First Light

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: 'First Light' is one of those books that is destined to be remembered as a "classic" and rightly so. This is a wonderful book of a young man who joined the Royal Air Force before the start of World War Two and who later fought during the Battle of Britain and survived. Most of the book is taken up with his training as a pilot and the fighting during the Battle of Britain. However the book continues on to cover his role in Operation Pedestal and the fighting over Malta until his return to England as a tired and worn out pilot.

I truly enjoyed Geoffrey Wellum's story of his training and chuckled a good many times whilst reading about one thing or another. Mr Wellum has a wonderful way of telling a story and you can easily picture the details as you read his narrative. I found myself amazed as I read the book of how much this young man and his friends suffered in defending their country and their mates in the air.

This is an account that anyone who has an interest in WW2 aviation will be delighted in. It's well told, full of humor, sadness, and death defying flying and combat action. These men, as young as 18, flew one of the fastest and deadliest aircraft at the time and many didn't make it through the campaign or even their first mission. You read with sadness the loss of many good pilots and friends but still the men continue flying day after day facing terrible odds.

I really enjoyed the author's style of writing, he was witty, descriptive and came across with a sense of telling a story with understated facts. He downplayed his own role during the Battle of Britain and I was really hooked on the narrative as it moved along at a cracking pace. I found it hard to put the book down late at night, which brought forth a moan from my wife about turning the lamp off or else!

This is a great story and in finishing I would like to add the following comment from a great historian about this book: "A work of exceptional quality.....his prose has a passion and immediacy which make it compelling reading" - Max Hastings. He's not wrong either!

Rating:
Summary: First Light
Review: A most moving and vivid account of a young mans journey from boyhood to manhood in a very dangerous time. A young man who upon leaving school has a desire to fly 'fighters', a young man who succeeds in his ambition and has to watch his friends and peers perish both in training and in combat in the skys above England and Europe during the second world war. It is a tribute to those young men and to the author himself that determination against all odds by a handful of young men really did make a difference to the lives and wellbeing of a nation. It is also tells of the duresses that these young men had to bare,and how prolonged stress can even cause the fittest of men to breakdown, and recover.

A magnificent read, and one I could not put down. A real insight into what it took to be "one of the few."

Rating:
Summary: First Light
Review: A most moving and vivid account of a young mans journey from boyhood to manhood in a very dangerous time. A young man who upon leaving school has a desire to fly 'fighters', a young man who succeeds in his ambition and has to watch his friends and peers perish both in training and in combat in the skys above England and Europe during the second world war. It is a tribute to those young men and to the author himself that determination against all odds by a handful of young men really did make a difference to the lives and wellbeing of a nation. It is also tells of the duresses that these young men had to bare,and how prolonged stress can even cause the fittest of men to breakdown, and recover.

A magnificent read, and one I could not put down. A real insight into what it took to be "one of the few."

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Amazing person with an amazing story. Brings to light the difficulties faced by so many of generations past. Read it in one sitting - couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Emotional read
Review: An amazing read, Have never felt the excitement, pity and fear from one book before. This book makes you feel as though you are inside the most elegant fighter aircraft in the world, whilst sitting in the comfort of your arm chair.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual Look into History
Review: An interesting book. Not the best written that I've seen, but its quirky first person narrative does capture the feel for the place and period very well. There were a few historical and technical errors in the book, but these are to be expected in memoirs of this type. I was able to ignore them and move on easily enough. The writer's affection for the aircraft, a Spitfire Mark V, showed through in his lovely prose. I do wish he had gone into a bit more detail about the Battle of Britain in general, and given a more complete outline of his own service. I felt like I was being racheted forward through the war, one episode every six weeks. In spite of my complaints, a good story from one of the many people who still deserve our gratitude and respect. I'd say buy it.

Rating:
Summary: One of "The Few" Writes One of the Best
Review: As other reviewers have noted, there have been enough books written about the Battle of Britain to fill several warehouses. Some good, some not so good. This is one of the most personal and satisfying accounts that you will ever read. Geoffrey "Boy" Wellum was in the thick of it, and brings the reader along for the ride. In the beginning you feel the excitement of flight training (and the ever-present danger). By the end you experience the mental and physical exhaustion that left this veteran pilot certain he would never survive the endless combat missions over his home country and eventually over occupied France. And when he was finally released from operational flying... he "rested" by teaching others to fly and as a test pilot! My only disappointment in this book is that it ended. It's hard to believe that in the past 6-7 months we've been given two great reads on the Battle: "Fighter Boys" and "First Light."

Rating:
Summary: One of "The Few" Writes One of the Best
Review: As other reviewers have noted, there have been enough books written about the Battle of Britain to fill several warehouses. Some good, some not so good. This is one of the most personal and satisfying accounts that you will ever read. Geoffrey "Boy" Wellum was in the thick of it, and brings the reader along for the ride. In the beginning you feel the excitement of flight training (and the ever-present danger). By the end you experience the mental and physical exhaustion that left this veteran pilot certain he would never survive the endless combat missions over his home country and eventually over occupied France. And when he was finally released from operational flying... he "rested" by teaching others to fly and as a test pilot! My only disappointment in this book is that it ended. It's hard to believe that in the past 6-7 months we've been given two great reads on the Battle: "Fighter Boys" and "First Light."

Rating:
Summary: Gripping Read
Review: Excellent book. Tough to put the book down as the author's narrative takes the reader into the cockpit of a Battle of Britain Spitfire. Should be a Hollywood movie someday.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent first-hand account of being a spitfire pilot
Review: I fully agree what Mark Hopper had to say in his review. For me the book was definitely 'life-changing'. I know from history how important and vital the Battle of Britain was, but seeing the battle portrayed in films and reading it in history books just didn't have the impact as Geoffrey Wellum's account. He's certainly the person who sits on my 'hero pedestal' now. Please write some more Geoffrey and detail for us how the rest of the war was for you. How did the war affect your life in subsequent years? Did you marry Grace? You have done all your old friends and comrades a great service by writing this book. Well done and thank you.