- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Grub Street; Revised edition edition (31 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1902304101
- ISBN-13: 978-1902304106
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 678,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The autobiography of Geoffrey Page who, during the Battle of Britain, was shot down in the English Channel and suffered severe burns.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Geoffrey Page is a hero. Of that, there is no doubt. A fighter pilot with the RAF during the Second World War, Page was not only a superb pilot and leader, but recovered from horrendous wounds after being shot down into the English Channel.
'Shot Down In Flames' documents Page's illustrious career, and is written in a refreshingly wide eyed and lyrical style. The reader shares the sheer joy and exhilaration of flying a Spitfire for the first time. He/she can also identify keenly with the sense of fear as squadrons were called relentlessly into battle during the struggle in the skies above Britain in 1940. Page is disarmingly honest. He describes the way pilots had to simply blank out the memories of their lost colleagues if they were themselves to continue. He paints a vivid depiction of the air fighting itself, not from a technical and tactical point of view, but from the perspective of a typical young man caught in the middle of it.
As Page lies, drowsing, on a sun soaked airfield awaiting the dreaded phone call to 'Scramble', his combination of weariness and nausea feels all too real. So well written is the book that you can almost feel the sun on your skin, hear the chirrup of insects in the grass and smell the fuel from the idling fighters. It's tremendously vivid.
With similar resonance, Page goes on to describe his fight for life after bailing out from a blazing inferno that had once been his aircraft. Suffering appalling burns to his hands and face, Page became one of Dr McIndoe's so-called Guinea Pigs, undergoing a series of experimental skin graft operations. During his long convalescence, Page's ambition to fly again was laughed off by his superiors. His hands were considered too deformed to ever control an aircraft again. But Geoffrey Page proved them all wrong. He went on to an illustrious career, commanding yet more daring missions throughout Europe.
Sadly, in the final third of the book, Page describes his post-war career in a muddled, rambling manner, and at unnecessary length. This type of information does not belong in a book of this nature. After the exhilaration and emotion of what has gone before, the remainder of the book is frankly dull and uninspiring. It lacks an ending altogether, and simply tails off. Details of Page's post-war career and social life should have occupied a couple of pages, not ream after ream. Any review of the book as a whole cannot overlook this. It dilutes an otherwise excellent read, and diminishes what would have been a five crown review to a three.
I had the honour to know Wing Commander Page and already had a signed copy. I bought this for a good friend's birthday as it is such a good book. It is a tale of one man's war and how he came to terms with the terrible burns that resulted in him becoming one of Archie McIndoe's founding "Guinea Pigs". Geoffrey was a man with the right stuff and I recommend this as a great read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
raf in world war II
23 April 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase
exciting story of raf pilot in wwII. severely burned as were many raf pilots because of the construction of the planes
Of fighters and skin graft operations!
2 July 2001
This is yet another book on the Battle of Britain by one of the "Few", but it is special in a number of ways. For one, the author gets burnt pretty badly during one interception of a Lufewaffe raid. He then spends the next 2 years in hospital recuperating from his injuries. Unfortunately for him, plastic surgery at that time was still in its infancy. Nevertheless, he went through more than 40(!!!) skin graft operations, and became one of the founding members of the "Guinea Pig Club". Judging from the photos, he comes away from that experience none the worse. Even more amazingly, he subsequently recovered and returned to combat flying.
A last point of note, the "Guinea Pig Club" still holds reunions!
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