Rousing story of idealistic Americans who fought against the Nazis
with Britain's Royal Air Force long before the U.S. entered World
War II.British-born historian Kershaw (The Bedford Boys, 2003,
etc.) tells the story of young Americans who, after making their
way to Canada and then by ship to Europe, where, in the summer of
1940, among 571 foreigners flying RAF Spitfires against the German
Luftwaffe in brutal dogfights over the English Channel. Recruited
by Colonel Charles Sweeny, a colorful mercenary and Hemingway pal
twice expelled from West Point, these few Americans who fought in
the Battle of Britain consisted of Olympic gold-medalist Billy
Fiske, 27; Brooklyn skydiver Shorty Keough, 26; former MGM-employed
pilot Eugene Tobin, 23; and five others, all civilian pilots intent
on flying the powerful Spitfires (their Rolls-Royce engines could
exceed 400 miles an hour) and determined to avoid the anticipated
American draft. Risking loss of their citizenship in the
still-neutral U.S., the fighter pilots were deemed "grand fellows"
by grateful Brits, and in a decisive air battle on Sept. 15, 1940,
they helped halt Hitler's plans to invade Britain. The author draws
on diaries, letters and interviews to recreate harrowing midair
sorties against the background of Germany's blitzkrieg advance
across Europe and Churchill's relentless efforts to coax the U.S.
into the war. After the Battle of Britain, more than 200 Americans
continued to serve in the RAF's three "American Eagle" squadrons,
which later became part of the U.S. Army Air Force. They were never
prosecuted by the State Department; a dozen are still living.A
delight for military buffs. (Kirkus Reviews)
The Few tells the dramatic and unforgettable story of eight young
Americans who joined Britain's Royal Air Force, defying their
country's neutrality laws and risking their U.S. citizenship to
fight side-by-side with England's finest pilots in the summer of
1940-over a year before America entered the war. Flying the lethal
and elegant Spitfire, they became "knights of the air" and with
minimal training but plenty of guts, they dueled the skilled and
fearsome pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe. By October 1940, they had
helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of
aviation. Winston Churchill once said of all those who fought in
the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few." These daring Americans were the
few among the "few." Now, with the narrative drive and human drama
that made The Bedford Boys and The Longest Winter national
bestsellers, Alex Kershaw tells their story for the first time.
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