First Light

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It was especially poignant to feel the author's loss of hope for his own survival as his tours wore on, and he lost increasing numbers of friends. You truly felt, along with the author, his utter devastation.

First Light - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books First Light - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books

This is regarded as a classic wartime memoir, and it's easy to see why. Geoffrey Wellum joined the RAF as an 18 year old straight out of school, and on the brink of war. He fought throughout the Battle of Britain and through to the end of 1941 as the RAF started to conduct more operations over France, and after a spell as an instructor took part in Operation Pedestal to relieve Malta. Shortly after this he returned to England out on medical grounds as a completely burnt out 21 year old. This is the point where the book ends, but Wellum went on to serve through the rest of the war as a test pilot and later as a gunnery instructor, and stayed in the RAF until 1960. Remarkably, he wrote his memoir in the 1980's but it remained unpublished for 20 years until he lent the manuscript to James Holland who was researching a book of his own at the time. After the war, Wellum remained in the RAF until 1961. Among his appointments he was with the Second Tactical Air Force in Germany, converted to jets – flying Gloster Meteors, de Havilland Vampires and English Electric Canberra bombers on reconnaissance sorties – served at RAF Gaydon, and finally, in East Anglia, with a Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile unit. We soon decided that rather than shooting costly air to air footage, we would use outtakes from the Battle of Britain movie - and enhance it with CGI. The book opens with Wellum's interview for the Royal Air Force and his training. It then shifts to his participation in the Battle of Britain and to his participation in Operation Pedestal, flying planes to Malta off an aircraft carrier. It then closes with him being grounded, recovering from sinusitis and then returning to duty as a test pilot.A 1941 photograph taken at Biggin Hill, Kent, of Geoffrey Wellum, right, and Brian Kingcome, another fighter pilot, in front of a Spitfire. Photograph: Alamy Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s. Geoff hates to be called a hero but his effort and that of those all around him 70 years ago, saved us from the terrors of Nazi occupation. I believe that his war - the Battle of Britain - was the key turning point of World War Two.

First Light by Geoffrey Wellum - AbeBooks First Light by Geoffrey Wellum - AbeBooks

As needs must the conveyor belt thrust G.W. into the front line of the summer of 1940 over the skies of southern England. No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light Gillian Crawley, Daily Express

Wellum also appeared in the documentary "Greatest Events of World War II in colour," being interviewed on his experience at the Battle of Britain. The series aired on Netflix in 2019, after his death, and the episode "Battle of Britain" is dedicated in his memory. Aged eighteen, Wellum signed up on a short-service commission with the Royal Air Force in August 1939. The first aircraft he flew was the Tiger Moth at Desford airfield in Leicestershire. Wellum's first solo flight was on 1 September 1939. Two days later Britain declared war on Germany. [4] After successfully completing the course he then went on to fly the North American Harvard at RAF Little Rissington with 6FTS. Wellum left the Royal Air Force in 1961, [and went to work] with a firm of commodity brokers in the City of London, set up his own business, and then retired to Mullion, Cornwall."