Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot and hellraiser extraordinary, D.F.C., A.F.C., Holder of the Cross of Lorraine and Member of the Norwegian Order of King Haakon (2nd Class) — an extra distinction which he 'bought' with a million bottles of Schnapps! — 'Paddy' Barthropp has rocketed out of one adventure straight into another throughout the whole of his fast-moving, action-packed life.
There have been many self-congratulatory autobiographies of Battle of Britain pilots, but this certainly isn't one of them. Wing-Commander Patrick Peter Colum Barthropp can't resist a good story —especially when it's one against himself. Like how he flunked his first Air Ministry interview for a Short Service Commission in 1938 when he thought Pythagoras was a racehorse!
Subsequently, he was packed off to a crammers in Kent where, apart from picking up a smattering of maths, he learned to play tennis and poker, and was raped by a lady tutor. As a result, on his second appearance at the Air Ministry he got a pass mark. But in what is anyone's guess.
Taught flying at the De Havilland School, he passed out on fighters just in the nick of time to join the Battle of Britain — alongside legendary flyers like Bob Tuck, Johnnie Johnson, 'Killy' Kilmartin, Jim Hallowes, 'Sailor' Malan and Douglas Bader . . . larger-than-life pilots all.
Scraps in the air were accompanied by scrapes on the ground, and appearances in Magistrates' Courts for disorderly conduct. Addicted to fast cars and lively ladies — and the sworn enemy of stuffed shirts everywhere — he was the irrepressible life and soul of any party, and a persistent thorn in the side of o'erweening authority . . . as the Germans were soon to discover. Shot down over France in May 1942, he was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III and, later, in Schubin, where he did his level best to make life difficult for his captors, and was a determined escaper who came very close to being killed for his pains.
The war over, he was posted to the Empire Test Pilot's School where he flew over a hundred different types of plane in ten months. Soon, he was out in the Sudan and in serious trouble again — under arrest after taking a hippo to an upper-crust party. As a boy, he had been taught to ride by champion jockey Steve Donaghue and now, posted to Hong Kong, he rode winners on the track at Happy Valley, and seriously thought of turning professional. Then it was back to the U.K. to take up an appointment as a Fighter Station Commander, and to lead the Coronation fly-past over Buckingham Palace.
He left the R.A.F. to set up his own luxury car-hire firm; in the beginning, chauffeuring the rich and the famous round England in his own Bentley. Rapid expansion followed as well-satisfied passengers spread the good word, and soon Deborah Kerr, Otto Preminger, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Alfred Hitchcock and the Kray Twins were numbered among his regular customers . . . and the source of many a lively story.
And 'Paddy' Barthropp is telling them still: never maliciously, often against himself, always richly amusing. Here is the thoroughly enjoyable autobiography of a true 'character' — and a rattling good read!
by Wing Commander Patrick Barthropp
Published by Howard Baker 1987 1st edition. 150pp illustrated, index, appendix. 14x22 slightly yellowed, otherwise very good including d/j.
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"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.
