Group Captain Tom Gleave

Thomas Percy Gleave began his RAF career in 1930. He transferred to Bomber Command on 1 January 1939, but at the outbreak of war requested a return to Fighter Command. He took command of 253 Squadron just in time for the start of the Battle of Britain.In this autobiography, Tom Gleave tells of the early days of his encounters with the German aircraft in dramatic detail and particularly of that dreadful day, 31 August 1940, when he escaped his fatally damaged aircraft with severe burns to much of his body and his face. After being taken to Orpington Hospital, Gleave was transferred to Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead where he was one of the first pilots to undergo plastic surgery by Archie, later Sir Archibald, Mclndoe and his brilliant colleague, Percy Jayes.Gleave received leg and facial grafts, and his nose was reconstructed. The Guinea Pig Club was formed at Queen Victoria Hospital on 20 July 1941, with Mclndoe as President and Gleave as Vice-President and a Founder Member, b