The Spitfire Kids

The generation who built, supported and flew Britain's most beloved fighter

Author: Alasdair Cross and BBC Worldwide

A bestselling BBC World Service ten-part series and podcast that celebrates the men and women who built and flew the Second World War's most famous fighter plane - the Spitfire.

Product Unavailable

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

A bestselling BBC World Service ten-part series and podcast that celebrates the men and women who built and flew the Second World War's most famous fighter plane - the Spitfire.

Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Based on the hit BBC World Service podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her.

This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.

Critic Reviews

“The Spitfire Kids puts the iconic fighter plane into the round by telling the stories of the people who made it into an icon.-- Al Murray”

Draws on unpublished diaries and archive recordings to chronicle the extraordinary national effort to construct the fighter aircraft that gave the Allies a critical edge over the Luftwaffe. The Times
A truly epic account of the actual and symbolic role the plane played in defending Britain in the Second World War. Sunday Times
Tells the inspiring story of how ordinary citizens came together to build the famous Battle of Britain aircraft. The Observer
The story of how these fast and lethal little planes helped win the Second World War is stirringly told in this new BBC series. The Mail on Sunday
The story of the Second World War's most famous plane is peppered with women - many of their stories untold in the decades since the conflict. The Telegraph
An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story
Read Spitfire Kids and you'll start believing this plane has a pulse! Tessa Dunlop, broadcaster and bestselling author of Century Girls
It is a story of heroism that goes beyond the spiffy moustaches and aerial acrobatics we have all seen in old movies, tapping into the verve and tenacity shown by a young workforce. The Herald
The Spitfire Kids puts the iconic fighter plane into the round by telling the stories of the people who made it into an icon. -- Al Murray

About the Author

Alasdair Cross (Author)

ALASDAIR CROSS is a successful radio and TV producer with the BBC. Brought up in the Orkney Islands, an annual summer treat was Britain's smallest air show, once memorably visited by a powder pink Spitfire. He has worked on BBC's Coast and Countryfile and his radio series include BBC Radio Four's Terror Through Time with Fergal Keane and Neil Oliver's Iron Curtain as well as the BBC World Service podcast Spitfire: The People's Plane.

Historical Advisor: David Key runs the Supermariners website which researches and reconstructs the stories of the men and women who designed and built the Spitfire.

More on this Book

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger. Based on the hit BBC World Service podcast Spitfire: The People's Story , we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her. This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.