From Vulcan to Spitfire and Back

Growing up in Belfast during the Troubles, Bill Perrins was a young man hell-bent on a career as a pilot. He made it through RAF pilot training—thanks more, perhaps, to sheer determination than aptitude—and finally graduated to the role of Vulcan pilot in time to take part in the 1982 Falklands War. After the RAF, Bill entered the world of commercial aviation, flying Boeing 747s and Dreamliners on long-haul, though he still found time to pilot the world’s only privately owned nuclear bomber, the mighty Vulcan XH558, at air shows, along with P51 Mustangs, Yaks and the legendary Spitfire. Way back in his boyhood, the fantasy of one day flying the Spitfire was where it had all begun—and it did not disappoint. From Vulcan to Spitfire and Back: A Life in Aviation is a humorous, unguarded, and often self-deprecating account of what it was like to be part of an RAF squadron during the Cold War—everything from burning pianos to a mid-air collision in a Tornado. It is also about the simple joys of flying, whether in the cockpit of the enormous delta-winged Vulcan or behind the sprightly controls of the inimitable Spitfire, and the camaraderie that comes with it, both in military and civil aviation.