Messianic element among aviation proponents, it is mostly an earthbound institutional and policy history of the organizational structures developed for flight training, and of the methods used to teach military men to fly airplanes. This book tells the story of a young man from a poor family who was inspired by Sir Alan Cobham's Flying Circus to join the Royal Air Force in 1934. He rose from being an Aircraft Hand - 'the lowest of the low' - to becoming a fighter pilot and joining No 501 Squadron in 1940. He flew Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain and went on to achieve a distinguished flying career during the Second World War. It is not just the story of one man's personal battle to become an RAF fighter pilot, but also the engrossing tale of the part he played in the larger battle to defend his country during those long, dark years of war.