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The Silver Spitfire

The Legendary WWII RAF Fighter Pilot in His Own Words

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About this listen

A brilliantly vivid Second World War memoir by one of 'the Few' Spitfire fighter pilots.

Following the D-Day landings, Battle of Britain hero Tom Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron.

As the Allies pushed east, Neil commandeered an abandoned Spitfire as his own personal aeroplane. Erasing any evidence of its provenance and stripping it down to bare metal, it became the RAF's only silver Spitfire.

Alongside his US comrades, he took the silver Spitfire into battle until, with the war's end, he was forced to make a difficult decision. Faced with too many questions about the mysterious rogue fighter, he contemplated increasingly desperate measures to offload it, including bailing out mid-Channel.

He eventually left the Spitfire at Worthy Down, never to be seen again.

The Silver Spitfire is the firsthand, gripping story of Neil's heroic experience as an RAF fighter pilot and his reminiscences with his very own personal Spitfire.

©2019 Wg Cdr Tom Neil (P)2019 Orion Publishing Group Air Forces Armed Forces Military Military & War World War II War US Air Force Aviation
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Tom Neil has written a couple of books, this being the second and previous takes you through 1939/40 and Battle of Britain .

this book i nearly overlooked due to its title and appent focus on the 'silver spit' i do like a good pilot's bio from this era. this book doesn't disappointed at all, infact its well worth listening to or reading. it's good, its not focused on a silver spit but Tom's life 1942/3-1945 and very interesting anecdotes that are funny, sad, informative and well written. it's very well narrated too.

reccomend.

A superb autobiography of a great man

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Fascinating, engaging and most importantly, factual. Tom Neil shares some his fascinating memories with the reader and they don’t disappoint! Set circa 1943 - 1945, Wing Commander Tom Neil provides a great insight into his RAF and USAAF days, and even though the Silver Spitfire comes into the book late, it’s still a very entertaining and rather sobering read all the way through.

A really interesting book, and very well read by the narrator

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Can imagine the lifestyle and dangers experienced with the storytelling from the author in that difficult period

Amazing personal post Battle of Britain experiences well detailed

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this book could be titled 'a list of planes I've flown - by an english prude'
you don't catch a glimpse of the enemy in this whole book.
well written and very well read.

interesting but not exciting

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The story of after the Battle of Britain told with truth, and honour by a true gentleman. I always love when I find World War II history that I don’t know. An Englishman working with the Americans

The story goes on

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