Last flight from Singapore

the long version

Although the Battle of Britain is over, the campaign for Singapore is about to begin. After Arthur Donahue survived the fight in Europe, which he documented in "Tally Ho! Yankee in a Spitfire", he was posted to a new squadron headed overseas. Donahue reveals the frustration felt by pilots as they were cooped up on transport ships; en route they learn that the U.S. has been drawn into the war, and that their destination is now Singapore. Though saddened by the news, Donahue reveals a glimpse into the American people’s earlier attitude towards those who, like him, had volunteered with the British: they saw them as outlaws. Adapting to new conditions, Donahue transports the reader once more into his flying boots as he readies himself in the sweltering jungles of Malaya, before flying on to Singapore and a new form of aerial warfare against the Japanese. Filled with technical insights and descriptions of what his senses experienced, it is nonetheless a harder, more visceral chapter as he is wounded and defeat looms beyond on the horizon. "Last Flight from Singapore" is Donahue’s vivid account of the months immediately after those described in "Tally-Ho! Yankee in a Spitfire", concluding his memoir of service as an American in the R.A.F.