Mach One

Book excerpt: Mike Lithgow joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1939. A year later he was flying from the deck of the ill-fated carrier Ark Royal. Lithgow flew in the attack which sank the Bismarck, and later was in the search for the Tirpitz. While on patrol in the South Atlantic his plane flew into the sea and he and his crew were left floating in their Mae Wests eight hundred miles from the nearest land...their rescue can only be described as miraculous. In 1945 Lithgow became a test pilot with Vickers Supermarine organisation; since 1948 he has been Chief Test Pilot. In his brilliant career with Vickers, Lithgow has flown the world demonstrating the prowess of that wonderful aircraft, the Swift, and its succeeding prototype, F525. His story is entertaining, intensely readable, and revealing of a very brave man.