The Silver Spitfire: The Legendary WWII RAF Fighter Pilot in his Own Words

(Paperback)

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Description

Following the D-Day landings, Battle of Britain hero Tom Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron. As the Allies pushed east, Neil commandeered an abandoned Spitfire as his own personal aeroplane. Erasing any evidence of its provenance and stripping it down to bare metal, it became the RAF's only silver Spitfire.

Alongside his US comrades, he took the silver Spitfire into battle until, with the war's end, he was forced to make a difficult decision. Faced with too many questions about the mysterious rogue fighter, he contemplated increasingly desperate measures to offload it, including bailing out mid-Channel. He eventually left the Spitfire at Worthy Down, never to be seen again.

THE SILVER SPITFIRE is the first-hand, gripping story of Neil's heroic experience as an RAF fighter pilot and his reminiscences with his very own personal Spitfire.

Reviews

An icon of battle as well as one of the most successful pilots, Neil is uniquely qualified to tell a story that is both the ultimate military epic and also distinctly personal. * MILITARY TIMES *
Tom Neil is one of the last of the Few * BEST OF BRITISH, DAILY EXPRESS *
The first-hand, gripping story of Neil's heroic experience as an RAF fighter pilot and his reminiscences with his very own personal Spitfire. * ROYAL AIR FORCE NEWS *
Amusing and enjoyable. * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *

Author Bio

Tom Neil is one of the few surviving Battle of Britain fighter aces. He lives with his wife - whom he met during the war - near Diss in Suffolk.