The Road to Biggin Hill : A Life of Wing Commander Johnny Checketts, DSO, DFC, American Silver Star, Polish Cross of Valour, RNZA. by Vincent Orange. SIGNED BY JOHNNY CHECKETTS

The Road to Biggin Hill : A Life of Wing Commander Johnny Checketts, DSO, DFC, American Silver Star, Polish Cross of Valour, RNZA. by Vincent Orange. SIGNED BY JOHNNY CHECKETTS and inscribed to previous named owner.

Publisher: Mallinson Rendel Publishers Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand, 1987, FIRST EDITION.

Very good hardback with jacket. Minor rubbing, bumping and fading to edges, minor marks. Pages very good, owner inscription to half-title page. Jacket has some light shelf-wear with fading to spine area, a little chipping to edges and repaired tear to back cover. . 192pp, maps on eps, b&w photo plates.

A Gripping Story of Courage in the Air and Evasion on the Ground. Johnny Checketts, widely recognised as one of the great fighter pilots of World War II, was born and raised in Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand. Considered by the locals to be a dare-devil motorcycle rider in his youth, it was natural that in 1939 he should join the RNZAF, then undergoing rapid expansion to its wartime strength of 33,000 men. In spite of being well over the average age for a fighter pilot, Johnny worked hard and turned out to be a great airman, tactician and leader in battle, achieving one of the highest scores of enemy aircraft destroyed in the air war over the Channel. He was shot down in September 1943 but avoided capture by the Germans with the help of the French Resistance - an absorbing story in itself. Rising to the rank of Wing Commander and being personally decorated by King George VI, after the war Johnny returned to New Zealand, left the service in 1955, founded an aerial topdressing company, and then lived in happy retirement until his death in 2006 at the age of 94. He is one of the true, though modest, 'heroes' of the war and Vincent Orange tells his story in a relaxed and elegant style taking the reader through Johnny's exploits in a unique period of human history never likely to be repeated.

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