First Light

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On 11 August 1942, Wellum led 8 Spitfires launched from the carrier HMS Furious to reinforce the RAF fighter complement at Luqa airfield on the island of Malta. Here he joined 1435 Squadron on air defence duties before being rested after a severe bout of sinusitis. In 1943 he married Grace Neil and they had three children. After Wellum left the RAF the family settled in Epping, Essex. He worked for a family haulage business and, after that went under, spent time working as a commodity broker in the City. The couple divorced in 1975, and six years later he relocated to Mullion on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. He joined the local choir, and eventually became deputy harbourmaster. A daughter, Deborah, died last year. He is survived by two children, Anna and Neil. That summer Wellum was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. By September his time with 92 Squadron had come to an end, and he was tired. He was posted to an operational training unit and did not return to squadron service until February 1942, when he became a flight commander with 65 Squadron, at Great Sampford in Essex. 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.

First Light by Geoffrey Wellum - Penguin Books New Zealand First Light by Geoffrey Wellum - Penguin Books New Zealand

This is a fabulous, engrossing book that tells the story of a young Spitfire pilot during World War Two. We follow Geoff Wellum through his application process, through a long and arduous training course and right the way through the war (although, understandably, Wellum places a lot of emphasis on the Battle of Britain).

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Wellum has contributed to various television documentaries on the Battle of Britain, including Spitfire Ace produced by RDF Media/Channel 4 (2004), [17] Dangerous Adventures for Boys produced by Channel 5 (2008), [18] and The Spitfire: Britain's Flying Past produced by the BBC (September 2011). [19] Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story Evening Standard This was so affecting! That it was true made it all the more poignant to watch. The fact that Wellum was teenager when he entered the RAF makes me realize all over again what the people of England were willing to do to protect their homes and their land. They sent their boys. Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum, many never return. We were discussing a scene in which 'Boy Wellum', the hero of our story, makes his first flight in a Spitfire and our actor, Sam Heughan, couldn't wait to get into the air.

First Light: Original Edition (Audio Download): Geoffrey First Light: Original Edition (Audio Download): Geoffrey

One plane was brown and green, the other brown and grey. And the real one was based at Wycombe air park and our replica was 80 miles away on the drama set outside Dunstable. The conversations started early about getting Spitfires airborne. But what is it they say? Never work with animals, children... or vintage aircraft! 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] Wellum suffered severe combat fatigue after three years' intensive flying, because of the immense strain that frontline British fighter pilots were put under during that period. He returned from Malta to Britain, becoming a test pilot on the Hawker Typhoon, based at Gloster Aircraft. And, I guess, is just about as close as any of us would want to get to the nerve-jangling terrors of air combat, Battle of Britain style.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. 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.

First Light (Wellum book) - Wikipedia

Wellum claimed a Heinkel He 111 shot down on 11 September, and a quarter share in a Junkers Ju 88 downed on 27 September 1940. Two (and one shared) Messerschmitt Bf 109s were claimed "damaged" during November 1940. [9] 1941 [ edit ]Life for Wellum at the end of his career as a fighter pilot was never be quite the same. "I am certain that my time came with my three years as an operational fighter pilot in our nation's finest hour. My only regret is that it had to happen so early in life". [12] Dates 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.