At a recent model club meeting I found amongst the kits a fellow member was selling a book titled “Enemy In The Sky” which is written by Air Vice-Marshall Sandy Johnstone. Heck for a couple of bucks it was a perfect nightstand companion to read before retiring.

This book is a diary accounting by Johnstone of his unit as it goes from being one of reserve to a very active unit providing fighter protection of his homeland during the Battle of Britain.

It contains several solid references for those who are Spitfire fans…including when the first propeller modifications started, windshield deicers were installed, the inception of the rear view mirror and when reliable VHF radios made their debut.

On the lighter side you get to experience some of the off duty activities and antics these pilots did. You’ll also meet some characters with interesting names such as Crackers and Batchy.

Reading this reminded me so much of those old black and white movies about the war, such as the Immortal Sergeant. The voice of Reginald Gardiner as the character Tom Benedict was the narrator in my mind as I read. It was in my opinion a perfect match. LOL

The exploits by these pilots is now legendary, this book casts some insight as to what they really went through to beat back the Nazis air machine that was the prelude to invasion of Britian by the Germans.

I picked this book up for a couple of dollars, a search of Amazon yielded it to be the going price. If you’re into military or aviation history you should get and read this book.