It’s also, if I remember correctly, written in present tense which makes every word just that much more tense and alive.
Quite agree just started reading Spitfire Pilot written during the war by a Pilot killed in 44. Although its a good read its written in an entirely different way glossing over the obvious strain of combat.
Geoffrey was very young, joined the RAF at 17 and a well experianced battle hardened Pilot 18 months after leaving school. I would imagine it took a much greater toll on these very young Pilots as compared to someone like Stanford Tuck who had quite a bit of life experiance before the RAF.
A Pilot who was a good Friend of mine Squadron Leader Dave Glaser also flew in the Battle with 65 Squadron at 19 years old and continued operationally until the end of the war, I just cannot imagine how he coped all the way through with a total of 3000 hours on operations.
You can get an idea of the physical effects when you compare his pictures in 1940 and 1945 he looks 20 years older!
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