SPITFIRE KIDS

Sub-titled 'The Generation Who Built, Supported and Flew Britain's Most Beloved Fighter', the book chronicles the extraordinary national effort to construct the fighter aircraft that gave the Allies a critical edge over the Luftwaffe. It is the story of how these fast and lethal little planes helped win the Second World War and the book is peppered with women and many of the stories are told in the decades since the conflict. Despite the many films and TV programmes with spiffy moustaches and aerial acrobatics, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just 20 years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger. Based on a BBC World Service podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, the book uses contemporary diaries and memoirs, many previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the young people who risk everything to design, build and fly her. It is a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance, an incredible tale of courage and sacrifice that celebrates arguably Britain's greatest generation. They were vital in keeping the RAF fully operational, building parts, constructing radar systems, coordinating supplies, ferrying planes, while the Luftwaffe above tried to bomb them into destruction. Through fresh interviews and war diaries and personal correspondence, BBC Radio Producer Alasdair Cross recounts an incredible tale together with historical advisor David Key who has researched and reconstructed the stories of the men and women who designed and built the Spitfire. 359pp, paperback. Photos.