Patrick Bishop
Aerial Totty
Spitfire: The Biography
By Jonathan Glancey
Atlantic Books 320pp £17.99
The Spitfire was seventy this year and time has been kind. The slim fuselage and broad, elliptical wings create a silhouette which remains for many the apogee of aviation beauty. No war plane since, certainly not the stout fighter-bombers of today with their vestigial wings and gross underslung cargoes of missiles and bombs, elicits the swoony response that the Spit still stirs in males of all ages.
If the Spit has the perfect figure, she also has the perfect voice. The original Merlin engine, I wrote in my book Fighter Boys, produced a sound 'like the note of a grand piano after a bass key has been struck, fading and swelling as if it is trying to tell us something, the most poignant and romantic sound on earth'.
The Spitfire produced rare flashes of emotional eloquence from the men who flew. There were those who stuck up gallantly for the homely Hurricane, the machine that really won the Battle of Britain; but once you had tasted the former it was hard to go back to the latter. The
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk