Spitfire: An American WWII Fighter Pilot in the RAF

Virginia Museum of History & Culture Podcast

On May 25, 2023, author Preston Smith gave a fascinating lecture about his father’s service as the last U.S. pilot accepted into the ranks of the RAF during World War II. In a voice both timeless and distinctly greatest generational, Richmonder Parke F. Smith wrote about being the last U.S. pilot accepted into the ranks of the RAF through their training exchange program at War Eagle Field, Los Angeles. After completing their course, he sailed to England on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth, swore allegiance to the king, and was offered a coveted spot training as a fighter pilot. From 1942 to 1946, Smith flew 129 missions in North Africa, Italy, and over the North Sea, before returning home. Amazingly—blessedly—he made it home, unlike so many of his friends and comrades. It is to them he dedicated his writing. But war stories are only the half of it. Smith writes of human connection and camaraderie formed in war's trenches, revealing enduring truths through anecdotes made even more humorous from his perspective as a total outsider. Preston Smith offers an insider’s view into his father’s unique military service, telling a story about finding home—no matter how foreign—and fighting for it with all you've got. Parke’s son, Preston Smith, collected these writings, some discovered on old “floppy” disks, some in notebooks, and some in previously published volumes, bringing them to life as the 2020 book, Spitfire: An American WWII Fighter Pilot in the RAF. Virginians will remember the Smith family flying aerobatics for Barnstormers Airshows at King’s Dominion amusement park in Ashland, with Parke piloting a bi-plane, sons Jimmie and Preston manning the hot air balloon ascensions and assisting sky divers, and their mom knitting in the car. The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.