Kittyhawk Pilot - Wing Commander J.F. (Stocky) Edwards by Edwards, Wing Commander J.F. (Stocky) and Lavigne, J.P. A. Michel - 1983

Saskatchewan, Canada: Turner-Warwick, 1983. A Very Good unmarked copy with Good+ dustjacket which has wear to edges. SIGNED BY WING COMMANDER JAMES F. (STOCKY) EDWARDS to half title page with no dedication. 308 pages + 24 pages appendices. 57 photographs.Maps of Libya and Egypt to endpapers. Jimmy Edwards, as the old-timers around Battleford call him, grew up in the historic town of Battleford, Saskatchewan. From the beginning he demonstrated the ability of an achiever - a quality that took him into the Royal Canadian Air Force and on into the Western Desert of North Africa. Edwards was posted to 94 Squadron RAF of 223 Wing in January 1942 flying the P-40 'Kittyhawk'. On March 23, he flew his first operational trip, during which he shot down his first enemy aircraft, a Bf 109. In May, he was posted to 260 Squadron, and saw intensive action for the rest of 1942. A Distinguished Flying Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross were awarded by the start of 1943, by which time Edwards was a Flight Commander. His tour finished in May 1943, total claims made being 17 aircraft shot down and several ground kills. In November 1943, Edwards was posted to No. 417 Squadron RCAF, then No. 92 Squadron RAF, flying the Supermarine Spitfire VIII; while serving on the Italian front with 92 Squadron, he added three Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and a Bf 109 to his score, all shot down over the Anzio beachhead, three of them on a single day. At the beginning of March 1944, he was posted to the UK, flying operations over Europe with 274 Squadron, a fighter unit equipped, at the end of Edwards' tour, with the Hawker Tempest. After leave in Canada, Edwards returned to the Western Front, flying Spitfire XVIs as 127 RCAF Wing CO in 1945. On May 3, he shared in the destruction of a Ju 88, just a few days before VE. He finished the war with a total of 373 operational sorties without being shot down by the enemy. A1C. Signed by Author. First. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.