Product Description

During the Battle of Britain, Geoffrey Page was shot down into the English Channel, causing him to suffer severe burns. This autobiography tells of his wartime exploits and the effect of his injuries, as well as how he became a founder member of The Guinea Pig Club, a club for badly burnt aircrew.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #416358 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Heroic biog marred by unnecessary post-war rambling
Geoffrey Page is a hero. Of that, there is no doubt. A fighter pilot with the RAF during the Second World War, Page was not only a superb pilot and leader, but recovered from horrendous wounds after being shot down into the English Channel.

'Shot Down In Flames' documents Page's illustrious career, and is written in a refreshingly wide eyed and lyrical style. The reader shares the sheer joy and exhilaration of flying a Spitfire for the first time. He/she can also identify keenly with the sense of fear as squadrons were called relentlessly into battle during the struggle in the skies above Britain in 1940. Page is disarmingly honest. He describes the way pilots had to simply blank out the memories of their lost colleagues if they were themselves to continue. He paints a vivid depiction of the air fighting itself, not from a technical and tactical point of view, but from the perspective of a typical young man caught in the middle of it.

As Page lies, drowsing, on a sun soaked airfield awaiting the dreaded phone call to 'Scramble', his combination of weariness and nausea feels all too real. So well written is the book that you can almost feel the sun on your skin, hear the chirrup of insects in the grass and smell the fuel from the idling fighters. It's tremendously vivid.

With similar resonance, Page goes on to describe his fight for life after bailing out from a blazing inferno that had once been his aircraft. Suffering appalling burns to his hands and face, Page became one of Dr McIndoe's so-called Guinea Pigs, undergoing a series of experimental skin graft operations. During his long convalescence, Page's ambition to fly again was laughed off by his superiors. His hands were considered too deformed to ever control an aircraft again. But Geoffrey Page proved them all wrong. He went on to an illustrious career, commanding yet more daring missions throughout Europe.

Sadly, in the final third of the book, Page describes his post-war career in a muddled, rambling manner, and at unnecessary length. This type of information does not belong in a book of this nature. After the exhilaration and emotion of what has gone before, the remainder of the book is frankly dull and uninspiring. It lacks an ending altogether, and simply tails off. Details of Page's post-war career and social life should have occupied a couple of pages, not ream after ream. Any review of the book as a whole cannot overlook this. It dilutes an otherwise excellent read, and diminishes what would have been a five crown review to a three.