Sent to France with the Royal Flying Corps at just 17, Cecil Lewis was an illustrious and passionate fighter pilot of the First World War. Here, the author sets his love of the skies and flying against his bitter experience of the horrors of war. He talks about his progress from France and the battlefields of the Somme, to his defence of London.

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Sent to France with the Royal Flying Corps at just 17, and later a member of the famous 56 Squadron, Cecil Lewis was an illustrious and passionate fighter pilot of the First World War, described by Bernard Shaw in 1935 as 'a thinker, a master of words, and a bit of a poet'. In this vivid and spirited account, the author evocatively sets his love of the skies and flying against his bitter experience of the horrors of war, as we follow his progress from France and the battlefields of the Somme, to his pioneering defence of London against deadly night time raids.