This article is from Military History Matters issue 122
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Despite depictions of the Battle of Britain as a campaign waged by grown-up men and women, the average age of an RAF fighter pilot at the height of the Second World War was just 20 – with those involved in aircraft construction the same age, if not younger. Alasdair Cross explores this phenomenon in a new history, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Spitfire’s retirement from duty.
The Spitfire Kids, Alasdair Cross, Headline, £20 (hbk), ISBN 978-1472281968.
