Malta Spitfire Pilot: A Personal Account Of Ten Weeks Of War, April-June 1942

'His words reflect honestly and vividly, the sheer terror of flying from Malta at that time.' Britain at War Magazine 'Immensely vivid picture of the air defence - eloquent and revealing.' The Times Literary Supplement In the summer of 1942, Malta was wide open to air attack from the Germans and Italians and defended by a handful of Spitfires and anti-aircraft guns. Among the Allied pilots tasked with shooting down enemy bombers was Flight Lieutenant Denis Barnham. In the 200 gruelling operational hours that followed his arrival on the embattled island, Denis grew from an inexperienced young pilot into a battle-hardened Spitfire ace. This powerful account is based on the diary he kept through this ten-week period, as he and his fellow pilots battled against terrible odds to save Malta. Written with honesty and compassion, his descriptions of the air battle are both thrilling and terrifying, making this one of the best first-hand accounts of aerial combat ever written. AUTHOR: Born Feltham, Middlesex in 1920, Denis Barnham came from a West London farming family. He joined the RAF at the start of the Second World War, being trained in Rhodesia. Having retuned to the UK, he was posted to 65 and then 609 Squadron, achieving his first victory with the latter in late 1941. In April 1942 he was posted to 601 Squadron, with which he headed to Malta. On the island he claimed 4½ more kills. In 1945 Barnham resumed his life as an artist and from 1950 to 1970 he ran the Art Department at Epsom College in Surrey. He died in Salisbury at the young age of 61.