He was then posted directly in May 1940 to 92 Squadron, flying Spitfires. He saw extensive action during the Battle of Britain. His first Commanding Officer was Roger Bushell, (later immortalised in 'The Great Escape'), and his close colleagues included Brian Kingcome.

Geoffrey Wellum - Wikipedia

An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone Independent Geoffrey Wellum, who has died aged 96, was the author of one of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written. First Light (2002), which was made into a BBC drama in 2010, was drawn from notes he had made as a teenage flier in the Battle of Britain. By late September the Battle of Britain was over, and the blitz, the night-time onslaught on the country’s urban centres, was under way. For Wellum and his comrades the intensity eased, as Spitfires were unsatisfactory nightfighters, and the squadron moved into winter quarters at Manston in Kent. During the battle he had shot down a Heinkel He 111 bomber, and claimed a quarter share in a Ju 88. That November there were two damaged Bf 109s, and one shared. Another Bf 109 was claimed in 1941, and there may have been more, as he was not one greatly concerned with recording such things. In February 1942, Wellum was transferred to 65 Squadron based at Debden, being appointed to Flight Commander in March 1942. Aged eighteen, Wellum signed up on a short-service commission with the Royal Air Force in August 1939. The first aircraft he flew was the Tiger Moth at Desford airfield in Leicestershire. Wellum's first solo flight was on 1 September 1939. Two days later Britain declared war on Germany. [4] After successfully completing the course he then went on to fly the North American Harvard at RAF Little Rissington with 6FTS.things TV - your favourite episodes, live programmes, the schedule and everything else. We ask that comments on the blog fall within the house rules. After the war, Wellum stayed with the RAF, serving first as a staff officer in the Second Tactical Air Force in West Germany, where he flew jet aircraft such as the Gloster Meteor, the de Havilland Vampire and the English Electric Canberra. He was also stationed at RAF Gaydon, and in East Anglia. [3] This was followed by a four-year tour with 192 Squadron. The family settled in Epping, Essex. [3] This is an account that anyone who has an interest in WW2 aviation will be delighted in. It's well told, full of humor, sadness, and death defying flying and combat action. These men, as young as 18, flew one of the fastest and deadliest aircraft at the time and many didn't make it through the campaign or even their first mission. You read with sadness the loss of many good pilots and friends but still the men continue flying day after day facing terrible odds. 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] For more on the making of the film see: bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2010/09/first-light-dramatising-the-re.shtml

First Light by Geoffrey Wellum | Goodreads

No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light Gillian Crawley, Daily Express He retired from the RAF in 1961 to take up a position with a firm of commodity brokers in the City of London until his retirement to Cornwall where he still lived when ‘First Light’ was published in 2002. 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. Geoff hates to be called a hero but his effort and that of those all around him 70 years ago, saved us from the terrors of Nazi occupation. I believe that his war - the Battle of Britain - was the key turning point of World War Two. Wellum claimed a Heinkel He 111 bomber shot down on 11 September 1940, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September. Two (and one shared) Bf 109's were claimed 'damaged' during November 1940. A Bf 109 was claimed shot down [by Wellum] on 9 July 1941 over France.Right, got it? What, you mean you haven't bought it yet? Well, let me tell you why you should. Firstly, this book has moved, in a single reading, into my top five favourite books of all time. The achievement is all the greater in that the other occupiers of that list were books I read when I was much younger, unmarked, and could receive deeper and more lasting impressions from the books I read. But First Light has broken through the dull accretions, and the dullening, of age. So, if you would be young again, read First Light.

First Light (Wellum book) - Wikipedia

Although there is an aching sense that Wellum himself is unsure of the answer, to the reader there is no doubt: that we live to read what you have written is testament to your life and its worth. The book is his memoir of what it was like to be an 18-year-old Spitfire pilot thrust into the gut-wrenching, ear-deafening, life and death struggle of the most violent aerial combat ever. It was especially poignant to feel the author's loss of hope for his own survival as his tours wore on, and he lost increasing numbers of friends. You truly felt, along with the author, his utter devastation. To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the BBC commissioned a one-off drama for TV called First Light, based on Wellum's book of the same name. The film was first shown by the BBC on 14 September 2010 starring Sam Heughan. [20] Squadron Leader Geoffrey Harris Augustus Wellum DFC (4 August 1921 – 18 July 2018) [1] [2] was a British fighter pilot and author, best known for his participation in the Battle of Britain. Born an only child in Walthamstow, Essex, Wellum was educated at Forest School, Snaresbrook before serving in the RAF. After the war he remained in the RAF until 1961, and later ran a haulage business. In the mid-1980s he retired and moved to Mullion, Cornwall, where he wrote down his wartime memoirs. In 2002 these were published as First Light.This is the story of one of the R.A.F’s youngest Spitfire pilots who fought and survived the Battle of Britain with one of the most famous fighting Squadrons in the world – the legendary 92 Squadron.