Ted Shippy Shipman was one of The Few who flew with 41 Squadron in the Battle of Britain. He left his father's farm in 1930 and enlisted in the RAF as a driver ACII. He flew for thirteen years of his thirty years service, achieved the highest grade of flying instructor and retired as a Wing Commander. This book is based on the copious notes that Shippy wrote in the 1970s and bring a firsthand insight into the life of an RAF Spitfire pilot during the early war years and then his remaining wartime and postwar service until 1959.

His career as a senior instructor included No 8 Service Flying Training School, Montrose and the Central Flying School at Upavon. He then went on to teach at the Flying Instructors School at Hullavington in 1942 and the Rhodesian Air Training Group between 1943 and 1945. After the war he did tours in Germany and Cyprus. He was Commanding Officer at RAF Sopley, Hampshire and RAF Boulmer in Northumberland until his retirement in 1959. During retirement he actively supported the Air Training Corps, Battle of Britain Fighter Association and the RAF Benevolent Fund.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Taking the Plunge: Enlistment
• Chapter 2: Trying to Get On
• Chapter 3: To Fly or Not to Fly?
• Chapter 4: No. 41 Squadron, Catterick
• Chapter 5: Spitfires!
• Chapter 6: Preparing for Action
• Chapter 7: Action at Fast!
• Chapter 8: Dunkirk
• Chapter 9: Back at Catterick
• Chapter 10: Interviews in 1990
• Chapter 11: A Perfect Interception
• Chapter 12: Goodbye Forty-One
• Chapter 13: Moving On
• Chapter 14 Journey to Southern Rhodesia
• Chapter 15: ECFS Again
• Chapter 16: Goodbye to Flying Training
• Chapter 17: Germany
• Chapter 18: Home Again
• Chapter 19: Suez and Cyprus
• Chapter 20: Boulmer
• Chapter 21: So to Retirement
• Postscript
• Appendix 1: Air Ministry Records
• Appendix 2: History of No. 41 Squadron
• Appendix 3: The Vickers Supermarine Spitfire
• Appendix 4: Aircraft Flown by Ted ‘Shippy’ Shipman
• Appendix 5: Summary of Flying by Ted ‘Shippy’ Shipman
• Appendix 6: Translation of a letter from Bernhard Hochstuhl to Ted Shipman, 11 July 1990
• Appendix 7: Transcript from Durham Police Occurrence Book for 15 August 1940
• Appendix 8: Transcript from Dennis Knight’s Notes Relating to 15 August 1940
• Appendix 9: Extracts from a Letter from Hans Kettling to E.A. Shipman, January 1980
• Appendix 10: Eyewitness Accounts from the Ground, August 1940
• Appendix 11: Luftwaffe Organisation
• Appendix 12: Notes on Each Pilot Mentioned
• Appendix 13: Names of Persons Mentioned in the Text
• Appendix 14: Diagrams
• Bibliography
• Postscript: Part 2
• Plate section