Gun Button To Fire

Wing Commander Tom Neil, DFC and Bar, AFC, AE

ISBN: 0-7183-0658-9

Format: Hardback

Etent: 237 pages

Dimensions: 158 x 240mm

Black & White Photographs

When Tom Neil inherited the family home in 1977, he discovered a box of more than 600 letters, all in their original envelopes, in chronological order and neatly tied up in bundles. These were almost every item of correspondence he had sent home to his parents in more than 5 years of service with the RAF during WWII.

These letters, together with additional personal and other records, form the basis of this book, which is a fabulously detailed recollection of his time as a fighter pilot with 249 Squadron in the 8 memorable months of the Battle of Britain in 1940.

At the age of only 19, and fresh from his training on Hawker Audax biplanes, he was soon to be pitchforked into the maelstrom of air fighting on which the survival of Britain was to depend. By the end of the year, he had shot down at least 12 enemy aircraft, seen many of his friends killed, injured or burned, and was himself a wary and accomplished fighter pilot.

Although this book has nothing to do with 208 Squadron, Tom Neil would go on to Command 208 in the Meteor era between 1953 and 1955 at RAF Abu Sueir. It is therefore included in the Association Bibliography in recognition of his achievements, and as probably one of the finest accounts of what it was like to be a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain that you will ever read.

Published by

William Kimber & Co Limited
100 Jermyn Street
London
SW1Y 6EE

First Published: 1987