BATTLE OF BRITAIN SPITFIRE ACEThe Life and Loss of One of The Few, Flight Lieutenant William Henry Nelson DFC
Langue : anglais
Edité par Air World, 2024
- Livre relié
- Neuf
Vendeur : Naval and Military Press Ltd, Uckfield, Royaume-UniNaval and Military Press Ltd
Vendeur AbeBooks depuis 4 juin 2003
Etat: Neuf
EUR 10,78
Quantité disponible : 10 disponible(s)
Ajouter au panierItem description from seller
Hardback 217 pages + plates Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace tells the compelling story of a young Canadian who briefly mastered Britain's most iconic fighter aircraft, the Spitfire. It also traces the parallel lives of his English wife,who became his widow,and their son, who grew up knowing little of his father and has since pieced together his legacy.Drawing on letters, diaries and photographs, the narrative moves from Montreal in Nelson's youth to pre-war England, the early air war against Nazi Germany, wartime Canada, and post-war Britain. William Henry Nelson, born into a first-generation Canadian Jewish family (originally Katznelson), pursued aviation from an early age. After working in Montreal's aircraft industry, he left for England in 1936 to join the RAF. By 1939 he was a bomber pilot and an accomplished athlete, captaining his squadron's Modern Pentathlon team.He married Marjorie McIntyre shortly before war broke out. In 1940, Nelson retrained as a fighter pilot and became the only Canadian Spitfire ace of the Battle of Britain, credited with five enemy aircraft destroyed. He was killed in action on 1 November 1940, aged 23, leaving a young son.…
N° de réf. du vendeur 32442
- Titre
- BATTLE OF BRITAIN SPITFIRE ACEThe Life and Loss of One of The Few, Flight Lieutenant William Henry Nelson DFC
- Auteur
- Peter J Usher
- Éditeur
- Air World
- Année de publication
- 2024
- État de l'article
- New
- Type de livre
- Book
- Reliure
- Couverture rigide
- Langue
- anglais
- ISBN à 10 chiffres
- 1036106128
- ISBN à 13 chiffres
- 9781036106126
- Catalogues du vendeur
- Aviation & Space, Military Biography
Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace is the story of a young Canadian who in a short time, and for a brief time, mastered Britain's most legendary war machine, the Spitfire. It is also the story of a young English woman who was for a short time his wife, and for a long time his widow, and of their son who for much of his life knew little about his father and is still learning about him. Their stories, based on their letters, diaries, and photos, unfold in richly detailed context as the setting moves from Montreal in Nelson's youth, England in the last years of peace, the first (and largely forgotten) months of the air war against Nazi Germany, Canada during the war, and finally to post-war England.
William Henry Nelson was a first-generation Canadian Jew whose family name was originally Katznelson. Like many young Canadians in the 1930s, he wanted to fly. Nelson began work in Montreal's aircraft industry, but in 1936, at the age of nineteen, he left a humdrum life on the ground to go to England, intent on becoming a pilot in the Royal Air Force. A year later he was posted to a bomber squadron. Willie (as his family and friends called him) was also a fine athlete. He was captain of his squadron's team in Britain's Modern Pentathlon competitions in 1938 and 1939. While stationed in Yorkshire, he met Marjorie McIntyre. Instantly smitten, they married days before the war began.
Nelson was one of the first Canadians to fly in combat over Germany, only days after the war began. The award of a Distinguished Flying Cross a few months later made him an instant hero to the Jewish community across Canada. In Britain's desperate situation in June 1940 Nelson volunteered to retrain as a fighter pilot. Within weeks he destroyed five enemy aircraft, so becoming the only Canadian Spitfire ace in the Battle of Britain. Few fought as both bomber and fighter pilot during the Second World War, even fewer managed to excel at both. Willie Nelson was shot down on the first day of November, 1940, near the English Channel. He never saw his adversary, who may have been one of Nazi Germany's most decorated fighter pilots. Nelson was 23 years old, and by then the father of a two-month old boy, William Harle Nelson.
Marjorie took her infant son to Canada in 1941, seeking to meet her late husband's family and provide little Bill the opportunity for a better life. She was one of the first war brides to do so. Marjorie was unprepared for the gulf in culture and class with Willie's mother, and she was shocked by the antisemitism she encountered in Montreal. She left the city after a few months to begin her life anew, alone in a strange country. Marjorie soon remarried a Canadian, Ted McAlister. In 1957 they moved to England where Bill, having taken his stepfather's surname, would become a prominent figure in Britain's cultural life. Only in his thirties, however, would Bill come to learn of the family and origins of the father he never knew.
On the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force Museum in London featured Nelson in its exhibit about the 'hidden heroes, ' the Jews who volunteered to fight in the RAF in the Second World War. Nelson had said little about his Jewish identity, though it was consequential to him and to others during his life and afterwards. Over the course of his four years in England, Willie Nelson refashioned himself. But who had he become? Who was the man behind the iconic portrayals, what had been his formative influences and his guiding lights? How did he come to do what he did and what, in those last few years in England, did he live and die for?
« Synopsis » peut appartenir à une autre édition de cet ouvrage.
À propos de l’auteur
Born in Montreal, Peter obtained post-graduate degrees in geography from McGill and the University of British Columbia. His work in the North began on a survey crew in northern Ontario, and soon came to focus on Indigenous land rights and the environmental impact of industrial resource extraction, spanning the North from Labrador to Alaska. He and his wife live on their hundred-acre woodlot in Lanark County, Ontario, which they manage as part of the Eastern Ontario Model Forest. He enjoys snowshoeing in winter, working in the bush in spring and fall, and exploring the back roads on his bicycle in summer.
« A propos de ce titre » peut appartenir à une autre édition de cet ouvrage.
Naval and Military Press Ltd
Uckfield, Royaume-Uni
Vendeur AbeBooks depuis 4 juin 2003
Frais d'expédition de Royaume-Uni vers Etats-Unis
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