Through Adversity To The Stars

Happened across this historic tome at the Greenside car boot sale this morning.

Published in 1953, this book was co-written by the famous test pilot Neville Duke, who not only was a hero of the Battle of Britain awarded with the DSO and the DFC (with two bars), but was awarded an OBE for his achievements with the RAF High Speed Flight and the Hawker Aircraft Company - notably setting a new world air speed record of 727.63 mph in a Hawker Hunter on the 7th September 1953.

The book was published at a time when every schoolboy wanted to be a test pilot, and British aircraft were the best in the world. I look forward to reading it, sitting in the cockpit with him as he flies through the Sound Barrier.