Ginger Lacey: Fighter Pilot

Ginger Lacey: Fighter Pilot

Ginger Lacey wanted to fly planes from childhood. <br /> <br />But who would have thought that the slim and pale looking boy would become one of the most successful fighter pilots of the war? <br /> <br />Almost unknown outside the RAF, Sgt. Pilot J.H. Lacey shot down more enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain than any other fighter pilot. <br /> <br />He shot down the Heinkel 111 which had just bombed Buckingham Palace and had the highest score (twenty-three) of enemy aircraft destroyed, as late as 1941. <br /> <br />Thereafter commissioned, early in 1941, he was for a time an instructor at an operational training unit, passing on to others the knowledge that he had won in the toughest series of air battles ever fought. <br /> <br />Returning to operations, he served under another fabulous air fighter, ‘Paddy’ Finucane; then was posted to rocket (airborne weapons) development, a task almost as dangerous as combat flying. <br /> <br />Later he commanded a famous fighter squadron in the Far East. and shot down the first Japanese he encountered. <br /> <br />Unorthodox, autocratic in his command but resentful of unreasonable interference from those above him, Ginger Lacey was a boyish-looking figure with a fantastic gift for leadership, and sharp eyes, bravery and an innate sense of timing. <br /> <br />He died in 1989, but his amazing story was recorded by an experienced writer who was a fellow officer in the RAF until 1951 and knew him well. It is a memorable and stirring biography. <br /> <br /> ‘The best all action war story yet produced.’ - Yorkshire Post <br /> <br />‘A top-scoring story.’ - Evening Standard <br /> <br />‘Fast-moving biography.’ - Sunday Times <br /> <br />‘The best biography of a fighter pilot ever written.’ - Yorkshire Evening Post <br /> <br />Richard Townsend Bickers volunteered for the RAF on the outbreak of the second world war and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen years. He wrote a range of military fiction and non-fiction books, including ‘Torpedo Attack’, ‘My Enemy Came Nigh’, ‘Bombing Run’, ‘Fighters Up’ and ‘Summer of No Surrender’. <br /> <br />Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.