New Publication Alert from Pen and Sword Books

posted December 2024
Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace is the story of a young Canadian who in a short time, and for a brief time, mastered Britain’s most legendary war machine, the Spitfire. It is also the story of a young English woman who was for a short time his wife, and for a long time his widow, and of their son who for much of his life knew little about his father and is still learning about him. Their stories, based on their letters, diaries, and photos, unfold in richly detailed context as the setting moves from Montreal in Nelson’s youth, England in the last years of peace, the first (and largely forgotten) months of the air war against Nazi Germany, Canada during the war, and finally to post-war England.
Posted to a bomber squadron, Nelson was one of the first Canadians to fly in combat over Germany, only days after the war began. In Britain’s desperate situation in June 1940 Nelson volunteered to retrain as a fighter pilot. Within weeks he destroyed five enemy aircraft, so becoming the only Canadian Spitfire ace in the Battle of Britain. Willie Nelson was shot down on the first day of November 1940, near the English Channel. 
 
Peter J. Usher is a Canadian geographer well known for his research and consulting career in northern Canada. Born in Montreal, Peter obtained post-graduate degrees in geography from McGill and the University of British Columbia. Later in life he became intrigued by the experience of those in his family who served in the Second World War, mostly in Bomber Command, prompted by the legacy of their letters and diaries.  Supplemented by archival research and site visits in Britain and Europe he began writing books and articles about the lives of Canadians in the air war against Nazi Germany.
 
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