Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. New

¶ … Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. New York: Wiley, 2003

Geoffrey Wellum was only seventeen years old when he became part of the Royal Air Force. First Light is a first-person chronicle of his experience, and the author strives to give the reader a moment-to-moment sense of what it was like to fight during the Battle of Britain and to participate in other crucial wartime conflicts. "Please, dear God, like me more than you do the Germans," prayed Wellum whenever he fought (Wellum 146). Fear was inevitable, even for the bravest: "No amount of training can prepare you for mortal combat. One has to realize before take-off that in order to have any chance of surviving and coming through you must remember a simple and straightforward golden rule: Never, but never fly straight and level for more than twenty seconds. If you do, you' die" (Wellum 165). Wellum is part of Britain's Greatest Generation, a generation that sacrificed and resolved, under conditions of peril and great austerity, to triumph over the threat to world freedom.

Wellum's book, although it is a memoir, has a narrative arc: at first he is full of innocence and careless bravery, as he joins the RAF while still in school. Then he grows more world-weary after combat -- he learns to cope with, rather than deny fear. He was so young when he first joined that his nickname was "Boy" but by the time he was nineteen, he believed he had reached the "pinnacle" of his life, given the emotional highs and lows he had witnessed in the air (Wellum 187). His intensive training was grueling -- two of his classmates actually died. But he never questions the necessity of his service. Wellum demonstrates how critical small Spitfire planes were during the war, and how the planes' better maneuverability and the skill of their pilots were a key component in Britain's air victories. But while many men showed distinguished service and bravery, Wellum's efforts, particularly because of his age, were deemed extraordinary: even Wellum's 95 solo flights by the time he was nineteen bought a whistle of respect from commanding officers and seasoned army veterans.

Wellum's stream-of-consciousness when he is fighting is both funny and compelling: "I reckon I'm a little above, just a fraction, and therefore gaining. God, I hope so. Coupled with fear, I now also feel a sense of anger. What right has this German to fly his snotty little aeroplane over our England and try to kill me? Who invited him? Just because he's stupid enough to believe his bloody Fuhrer and his master-race-dominating-the-world crap, he flies for his wretched Fatherland and tries to impose typical Teutonic bullying on our country. The bloody arrogance of it! Well, you'll not shoot me down you black-crossed sod" (Wellum 154). As evidenced in this quote, Wellum showed coolness and patriotism when he is fighting. Although at times the book can get mired in technical details about aircraft warfare, it also shows the typical life of a British pilot during the era -- using humor to cope with stress, and relaxing with either a cup of tea or a pint after risking his life in a dogfight in horrifying weather.