Nine Lives by Alan C. Deere

Very enjoyable. I just finished Alan C. Deere's Nine Lives, his autobiographical account of his career as an RAF fighter pilot there at the beginning of the Battle of Britain about which Winston Churchill said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Nine lives indeed. Over the course of the four months of the Battle of Britain, Deere flew as many as four sorties a day. Between aerial collisions, enemy gunfire, and other mishaps, he crashed perhaps five aircraft. The pace of the narrative is gripping and it became hard to keep track of just how many near mishaps he survived. One of the most harrowing was an occasion when his squadron was scrambled at the very last minute. He was one of the last in the line to take off. Just as his wheels lifted from ground, a string of bombs fell across the airstrip, one blowing off his left wing. His plane flipped over and crashed back down, skidding some hundreds of feet. His straps held Deere in place in the cockpit, hanging upside down, with his head bumping along the grass strip. He escaped with a patch off his hair and numerous scrapes, light wounds and deep bruises. And was in the air again the next day.

Deere ended the war with 22 confirmed kills.

A very straightforward account that is none-the-less quite gripping. All very stiff upper lip and positive in delivery, it is quite stunning to read the steady daily attrition of colleagues and friends as the war progresses. There is none of the immediate and overdramatic navel gazing of today with each serial loss but you can read between the lines how the toll was both physical exhaustion and psychological burdens.

It is interesting as well that Deere captures the daily excitement of aerial battle but also sheds light on the desire among pilots for progression - from pilot to squadron leader to wing commander and up.

A great account of courage under fire and endurance in the face of overwhelming odds.

Recommended.