First Light: Original Edition (Penguin World War II Collection)

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This book presents accidents and explains how they happened, and what could have been done to avoid them. Working so closely with Geoffrey has made First Light a unique experience both for me as a director and I think, for the audience.

I always knew that what I wanted to fly was not the frontline fast jets of the modern RAF, or airliners, but Spitfires. Joining the RAF, I thought, would be the way to achieve that because I could volunteer to join the BBMF once I’d flown the Harrier, Tornado or, new as it was then, Typhoon. Obviously I’d succeed at that, why on earth wouldn’t I?! Being forced to leave the RAF put a serious spanner in those works. However, I was still committed to making it happen. As I was becoming considerably less naive than the teenager who had applied to join all those years ago, I was starting to learn that the RAF and then the BBMF was not the only way to fly warbirds, far from it. Sam leapt in, surrounded by high defintion (HD) mini-cams and took to the sky with his script taped to the instrument panel.He finished the war as a gunnery instructor, staying in the RAF, first as a staff officer in West Germany, followed by a four year tour with 192 Squadron. He married Grace, his wartime girlfriend and they had three children. Subsequently, [Wellum] had written a memoir of his time as a Spitfire pilot but never intended it for publication. However in 2000 he gave it to a young [author/historian] called James Holland, who showed it to friends at Penguin, and they immediately decided to publish it." First Light” by Geoffrey Wellum was a book I read in 2006 on a family holiday when I was a slightly disenchanted teenager who had all but given up on my childhood dream of flight. Finishing the book I felt a shift; my desire to fly was rekindled and I said there and then – I’m going to learn to fly. Years prior I had wanted to join the RAF but had been put off by some poor career advice and the teenage urge to “be cool” and fit in. I now made it my mission to gather the correct information and set about applying, properly. First Light, or rather Geoffrey Wellum, made that happen and it is right to say that the book changed the direction of my life. Three years later I walked through the gates of the RAF College Cranwell, to begin as a trainee pilot. For me, creating the tension on the ground was just as important as in the air. I love the waiting scene in dispersal before Geoff's first combat - the tinkling of teaspoons in cups, the rustle of a magazine, Kingcome chewing on his match... and then the sudden shrill ringing of the phone - scramble!

In May 1940, before his flight training was complete, [4] Wellum was posted to 92 Squadron, which was a combat squadron flying Spitfires. [5] It was at 92 Squadron that he first encountered a Spitfire, and flew the aircraft for the first time. Later, in First Light, he wrote of the experience: "I experienced an exhilaration that I cannot recall ever having felt before. It was like one of those wonderful dreams, a Peter Pan sort of dream". [3] I read this book many years ago as a teenager and it was one of those fascinating stories that inspired me to follow my dream of becoming a pilot. (Sep 2021: I’m actually listening to this audiobook again at the moment and really enjoying it). It took him 35 years to turn his notebooks into a narrative, and the result is a highly personal account of what it is like to face mortal combat, day and night, and what it does to a man who is barely more than a boy Ben Macintyre Two months before the outbreak of WWII, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF . . . August 1941 - Flying Officer Geoffrey Harry Augustus Wellum (42925) of No. 92 Squadron RAF is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy:This was one film where we had to get not just the emotional thrust right, but also the historical detail. There are a lot of people out there for whom this really matters - and I am one of them.

On 11 August 1942, Wellum led 8 Spitfires launched from the carrier HMS Furious to reinforce the RAF fighter complement at Luqa airfield on the island of Malta. Here he joined 1435 Squadron on air defence duties before being rested after a severe bout of sinusitis. An intimate account . . . rich in detail' James Holland, Wall Street Journal, 'Five Best World War II Memoirs' The whole thing feels unreal and I can’t believe this is really happening. I must be getting lightheaded! What a pity, in a way, that an aeroplane that can impart such a glorious feeling of sheer joy and beauty has got to be used to fight somebody.” Reading First Light, it was clear what I needed to do. From what I could make out there were three rungs to the warbird ladder. It started off with smaller taildraggers, like a Tiger Moth, or a Cub, then the middle rung was the Harvard, and then finally the top rung, the Spitfire. So I took a gamble and set about making it happen. Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story Evening Standard

GEOFFREY WELLUM, a veteran of the Battle of Britain, was the youngest fighter pilot (at 18) in the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have fought in that battle. In February 1942, Wellum was transferred to 65 Squadron based at Debden, being appointed to Flight Commander in March 1942. This is a great story and in finishing I would like to add the following comment from a great historian about this book: "A work of exceptional quality.....his prose has a passion and immediacy which make it compelling reading" - Max Hastings. This is perhaps one of the best accounts of life as a serviceman during WWII as you could ever read. As someone who had seen and heard interviews with Mr Wellum often, the sense of already 'knowing' him added a great deal to the reading of the book, as you could hear him speaking to you. Written in his voice, with phrases and language that were him. That said, it doesn't matter if you haven't the foggiest who he was to enjoy this.