The machine-guns chattered their chant of death, the Spitfire spat its eight-forked tongues of flame - and from the wide blue sky tumbled another charred fragment of the once-mighty Luftwaffe.

Mike Arden was a flying fool: a pilot with only one fault. In his eagerness to get into a fight he left more than burned-out Nazis behind him - he left a trail of broken Spitfires too!

So they gave him a choice: Transfer to Coastal Command or stay on the ground."

Mike transferred - and did things with a foul engined bomber that had never been done before!