Born in 1916, after learning to fly as a civilian, Ian Richard
Gleed was granted a RAF commission in 1936. He completed training
on Christmas Day that year, being posted to 46 Squadron which was
equipped with the Gloster Gauntlet. Through much of his RAF service
the diminutive Gleed was known as Widge', short for Wizard Midget'
on account of his excessive use of the word wizard' to describe
something topper', and his short stature. Rising from Flight to
Squadron Commander in short order, and later taking over the Ibsley
Spitfire Wing in 1941, Gleed was enormously popular with his peers.
Indeed, Wing Commander Bunny' Currant once described Gleed as a
pocket-sized man with care for others and courage beyond compare'.
Having been decorated with the coveted double' of both DSO and DFC,
Wing Commander Gleed went out to lead a wing in Tunisia. It was
there that he was shot down and killed on 16 April 1943. By this
time, he had achieved the status of being a fighter Ace, having
been credited with the destruction of thirteen enemy aircraft. The
previous year, Gleed's wartime memoir, Arise to Conquer, was
published by Victor Gollancz. Eloquently written and detailed, this
book is a superb first-hand account of one man's life and times as
a fighter pilot - mainly flying the Hawker Hurricane - during the
Fall of France, the Battle of Britain and beyond into the night
Blitz. Reprinted here in its entirety, and extensively introduced
by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar MBE, FRHistS, this
edition of Arise to Conquer is supported by a remarkable set of
wartime images. Among Gleed's Hurricane pilots on 87 Squadron
during the Battle of Britain and beyond was Sergeant Laurence
Rubber' Thorogood, a keen photographer who is often mentioned in
this book. Along with his Commanding Officer's words, Rubber's
unique personal photograph album, containing as it does a number of
images of Gleed, provides a rare glimpse of a fighter squadron at
war during our Darkest - yet Finest - Hour.
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