The Last Enemy.

First Edition (first printing) of the author's celebrated aviation memoir. 8vo. vii, 221pp. Blue cloth lettered in gold at the spine. The top edge perhaps fractionally dust soiled, and the backstrip cloth lightly faded. Contemporary (1945) former owner name and date neatly inked to the tip of the front free endpaper. A very good copy, lacking the dust wrapper. Richard Hillary joined the Royal Air Force at the start of WWII. He fought in the Battle of Britain and suffered severe burns to his face and hands after a crash, subsequently undergoing plastic surgery in the US under pioneering surgeon Archibald McIndoe. He returned to flying at RAF Charterhall in November 1942 and died on 8th January 1943 when his Blenheim crashed during night training. His memoir, published the year before his death, met with universal acclaim and is heralded as the finest account of the Battle of Britain.