'I Wish I Had Your Wings'
A Spitfire Pilot and Operation Pedestal, Malta 1942
2025
|
New edition
The History Press Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-80399-953-1 (ISBN)
The History Press Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-80399-953-1 (ISBN)
In August 1942, British launched Operation Pedestal in an attempt to deliver supplies to the stricken island of Malta, an Allied base which had been under Axis blockade for months
August 1942, British forces launched Operation Pedestal in an attempt to deliver supplies to the stricken island of Malta, an Allied base that had been under Axis blockade for months. From 9 to 15 August, a convoy of some fifty ships ran the gauntlet of Axis bombers, submarines, E-boats and minefields. Of the original fourteen merchant vessels, only five reached Malta Grand Harbour.
In ‘I Wish I Had Your Wings’, Angus Mansfield relates the experiences of two men involved in Pedestal, Captain David Macfarlane of MV Melbourne Star and his nephew John Mejor, one of the Spitfire pilots who fought to protect the convoy. Told using their log books, letters and papers, and illustrated with images from the family archive, this is the story of one family’s contribution to a relief operation that cost over 400 Allied lives, but has gone down in history as one of the most important British strategic victories of the Second World War.
August 1942, British forces launched Operation Pedestal in an attempt to deliver supplies to the stricken island of Malta, an Allied base that had been under Axis blockade for months. From 9 to 15 August, a convoy of some fifty ships ran the gauntlet of Axis bombers, submarines, E-boats and minefields. Of the original fourteen merchant vessels, only five reached Malta Grand Harbour.
In ‘I Wish I Had Your Wings’, Angus Mansfield relates the experiences of two men involved in Pedestal, Captain David Macfarlane of MV Melbourne Star and his nephew John Mejor, one of the Spitfire pilots who fought to protect the convoy. Told using their log books, letters and papers, and illustrated with images from the family archive, this is the story of one family’s contribution to a relief operation that cost over 400 Allied lives, but has gone down in history as one of the most important British strategic victories of the Second World War.
ANGUS MANSFIELD is the author of Barney Barnfather: Life on a Spitfire Squadron and Spitfire Saga: Rodney Scrase DFC, published by The History Press. He was educated at Wallington Grammar School and currently works in banking. He lives in Cornwall.
Title
Copyright
Contents
Foreword by Allan Scott DFC
Acknowledgements
Prologue: Early Morning 13 August 1942
1 John Mejor: Early Days
2 David Rattray Macfarlane: Early Days and First Convoy to Malta, Operation Substance, 1941
3 Malta and the Struggle for Survival
4 Malta, May to August 1942: The ‘Dog’ and Sheer Bloody Exhaustion
5 Operation Pedestal
6 Rest and 2nd Tactical Air Force to D-Day
Epilogue by Sally Keyes
Bibliography & Sources
| Erscheinungsdatum | 14.06.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 30 Illustrations, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Stroud |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 129 x 198 mm |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte |
| Literatur ► Briefe / Tagebücher | |
| Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik | |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945 | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-80399-953-5 / 1803999535 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-80399-953-1 / 9781803999531 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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