The Book that Changed my Life – Patrick Larsimont

Welcome to Not In The Script (NITS) in which, from time to time, we ask authors to tell us about the book that set them on their writing path. This time it’s the turn of Patrick Larsimont whose compelling novels about a WW2 fighter pilot ace are proving massively popular…

The book that has had the greatest influence on my storytelling is in fact not a novel at all. It’s a non-fiction, autobiographic memoir called First Light by Squadron Leader Geoffrey ‘Boy’ Wellum DFC. It tells the story of a seventeen-year-old boy who leaves his sheltered public-school life in 1939 to become a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force.

He is a wide-eyed, somewhat naïve schoolboy, full of patriotic fervour and the jingoism of the Great British Empire who excitably joins the ranks of some ‘really smashing chaps’. Winston Churchill would famously go on to say about them, ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.’

Wellum’s account of the war in Britain’s skies also describes the devastation on the ground, going on to tell of his exploits in France and then the war-torn, besieged island of Malta. During the course of his travails, he becomes a hardened warrior and recognised ace, but grows colder, more cynical, deadly and calculating, and ultimately wears out, and yet throughout everything remains that school boy. A boy who has grown into a man very quickly and yet remains the charming, wide-eyed, enthusiastic youth, often reflective and self-critical. His voice has the richness of the period, the naiveté of his age and is lyrical and evocative. To me it was a real revelation to see how true life can be told in words, imagery and emotions that are every bit as colourful and powerful as anything found in the finest of novels.

I was also intrigued by the point where the simple recounting of events and facts stops, and storytelling began. Seeing straightforward reporting merged with vivid imagery, rich descriptions and heightened senses making the reader feel like they’re right there. 

First Light has certainly influenced my writing and in some ways my life too. The core premise of a school boy who ‘accidently’ joins the RAF and somehow, despite himself, becomes a lauded fighter ace is essentially what happens to Jox McNabb, the protagonist of my WW2 aviation series, currently standing at five tomes. McNabb has very long war and becomes one of the nation’s most decorated war heroes. There is of course a lot of swashbuckling action, aviation geeking out and heroic derring-do, but I hope also emotional poignancy, sensitivity, a sense of reflection, due honour and respect paid. With an author’s conceit there is undoubtedly a bit of me in Jox, but I don’t delude myself that there isn’t a whole lot more of ‘Boy’ Wellum in there too.

‘Boy’ Wellum’s inspiring book First Light and Larsimont’s novels

Another aspect of my stories is anchored in how Wellum in his own tale describes the importance of camaraderie, leaders, mentors and chums. I too build a ‘band of brothers’ around Jox McNabb, some based on my own friends and acquaintances, but I also make a point of including as many real individuals as I can. In my first Jox McNabb novel The Lightning and The Few I tell the story of Jox training, qualifying and joining the real No. 111 Squadron during the battle of France and then Britain. He is taken the under the wing of his flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Michael ‘Wheelie’ Ferriss DFC, who becomes a friend, mentor and surrogate big brother until he is killed in battle on June 16th 1940.

I have visited Ferriss’s grave at St Mary's churchyard in Chislehurst, Kent, and have imagined how a young McNabb might have been tasked with commanding the burial party and organising a fly-past. Such is my affection and respect for Michael Ferris, that I have sponsored his name on the national Memorial to The Few at Capel-le-Ferne at Folkestone in Kent.

This sort of ‘direct’ interaction has led me to ‘adopting’ two more airmen lost in war. Pilot Officer Cecil Hight was a young New Zealander with No. 234 Squadron who fell to his death in Bournemouth on the evening of the 15th of August 1940. His body and aircraft landed in a garden around the corner from my home and I pass his memorial almost every day and have visited his grave many times.

Similarly, in nearby Wimbourne Road Cemetery, I found Captain Keith Muspratt MC, a WW1 ace with eight victories to his name. I came across him, quite by chance, the lettering on his family’s cross faded and overgrown with grass. He is, I suppose, pretty much forgotten but it took me very little research to discover that he was one of eight No. 56 Squadron British aces who worked together to bring down the legendary 48-victory Prussian ace Werner Voss on the 28^th of September 1917.

Muspratt was later killed in a flying accident in 1918, but it is telling that four of his comrades in the downing of Voss failed to survive the war. None of them was older than twenty-three. An indication of Muspratt’s quality as a pilot is that Captain Albert Ball VC, DSO & 2 bars, MC (44 victories) and Major James McCudden VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM (57 victories), the most highly decorated airman in British military history, were both No. 56 squadron pilots and neither survived the war either.

These kind of men were certainly also inspirations in my creation of the fighter ace Jeremy ‘Jox’ McNabb GC, DSO, MC, DFC & Bar, but First Light by Squadron Leader Geoffrey ‘Boy’ Wellum DFC was definitely the beginning.

Oh, and yes, quite clearly, I do admire fruit salad on a uniform. To find out more about Jox, please check out www.patricklarsimont.com

I’ll leave the final words to Wellum himself.

‘In most lives, I suppose, there comes a time when one has to make a supreme effort that calls for every morsel of endeavour and more often than not, that effort has to be sustained. With me, I am certain that my time came with my three years as an operational fighter pilot in our country’s finest hour. My only regret is that it had to happen so early in my life, but there it is.’