18 Year Old American Spitfire Pilot In WWII...

Smitty500mag

April 22, 2020 15:35

These films were stored for 61 years in two suitcases of 16mm home movies that were inherited by filmmaker William Lorton from his great uncle who served as a Flight Surgeon. 
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ie3SrjLlcUY
This short documentary was filmed in a 2005 interview with the now 83 year old pilot who was 18 years old at the time flying reconnaissance missions over Germany alone unarmed. 

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  dpmule

  April 22, 2020 16:06

  That was very cool.
  Thanks for posting.
  
  Mule

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  SCOUT5

  April 22, 2020 16:15

  Thanks for posting.  I've forwarded the link to my son's FIL.  He was a military pilot and and a doctor, should be interesting to him.

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  charliemeyer007

  April 22, 2020 18:28

  Awesome.  There is a story about PR guy in an unarmed 38 that got an air victory.

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  allen griggs

  April 22, 2020 20:43

  What a great story!   They took 18 year old high school kids, taught them to fly, and put them in unarmed Spitfires on reconaissance missions.   Sounds dangerous.

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  Smitty500mag

  April 22, 2020 20:58

  Besides being brave he is really sharp even in his 80s. Anybody that can fly around Berlin for 30 minutes taking pictures in an unarmed plane just minutes after a big bombing and live to tell about it is either the luckiest kid on the planet or the smartest. Most likely a little of both. 
  
  Something I found amusing was that he really didn't like being shown with that cigarette in his mouth. He mentioned it twice in the video. Once in the letter saying he didn't smoke and once when he said "get that cigarette out of your mouth" while watching himself in the film. 
  
  I was also surprised to learn that the Spitfire had a wooden prop. 

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