1930s activism adventure adventures adversity aerial-combat africa african-safari airplane airplanes anarchism anarchist anarcho-syndicalism anarchy anti-fascism army author authoritarianism autobiographical autobiography aviation aviator barcelona battle betrayal biographical biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-culture british-empire british-literature catalonia catalonia-independence childhood childhood-dreams childhood-memories childrens-literature civil-war colonialism coming-of-age communism conflict courage creativity danger daring democracy determination dreams east-africa england escapades escape escapism european-history exploration family fascism fighter-pilot fighter-planes first-hand-account flying flying-ace foreign-correspondent freedom friendship friendships funny george-orwell going-solo government greece growing-up heroism historical historical-account historical-nonfiction history homage-to-catalonia humor humorous idealism ideology imagination independence independent india international-brigades journalism journalist journalistic journey kenya life-lessons literary literature london loyalty mediterranean memoir middle-east militarism military military-conflict military-service militia mischief nationalism non-fiction nonfiction norway norwegian nostalgia oppression orwell orwellian passion perseverance personal-account personal-experience personal-growth personal-narrative pilot pilot-training pilots planes political political-activism political-commentary political-conflict political-ideologies political-ideology political-journalism political-memoir politics poum propaganda raf raf-pilot rebellion repression republican republican-faction republicanism resilience resistance revolution revolutionary revolutionary-politics roald-dahl royal-air-force royal-navy safari second-world-war self-discovery social-commentary social-justice socialism socialist solo solo-travel spain spanish-civil-war spanish-politics spanish-republic spies spitfire spy storytelling success sudan survival syria tanganyika tanzania totalitarianism tragedy transformation travel triumph true-story unconventional violence war war-correspondent war-experience war-experiences war-journalism war-memoir war-stories wartime world-war-ii writer writing young-adult youth