odds and crushing fatigue to destroy 155 enemy aircraft, 114 of them in only ten days. It is a moving account of one young man's initiation into the vagaries of war. AUTHOR: Paul Richey flew with the famous No 1 Squadron and was the first pilot to publish his memoirs during the Second World War. Although there have been innumerable accounts of the Second World War in the air, few have so accurately described the thrill and terror of air fighting, and very few have matched the warmth and pathos, the immediacy and honesty of Paul Richey's. His was the first such account, and it remains by far the best. SELLING POINTS: ? This classic work is one of the most respected and well-reviewed accounts of the Second World War ? One of Britain's most 'bravest pilots' exploits in France and beyond ? Incredible insight into the Battle of Britain, written during 1940 and first published in 1941 ? John Sargeant recently chose Paul Richey's portrait for the BBC's popular Your Paintings series 32 b/w plates, 90 b/w illustrations
