Kiwi Spitfire Ace: A Gripping World War Two Story of Action, Captivity and Freedom

click here for more details, find new or used items	Jack Rae Our price £11.87 (£17.99) New from £11.87 Used from £10.00 Pages: 192 (Hardcover) ISBN: 1902304780 Pub: Grub Street Pub date: 2001-09-30 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 598097

Reader Reviews:

A searingly personal account of one man's war in the air (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book takes the reader all the way from the delights of sunny afternoons sufing at the famous Piha beach near Auckland in New Zealand to a winter walk across East Germany. On the way the author takes in a large part of World War Two - in the air at the controls of the Spitfire, Britain's finest fighter aircraft of those day. It includes gripping accounts of combat in the skies of southern England, France and Malta. The Malta epic begins with an emergency delivery flight of Spitfires - from the deck of an aircraft carrier without prior training. All 48 aircraft took off safely. Fortyseven arrived at Malta. So fierce was the air onslaught on the island at the time that most were destroyed on the ground within 48 hours by Luftwaffe bombing. The author lucidly describes a grim tour of duty on Malta that ended with the RAF slowly gaining the upper hand against units of the combined German and Italian air forces. A forced landing after an aerial dogfight in France in late '43 sent Jack Rae into the bag where he ended up in the infamous Stalag Luft Three where the Great Escape took place in which 50 RAF officers were murdered by the Gestapo. Jack missed the escape because he was doing time in the cooler for a previous escape attempt. Jack gives a dry humorous account of camp life which ended in early 1945 when it was evacuated ahead of the advancing Russians. Inmates were sent on a forced march across Germany in sub-zero conditions which killed guards and prisoners alike. Only the best prepared survived. At the end of the march the author and a companion escaped from custody, only to break into another prison camp in the search for food. This camp was finally liberated by a British tank regiment. Jack Rae ended his war with the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar. Sparely written and dryly recounted, this book evokes the adrenalin rush of aerial combat in dozens of encounters, and gives some interesting background observations on the flight characteristics of one of the most famous military aircraft of all time. A must for the afficionado and certainly a very readable addition to anyone's bookshelf.

Bob Molloy.

Great book - good look inside a POW camp (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book was very interesting to read with an excellent look inside a POW camp. The story of the "Great Escape" (without the movie enhancements) was well worth the reading.

A fighter Pilots Story (0/0 people found this helpful)

Jack Rae, a New Zealander, with a distinguished service career has written an excellent account of his war time adventures. He has much to write about. Jack was awarded the DFC and Bar for his service on Malta and in Europe where he flew with other great fighter pilots such as "Screwball" Beuling, Laddie Lucas and Buck McNair. He was also a great personal friend of another famous New Zealand Malta ACE, Ray Hesslyn DFC, DFM. Jack was shot down twice eventually becoming a POW in Stalug Luft 3 from where the great escape happened. The book is essentially divided into two sectons - an account of his experiences as a fighter pilot and a first hand account of his life as a POW. An "ace" with 11 confirmed aerial victories Jack writes in a modest and factual style without embellishment. Jack allows the reader to determine for themselves the value of his contribution to the war effort. Jack demonstrates that he has a great memory for the events of the war years with lots of details of actual events and anecdotal stories of people he knew This book will of be of great interest to anyone with an interest in WW2 Aviation History. I highly reccommend it as an excellent read and a "must have" for any collector of Aviation biographys..

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