A Spy in the Sky
Johnson, Kenneth B.
Pen and Sword Books, Yorkshire, 2019
How could I not pick up a book with a PRU blue Spitfire on the cover and subtitled "A Photographic Reconnaissance Spitfire Pilot in WWII"? I did, and am glad of it.
The book is a fairly late edition to the WWII memoirs genre, and I'm very glad that it was written. Many years ago in my early teens I read a novel which revolved around a photo reconnaissance pilot being shot down, and ever since then I have been fascinated by that highly specialized role carried out by young pilots in planes stripped of weapons and armor in the belief that by flying just that little bit faster or higher they would be able to get in and escape on their long, unescorted missions to get that crucial bit of visual data. This fascination was deepened when a friend and colleague invited me to meet him at a hangar in East Midlands airport and introduced me to one of the few remaining airworthy PRU spitfires.
Within that fascination, though, were very few actual voices. These were not the lauded heroes of the dogfights which caught the public's imagination nor the masses of bombers visibly taking destruction to the enemy – these were the background acts, the single planes which launched in darkness and maintained radio silence from departure to arrival in hopes of capturing the perfect photo of a heavily defended shipyard or building or troop concentration in the desired light condition. In the age before satellite and internet, this was the only way to get near real time information crucial to operational success, and day after day, night after night they launched, a comparative handful of solitary airplanes. It wasn't the stuff that made headlines or sold books, and gradually the voices left became harder to hear.
This book fills that void. Starting at his 18'th birthday during the war when he decided to enlist in the RAF rather than wait to be conscripted into the Army, the author takes us through a convoluted set of twists of fate which take him from an enlisted aircraftman basically expecting to spend the war sweeping out hangars and polishing windows into flight training and then into the cockpit of a Spitfire and several other airplanes beyond that before the recollections of the missions and the people and places involved take center stage.
What really makes this book stand out is the way the author takes pains to be relatable. By the time he is done with primary training you feel as if you've been sitting at the bar next to him and developed an easy comradeship. There is detail, drama, and a bit of humor all mixed together against the backdrop of being in a situation where the odds are so heavily stacked against you that every new day is something to wonder at.
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