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  • Spitfire

  • A Very British Love Story
  • By: John Nichol
  • Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
  • Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (235 ratings)
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Spitfire cover art

Spitfire

By: John Nichol
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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Summary

The Sunday Times nonfiction best seller. 

Achtung, Spitfire!

The iconic Spitfire found fame during the darkest early days of World War II. But what happened to the redoubtable fighter and its crews beyond the Battle of Britain, and why is it still so loved today?

In late spring 1940, Nazi Germany’s domination of Europe looked unstoppable. With the British Isles in easy reach since the fall of France, Adolf Hitler was convinced that Great Britain would be defeated in the skies over her southern coast, confident his Messerschmitts and Heinkels would outclass anything the Royal Air Force threw at them. What Hitler hadn’t planned for was the agility and resilience of a marvel of British engineering that would quickly pass into legend - the Spitfire.

Best-selling author John Nichol’s passionate portrait of this magnificent fighter aircraft, its many innovations and updates and the people who flew and loved them carries the listener beyond the dogfights over Kent and Sussex. Spanning the full global reach of the Spitfire’s deployment during WWII, from Malta to North Africa and the Far East, then over the D-day beaches, it is always accessible, effortlessly entertaining and full of extraordinary spirit.

Here are edge-of-the-seat stories and heart-stopping firsthand accounts of battling pilots forced to bail out over occupied territory; of sacrifice and wartime love; of aristocratic female flyers; and of the mechanics who braved the Nazi onslaught to keep the aircraft in battle-ready condition. Nichol takes the listener on a hair-raising, nail-biting and moving wartime history of the iconic Spitfire populated by a cast of redoubtable, heroic characters that make you want to stand up and cheer.

©2018 John Nichol (P)2018 Simon & Schuster UK
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"The best book you will ever read about Britain's greatest warplane." (Patrick Bishop, best-selling author of Fighter Boys)

"A rich and heartfelt tribute to this most iconic British machine. By focusing on the men (and women) who flew the Spitfire, John Nichol has brought a fresh and powerful perspective to the story. And by recording their bravery, humility, camaraderie, tragedy and sheer joy in flying their beloved Spits he has done them - and us - a valuable service." (Rowland White, best-selling author of Vulcan 607

"As the RAF marks its centenary, Nichol has created a thrilling and often moving tribute to some of its greatest heroes." (Jon Dennis, Mail on Sunday magazine)

What listeners say about Spitfire

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story but...

I've listened to quite a few books on here now. Circa 50+ and I find that it always makes a difference who is narrating the book. Sadly in this case although I like the story and the way it is written the narration is somewhat annoying after a while. It's a shame because it spoilt what should have been a book I would usually enjoy as the subject interests me a great deal.

Narration could improve drastically in my opinion.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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.

Emotional. Beautifully described, written and read with the utmost respect for the men and woman that served and all that were affected by the war.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding book

As the title says... John Nichols has produced a fantastic piece of work, I cried, I laughed, I was shocked but most of all I loved! This book was/is brilliant from start to finish... the personal stories are truly engrossing, the plane is just a legend, the story behind it, its development through the war... just read/listen to it, its fantastic

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book, poor narration

would have been 5 stars save for the poor narration. It was grating at times...

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator seems to think hes in a west end show.

If you are looking for a book with great indepth information and a real down to earth view of the spitfire then this is NOT the book to chose.

Its great at being pretty basic and vague almost all of the time. Probably good for someone who is first learning what role the spitfire played in WW2. But if you have almost any mildly advanced knowledge on the spitfire or ww2 then its a waste of a token....

The book seems to spend its whole time repeating the same narrative and gushing over the way the plane looks and how it makes people feel. Its as if the writer didn't really know what to talk about so continues to repeat the same analysis.
Iam not sure the writer has a huge understanding of the real workings of the spitfire or of this technology at all. So he sticks to repeating himself to avoid embarrassment and make up the word count.
This may seem a bit harsh, but coming over from listening to Pierre Closterman's book this is like listening to a primary school version of a book on the Spitfire.

Moving on to the narrator himself, well, you'd have thought he was trying to get himself an Oscar or was live on stage... instead of keeping the book interesting, his narration actually becomes increasingly annoying, sickly, overbearing and over dramatised. Its as if he's trying to make the book seem like a narrated action/love movie instead if a book based on factual experiences of real people which, in fairness to the author is what he's trying to do some of the time.
It makes the gushing and pining narrative in the book 10x worse when its read by someone who seems love the sound of his voice.
Personally I will be avoiding the writer and the narrator in future at all costs.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant listening

Excellent book, a story of an aircraft which we of my generation (post war baby boom) know all about but this book really does tell its full wartime story from before the battle of Britain through all spheres of operations until the end. Helped by the seductive empathetic narration.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

As the author warns at the beginning of the book this is not a blow by blow account of WW2 but series of anecdotes from the people whose lives were involved with the Spitfire aircraft. All these stories make for a fascinating listen and I look forward to buying the authors book on the Lancaster when it’s released.

Narration was well done.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

An outstandingly well written and delivered book. Heroic, insightful and poignant at times. Brilliant

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Thought Provoking

My father served as RAF ground crew in the Second World War and wouldn't easily relate his experiences to us. The experiences of the men and women is this book make me wonder if that is what he went through Thank you

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

A fantastic account of the Spitfires development and role in WW2, wonderfully narrated by Andrew Wincott.

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1 person found this helpful