Joseph Randolph Richard

Incendo Joseph Randolph Richard

Publisher Marketing: Incendo is the story of young Spitfire pilot Conan Redding from Yorkshire and his fellow pilots of 236 Squadron. After only a few months of combat, Redding was shot down during the Battle of Britain. With horrific burns from the highly flammable aviation fuel, he and the other pilots who suffered the same fate were sent to the newly established Burns Unit at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex. This unit was headed by the brilliant Dr. Archibald McIndoe from New Zealand and Dr. Ross Tilley, a skilled surgeon from the Royal Canadian Air Force. Together the doctors pioneered new techniques revolutionising the treatment of severe burns. While reconstructing their bodies the doctors also paid great attention to the men's psychological state; allowing unprecedented hospital liberties to help them feel appreciated and to embrace life. Despite many of them having horribly scarred faces the local town's people openly accepted them, inviting many into their homes for meals or to the local pubs for drinks. During their lengthy treatment the patients formed a drinking club called the Guinea Pig Club; its name derived from the men having multiple reconstructive surgeries like lab animals. The story also tells of Churchill's time in office during the Blitz, the French Resistance who bravely fought a clandestine battle with the Wehrmacht and of a German Luftwaffe Commander who struggled to defeat a tenacious RAF. Although fictional, this story contains factual and historical events that occurred during WWII.