Malta Spitfire: The Diary of a Fighter Pilot (Greenhill Military Paperbacks) - Softcover

In the summer of 1942, twenty-five thousand feet above Malta, RAF Spitfires fought combat after bitter combat with clouds of German and Italian bombers and fighters. One of those Spitfire pilots was the Canadian George Beurling who, in fourteen flying days, destroyed twenty-seven Axis aircraft, damaged eight others and probably destroyed three more. Malta Spitfire tells Beurling's remarkable story and that of the outnumbered but dogged Spitfires which, day after day, climbed into the skies to defend the most bombed patch of land in the world. George Beurling was posted to Malta in 1942 and soon earned a tremendous reputation as a single-minded and determined pilot. He was gifted, prompting a superior to remark that µhe was a wonderful pilot; and an even better shot'. Malta Spitfire is a fighter pilot's story told by a fighter pilot sitting in the cockpit of his aircraft. The gripping narrative places the reader virtually at the controls of the plane, climbing to meet marauding Germans, diving down against bombers or dodging Italian fighters. This is aerial warfare in the words of one of its best exponents and a tale of skill and bravery in the face of tremendous odds.