190 pp. 8vo. 'The Immortal speech of Winston Churchill to Parliament in 1940 as the Battle of Britain raged above the skies of England is well-known: 'The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen, who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'. However not all of the pilots that flew in the Battle of Britain were actually from the U.K.; many came from the Dominions; Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa or nations overrun by the Nazis; Poles, Czechs, Free French. So direly needed was every pilot that a blind eye was turned on the nationality of the applicant for Fighter Command; one such man was Arthur 'Art' Donahue, an American hailing from the corn fields of Minnesota. Donahue was a humble and unprepossessing man, but despite his self-effacing nature his bravery in joining 'The Few' during their time of greatest need is a testament to his keen sense of justice. Having been a pilot for some years before joining he was almost immediately thrown into the front line fighting and in short order downed a BF 109, the 'ratlike' Messerschmidt that hunted the skies. His luck did not hold for long in the frenzied fighting in the skies as he was shot down and badly burnt facially. Amazingly he decided after a brief recuperation to get 'back in the saddle' and was flying again with 64 Squadron in the melee in the air. His recounts his experiences with wit, humility and frank honesty; a valuable historical memoir of one of the famous airmen that saved Britain, it is all the more poignant as two years later he was shot down over the English Channel and his body was never recovered.'