First Light

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In First Light, Geoffrey Wellum tells the inspiring, often terrifying true story of his coming of age amid the roaring, tumbling dogfights of the fiercest air war the world had ever seen. Right, got it? What, you mean you haven't bought it yet? Well, let me tell you why you should. Firstly, this book has moved, in a single reading, into my top five favourite books of all time. The achievement is all the greater in that the other occupiers of that list were books I read when I was much younger, unmarked, and could receive deeper and more lasting impressions from the books I read. But First Light has broken through the dull accretions, and the dullening, of age. So, if you would be young again, read First Light. After the war, Wellum stayed with the RAF, serving first as a staff officer in the Second Tactical Air Force in West Germany, where he flew jet aircraft such as the Gloster Meteor, the de Havilland Vampire and the English Electric Canberra. He was also stationed at RAF Gaydon, and in East Anglia. [3] This was followed by a four-year tour with 192 Squadron. The family settled in Epping, Essex. [3]

First Light: Original Edition - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books First Light: Original Edition - Geoffrey Wellum - Google Books

Wellum has contributed to various television documentaries on the Battle of Britain, including Spitfire Ace produced by RDF Media/Channel 4 (2004), [17] Dangerous Adventures for Boys produced by Channel 5 (2008), [18] and The Spitfire: Britain's Flying Past produced by the BBC (September 2011). [19] An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone' Independent On Malta, Wellum was diagnosed with severe sinusitis and battle fatigue, after three years of intensive frontline flying. After surgery, he returned from Malta to Britain via Gibraltar, and later became a test pilot for new aircraft, such as the new Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber, based at Gloster Aircraft. [3] 1943 [ edit ] Geoff watched these scenes with great interest and said that he felt the film perfectly caught the mood and emotions he felt at the time, both on the ground and in the air.Then we had to work out how to create a full-blooded dogfight, and a nightmare flight in torrential rain over the channel - during which Boy shoots down a German bomber. These scenes were whole other cans of worms... An intimate account . . . rich in detail James Holland, Wall Street Journal, 'Five Best World War II Memoirs' He tells you about the patrols and dogfights and comrades lost; the escort missions with bombers over France. After the Battle of Britain wound down he was posted to besieged Malta where he ferried in a Spitfire squadron and continued air combat as Flight Commander. Wellum claimed a Heinkel He 111 bomber shot down on 11 September 1940, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September. Two (and one shared) Bf 109's were claimed 'damaged' during November 1940. A Bf 109 was claimed shot down [by Wellum] on 9 July 1941 over France. He finished the war as a gunnery instructor, staying in the RAF, first as a staff officer in West Germany, followed by a four year tour with 192 Squadron. He married Grace, his wartime girlfriend and they had three children.

First Light by Geoffrey Wellum | Waterstones

Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum, many never return. Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s.

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Wellum also appeared in the documentary "Greatest Events of World War II in colour," being interviewed on his experience at the Battle of Britain. The series aired on Netflix in 2019, after his death, and the episode "Battle of Britain" is dedicated in his memory. Wellum's first commanding officer was Roger Bushell, (later immortalised in The Great Escape). [6] Bushell was shot down and captured almost immediately after Wellum's arrival, and was later executed by the Gestapo in the aftermath of the "Great Escape". [4]

First Light: The True Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in

For me, creating the tension on the ground was just as important as in the air. I love the waiting scene in dispersal before Geoff's first combat - the tinkling of teaspoons in cups, the rustle of a magazine, Kingcome chewing on his match... and then the sudden shrill ringing of the phone - scramble! We had access to a real Spitfire - and the budget for maybe 45 minutes flying time - but the Spit is a single-seater and there was no question of anybody but a very experienced pilot taking the controls of several million pounds' worth of vintage aeroplane. This was one film where we had to get not just the emotional thrust right, but also the historical detail. There are a lot of people out there for whom this really matters - and I am one of them. This was so affecting! That it was true made it all the more poignant to watch. The fact that Wellum was teenager when he entered the RAF makes me realize all over again what the people of England were willing to do to protect their homes and their land. They sent their boys. This is a great story and in finishing I would like to add the following comment from a great historian about this book: "A work of exceptional quality.....his prose has a passion and immediacy which make it compelling reading" - Max Hastings.To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the BBC commissioned a one-off drama for TV called First Light, based on Wellum's book of the same name. The film was first shown by the BBC on 14 September 2010 starring Sam Heughan. [20] He retired from the RAF in 1961 to take up a position with a firm of commodity brokers in the City of London until his retirement to Cornwall where he still lived when ‘First Light’ was published in 2002.