What would I say to a WWII Spitfire Pilot?

"Thank you for your service" would be nice. The British and American soldiers kept us from becoming German or Japanese.

First, ask him if he minds talking about his wartime experiences. Don't assume that he does, even if he has written a book. Remembering lost friends is particularly painful for many vets. I once took a WWII RAF pilot flying. It was his first non-airline passenger flight since WWII. It was the first time he had handled the controls of a plane ssince the war. The memories that flooded back were too strong. He had a nervous breakdown afterward and had to be hospitalized. In other words, tread lightly with utmost respect for the man.

Second, read or reread his book. Choose questions related to things you don't understand clearly or want to know more about.

Ask him what advice he has for someone like yourself. WWII was a very short period in a very long life. Find out about the man himself, not about the pilot he once was.

Don't crowd him with a list of questions. Ask one and see where it goes. I have interviewed a lot of WWII vets. It is best if you don't script it too much. Just like meeting anyone you have never met before.

Hey B tripleD, that's a sad story. I can understand it though. As far as "What should I say to a WWII Spitfire Pilot?" I agree with a previous answer that said, Look him in the eye and say, "Thanks for your service. I really mean that." We don't often get a chance to meet one of these heroes. Heck, I feel that way when I meet a current fighter pilot at an air show. Let's face it, whether these guys fly into a combat zone or not, they are flying high performance military aircraft and they are putting it on the line for us when they do. I always tell them, every time they go up to know that down on the ground that we appreciate what they do. Back in the 1980's when I served as a Crew Chief in the Air Force, I always rolled out the red carpet for my flight crews. I knew they were flying dangerous low level practice flights and dangerous in-flight refueling and I wanted them to know that we were there for them...and would be waiting for them when they got back to base. I always said, "Ok, I'll be disconnecting from inter-phone right now, and y'all have a good flight. See ya when you get back." It's funny, you had to let them know the exact moment you were disconnecting from the aircraft inter-phone located in the wheel well because otherwise they might release brakes and start to roll on you. It happened! The radio was so busy and sometimes they forgot that the crew chief was talking to them from in front of the wheels. (B-52) YIKES! You had to remind them that for the safety of the ground crew, that they couldn't release brakes until we gave them the hand signal. ("Look for me off to your left or right and I'll marshal you out onto the taxiway.") That was part of the standard pre-flight maintenance briefing every time. Then we would safely marshal them around the equipment in the parking spot and out onto the open taxiway. Then we would salute them to signal the end of the marshaling and they were free to navigate on their own. Of course we'd always throw in a friendly wave as well. Especially to the tail gunner so he knew we didn't forget about him back there. Everybody was so young, geeez!

Ask him what air battle, specifically, was like.

Modern air battle is all computers, radar, and long range.

Back then, many times, you got to see the face of the enemy pilot that was attacking you. A very different sort of fight.

Ask him what sort of locations he got to fly over.

Ask him if he ever had any really unique events that he remembers.

Sounds fun. Those guys always have great stories :)

No. of kills then about the "social" behavior of the pilots; where he was stationed; squadron number - if you do a little back ground research and can join the conversation its rather complementary....

Thank you.