Virginia and the Kidd The Story of Virginia Irwin and Kidd Hofer

A love story set during the WWII air war in England, between a highly-decorated, maverick American Army Air Force fighter pilot and a much older female war correspondent.Virginia Irwin was a thirty-five-year-old feature writer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch when the war broke out. She took a leave of absence to become a Red Cross volunteer in England. Once there, she talked the paper into letting her be a war correspondent thereby becoming one of the few female war correspondents near the front lines.With his movie star looks, long hair and always wearing his signature football jersey, Ralph "Kidd" Hofer was the last of the great WWII Aces. In 90 days the twenty-three-year-old racked up a score of enemy planes shot down equal to those who had fought for three years. A maverick fighter pilot in a P-51 Mustang, he was often reprimanded for his undisciplined flying tactics, however, because of his rogue tactics, he was the number three ace in the European theatre destroying 30.5 enemy aircraft while being decorated with 7 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 3 Air Medals.In the air, he was an ace, but on the ground, he was no match for the charms of Virginia. The heroic action of his exploits in the fierce air war and a tumultuous love affair with an older woman, combine to make a unique perspective of love and war.