Some Still Live

By Frances Smith McCamic Tinker

Book Overview

Frank G. Tinker Jr was a freelance US pilot who signed up with the Republican forces in Spain because he didn't like Mussolini. He was also attracted by the prospect of adventure and a generous pay cheque. Once over in Spain he took on the bombers and fighter pilots lent to the Fascist rebels by Hitler and Mussolini, who used the Spanish Civil War as a practice ground for the mass bombing of civilian populations. Tinker chalked up the largest number of acknowledged kills with a total of 8 Junkers, Fiats and Messerschmitts. When he returned to the US he was unable to rejoin the Armed Forces and, depressed by Franco's victory, he was found in a hotel room in June 1939 with an empty bottle of whisky and a bullet in his head. This is his account of his experiences in Spain.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1913693252
• ISBN13: 9781913693251
• Release Date: February 2023
• Publisher: Clapton Press Limited
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A unique book of history

Some Still Live is a monumental book of historical value. It will fascinate the reader who values history but it will not suite the reader with low expectations , hoping for a cheap drama that kills few boring hours. The author, pilot Frank Tinker , a friend of E. Hemingway - who suggested and supervised this writing - put in these pages his own experiences from his air fighting in the Spanish Civil War. There are very few books for that period from the `inside'. His unique references have been used by modern historians to reveal the unknown facts of this era. The description of the air battles and of the atmosphere among the pilots will remind the style of `For Whom the Bell Tolls' in a simple descriptive style. If used as a movie scenario would have produced a unique American film . Besides , Tinker was the first pilot ever in history to shoot down a Messerschmitt plane. A number of films and books refer to this event that appeared to this book for the first time (1939) when US was not yet at war

A personal view of a forgotten chapter of the 20th Century.

Frank Tinker was a US Navy pilot that hired on as a mercenary with the Republican forces in Spain during their Civil War in the 30's. The writing is not world-class but the recounting of history is. To read the book and then to find out how he ended his life is the stuff of a great story.