2016-06-21
Captured and tortured in the 1st Gulf War, John Nicol has since become an author (14 books), journalist, and motivational speaker. He is very well known for his media projects and reflections on war, his web-site is www.johnnichol.com and, now, he is considering writing a book on the Spitfire, focusing on the pilots. Our site, www.allspitfirepilots.org also presents a focus on the pilots and their stories from pre-war to their war efforts, and, beyond. John reached out to www.allspitfirepilots.org with the following ...2016-05-24
You may have read our previous review on "Wings Over Summer" by former RAF pilot Ron Powell from the UK. Well, he's just penned another, building off the success of his epic novel of day to day life on the ground and in the air during the Battle of Britain. Ron's stories of how pilots had to adapt or die, told through the character's viewpoint. He paints a vivid image of what it must have been like. Now, with "Wings Over Malta" we get a glimpse into an equally desperate and pivotal air battle, with Malta being starved out entirely. Low on food, low on fuel, low on aircraft -- the allies hang on to a tiny but critical stronghold during the war. 2016-03-16
A Yugoslav (Croatia today - Yugoslavia in WWII) airplane modeler has a mystery on his hands that he hopes someone can assist with. This modeler / enthusiast began in earnest back in the 1980s, and, seems to choose aircraft which crashed in his neck of the woods, which for him is Makarska. He has interviewed many locals (even recently), and, seems to be interested in primarily one pilot's (Brodie) aircraft, while also posting and asking about a second. He has added dozens of photos for various aircraft that crashed in then Yugoslavia, along with pilot names, and, first person interviews with locals on the fate of the pilot. His English is not perfect, however, he did pen something for us to place in the blog here with respect to the particular aircraft he's researching. The attached the image (left) to his email, pilot #1 is Brodie.2016-02-13
Although the site is new, children, grand-children, and, other relatives have been finding this site and posting pilot and aircraft content. It's very exciting to see family held content come alive with ground crew or pilot information related to the Spitfires their fathers flew or maintained. Here is some of the latest;2015-11-29
At present, we use Google Ads to help cover our hosting costs of this custom built site linking pilots to aircraft. This is a Laravel custom coded site with some new features (and probably a lot of bugs to iron out also), and, we hope to add many more features in time to keep Spitfire enthusiasts reading, and, also adding to the content that everyone enjoys.2015-11-28
Thanks to Mr. Halliday (Distinguished Canadian Military Historian) who provided a database of all Canadian (RCAF / RAF) pilots who died in WWII. Most were KIA (operational), but a large number died in flying accidents (FA). We have thus added 500 Spitfire pilots to the database. The database as provided included all aircraft types (I wrote some code to filter for Spitfire), and, each row in the database included a key piece of information we were after -- the aircraft serial number flown, along with name, rank, squadron, date, burial location, home province (there are some as USA -- Americans who joined via Canada), marital status, and, how this pilot was killed (e.g. KIA, FA).2015-11-20
On our home page, we have a "FEATURED" link which currently features the pilot Laurie Whitbread added to this site by author and RAF veteran Ron Powell (and the book review is coming soon - it's begun). Wings Over Summer contrasts the recent book we reviewed ("Spitfire vs 109 : Decisive Duel") in that it's a more personal story following a pair of Spitfire RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain. I've only just started, but I am very much enjoying it. Wings Over Summer is a novel focusing on two characters, inspired by an RAF pilot whose grave Ron passed all the time as a child. Pilot Laurie Whitbread was graciously added to this site by Ron. 2015-10-17
From time to time, we'll feature a book that includes the Spitfire or Spitfire pilots. Any user is welcome to add comments to this post suggesting another good book, or, submit a review, or just wait until we read another and post the review here. I am currently reading "The Decisive Duel: Spitfire vs 109:" by David Isby. First, the overview from Amazon itself, then, the review below.2015-10-05
We are looking for contributors, editors, and, board members to help guide the site, and, help shape the feature-set, research objectives, member engagement features, and content.2015-10-02
The RAF Museum maintains an archives with pilot log books. The story of how the RAF came to maintain the log books itself is fascinating, and in their words;