A Spitfire's Story : The Invisible Thread: Spitfire R6644 and the Pilots Who Flew It

個数:
  • 予約

A Spitfire's Story : The Invisible Thread: Spitfire R6644 and the Pilots Who Flew It

  • 現在予約受付中です。出版後の入荷・発送となります。
    重要:表示されている発売日は予定となり、発売が延期、中止、生産限定品で商品確保ができないなどの理由により、ご注文をお取消しさせていただく場合がございます。予めご了承ください。

    ●3Dセキュア導入とクレジットカードによるお支払いについて
  • 【入荷遅延について】
    世界情勢の影響により、海外からお取り寄せとなる洋書・洋古書の入荷が、表示している標準的な納期よりも遅延する場合がございます。
    おそれいりますが、あらかじめご了承くださいますようお願い申し上げます。
  • ◆画像の表紙や帯等は実物とは異なる場合があります。
  • ◆ウェブストアでの洋書販売価格は、弊社店舗等での販売価格とは異なります。
    また、洋書販売価格は、ご注文確定時点での日本円価格となります。
    ご注文確定後に、同じ洋書の販売価格が変動しても、それは反映されません。
  • 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版/ページ数 288 p.
  • 言語 ENG
  • 商品コード 9781036138523

Full Description

Public affection for the iconic Spitfire endures; indeed, if anything, it increases as more of these incredible aircraft are restored to airworthy condition. The Spitfire story, however, is one of people, designers, engineers, pilots, groundcrew, and more, whose lives were touched in some way by this extraordinary machine - and such stories are the inspiration for this book.

Spitfire Mk.IA R6644 was built by Supermarine at Woolston, and test-flown by the famous test pilot Jeffrey Quill on 30 May 1940. Thereafter, the aircraft was taken on charge by 5 Operational Training Unit at Aston Down. While there, it was flown by a number of The Few, new replacement pilots converting to type.

It is likely, for example, that R6644 was flown by Pilot Officer Richard Hillary, who, shot down and badly burned, became a member of the Guinea Pig Club. In his classic memoir The Last Enemy, Hillary described how 5 OTU's young pilots would fly beneath the arches of the great railway bridge spanning the Severn estuary. This inspired the famous scene in the 1980s TV series Piece of Cake, when Ray Hanna flew Spitfire MH434 beneath a bridge for the cameras. Amongst the other pilots known to have flown R6644 at Aston Down are at least two aces. 

On 26 February 1941, R6644 was handed on to 65 Squadron. One of the latter's pilots who flew in R6644 was the great ace Flying Officer Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane DFC. In April, R6644 was taken on charge by the recently formed 308 (Polish) Squadron. On 11 May 1941, Pilot Officer Franciszek Surma was flying R6644 to investigate an unidentified radar plot, which transpired to be a friendly Blenheim, but was forced to abandon the Spitfire near Malvern, Worcestershire, owing to an engine fire. Surma, again one of The Few, descended safely by parachute; he was reported missing off Dunkirk during Circus 110 on 8 November 1941.

This book not only explores the men who flew R6674 throughout its wartime service, but also brings the story up to date by detailing the excavation of the Spitfire's crash site in 1987.

最近チェックした商品