They Spread Their Wings: Six Courageous Airmen in Combat in the Second World War

How Lincolnshire schoolboys became combat airmen—the adventures of six brave young men in WWII.

What turns an ordinary man into an extraordinary one? The answer lies in these stories of teenage volunteers for wartime aircrew who exchanged their school uniforms for Air Force Blue and took a giant step into the unknown. It was a dangerous adventure, but one with a hugely tempting prospect: the opportunity to FLY. From the skies over Europe to jungles, deserts, and the waters of the Chinca sea, this collection of true tales describes these six men’s experiences of training for those coveted "wings."  The nervous excitement of that first sortie over enemy territory and flying into the hell of an enemy flak barrage and fighters is told from original research from flying log books, diaries, and family archives. Some of the brave characters revealed in this book get home safely but some are shot down and experienced hardship, adventures, and dangers that are the stuff of nightmares. Seventy years on, and these brushes with death are, by any measure, hair-raising adventures that turned adolescents into men, some of whom returned home safely while others paid the ultimate price.