First Light (ISBN 047142627X)

terrific:
Simply put. I could not put this book down. i felt i was in the cockpit at times with geoffrey.I finished the book wanting more.

Very enjoyable to read:
This book was one of the finer books I have read regarding the Battle of Britain.It covers the whole span of a RAF pilots career from ground school to flying the Spitfire. It blends humor and the realities of war together very well. I greatly admire the men who flew and fought in WW2 and this book is a great addition to keeping their stories alive.

Magnificent Story:
I have read many flying books including many dealing with WWII. First Light is outstanding and one of the best. The author brings life to an incredible odyssey from a young college student to RAF ace. In a matter of a few months he went from an aviation cadet to reporting to a front line fighter squadron. Wellum brings life to arriving at the Spitfire equipped squadron without ever having seen one up close much less having any flying experience in them. His arrival occurred at the same time as the desperate struggle to evacuate trapped British and French forces from the beaches at Dunkirk. Within a couple of days of his arrival 25% of his new squadron members lay dead at the bottom of the Channel or on the beach. What some may find redundant is really the exhausting, terrifying daily routine of continuing aerial combat over England and then the Continent. Wellum's descriptions of aerial combat are fascinating. Some battles are against vastly superior forces of ME 109's while in others weather becomes a deadly enemy. The author's humble writing style makes all the more impact. For those who fly or are history buffs this is a must read.

If you want to feel what it was like to be a Spitfire pilot, this is the book!!!:
Geoff Wellum joined the RAF as a boy just out of secondary school. From there, "First Light" chronicles his training, survival from the Battle of Britain as well as fighter sweeps into France, and his participation in Operation Pedestal (the rescue of Malta). What is unique about this memoir is Wellum's literary style. This book is exceptionally well-crafted, full of imagery, and told with such devotion and love that the reader actually feels transported back in time to the cockpit of a Spitfire and as a eyewitness to squadron life. A truly marvellous read; one of the very best memoirs of its kind.

A very captivating story of young man's efforts to reach the skies:
Set in the early days of the war, this is the story of a young man's efforts to join the fight and parttake in what we now know as The Battle of Britain. Geoffrey 'Boy" Wellum managed to join very young as many did just like him, go through training and then be sent to the front where he aquitted himself well. Having myself joined up at the same age but a few generations later, it is not difficult to imagine the challenges laying ahead, nor being one of the youngest, and always the youngest... But unlike our times, in a battle of life and death, where the protection lay in the early anticipation of the other's moves, ability to outfly and the size of the petrol tank of your opponent, proximity to your own base, even sheer luck in fact, was the wand that decideded the cause of events. I recommend this book but even more so recommend you to go to one of the events given in the U.K. each year to meet with the airman in person. That is the best ending to the book. Any book for that matter - given the tumultuous circumstances of when it took place and the subsequent years. I could only wish he would write yet another - of those years fought in Hawker Typhoons - as a test pilot and I am sure...more!