The few
Subtitle: the American "Knights of the air" who risked everything to fight in the battle of Britain
By: Alex Kershaw.
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 301
ISBN-13: 9780306813030
Subjects: Great Britain. -- Royal Air Force. -- Fighter Command -- History; World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations, British; Americans -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century
Description: The never-before-told story of the American pilots--idealists, adventurers, romantics--who joined the RAF before America entered the war and helped save Britain in its darkest hour. Eight young Americans joined Britain's Royal Air Force, defying their country's neutrality laws and risking their U.S. citizenship to fight side-by-side with England's finest pilots in the summer of 1940--over a year before America entered the war. Flying the lethal and elegant Spitfire, they became "knights of the air" and with minimal training but plenty of guts, they dueled the skilled and fearsome pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe. By October 1940, they had helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of aviation. Winston Churchill once said of all those who fought in the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." These daring Americans were the few among the "few."--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-288) and index.