Spitfire: An American WWII Fighter Pilot in the RAF

In a voice both timeless and distinctly greatest generational Parke F. Smith writes about being the last US pilot accepted into the ranks of the RAF via their training exchange program at War Eagle Field Los Angeles. After completing their course he sailed to England on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth swore allegiance to the King and was offered a coveted spot training as a fighter pilot. From 1942 to 1946 Smith flew 129 missions in North Africa Italy and over the North Sea before returning home. Amazingly blessedly he made it home unlike so many of his friends and comrades. It is to them he dedicated his writing. Smiths war stories are only the half of it. Smith is skilled at conveying the human connection and camaraderie that forms in wars trenches and skies. He has a way of revealing enduring universal truths through anecdotes made even more humorous from his perspective as a total outsider. Ultimately Smiths is a story about finding home-no matter how foreign-and fighting for it with all youve got. Not only did Smith love the Spitfire aircraft his true gift was how he lived his life: fiercely determined and passionate a real spitfire.