The amazing, true story of William Leefe Robinson who won the Victoria Cross for bringing down the first airship on English soil in September 1916… Originally published in 1989 by Aston, the last remaining stocks of Ray Rimell’s acclaimed biography are only available from Albatros Productions, Ltd.
From Billy’s early years in India, education in England, Army service with the Worcester Regiment, enrolment into the RFC, and posting to 39 HDS at Sutton Farm, Essex, Ray’s painstakingly-researched book provides the full background to this energetic and good-natured young man, drawing on family archives, interviews with contemporaries and extensive research into personal and official records. The dramatic destruction of SL11 over Cuffley in 1916 is described in unprecedented detail and following chapters cover the aftermath, countrywide adulation for Britain’s first ‘Giant Killer’, the VC award, Robinson’s subsequent service on the Western Front cut short by a fateful encounter with Richthofen’s Flying Circus, his escape attempts from PoW camps, mistreatment and eventual repatriation that ended in tragedy.
* Hardcovers * 128 pages * Over 100 rare photos * Notes and appendices. Signed copies only from Albatros – personal inscriptions by request.
