Diary of a Spitfire Pilot: Over the English Channel and Over Darwin

In his personal diary, Flying Officer Allen Mawer documented the excitement of being 21 and experiencing the perils of aerial combat and the hazards of wartime romance. His days were spent hunting the Hun over the English Channel while his nights were spent partying in London. War couldn't get any better than this. But the mood changed. By 1943, Mawer is living in a swamp that pretends to be an airstrip, south of Darwin, Australia. Not much activity takes place in the air. None of the women left behind in London and Sydney seem to care about him. Most of his mates were dead. War is hell. Allen Mawer was tragically killed in a training exercise over Darwin at the end of the war. His diary lay hidden for many years until his son edited it for publication. Diary of a Spitfire Pilot is a candid and sometimes disconcerting record of conquests in the air and on the ground during World War II. It offers lively and poignant insights into the human cost of armed conflict - the highs and lows of war.