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Index
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Maps
List of Photographs
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Prologue: Ditched and broken in half
Part I: 1939–1940: French disconnections – Phoney war and ‘friendly fire’ – jumping into a pine forest – scorched earth retreat – finding a river in Africa
Chapter 1 ‘Friendly fire’ is just another enemy
Chapter 2 Baling out at 200 feet – is not recommended!
Chapter 3 Flight from the German Blitzkrieg – on land and sea
Chapter 4 Secret flight to a Moroccan River…to save Britain and France?
Part II: 1941: Long haul delivery to Egypt – the Benghazi ‘Mail Run’ – desert walk
Chapter 5 Down the gangplank, and across Africa
Chapter 6 The nightly ‘Mail Run’ comes to an end
Part III: 1942: Daylight desperation – the jungle is neutral – flotsam salvation – flying training can be lethal – first operation top secret! – will the North Sea be forgiving?
Chapter 7 The Audacious Augsburg Raid
Chapter 8 Falling into the jungles of New Guinea…death seems certain, quick or slow
Chapter 9 Wounded badly in both legs, drowning in the North Sea – or swim for your life!
Chapter 10 Training flight collision – ‘Don’t crash into the town!’
Chapter 11 Surviving flying training in Bomber Command – and that first operation to join a select brotherhood
Chapter 12 First operation as ‘Second Pilot’, ditched in the sea…can there be a second chance?
Part IV: 1943: Japanese troops are only one enemy – Alpine maze – ‘Big City’ hell – walking through occupied Europe – the Italian job goes wrong – help from above?
Chapter 13 Baling out on the Bengal coast – mangrove swamps, wild jungle, crocodiles, snakes, Japanese troops, the wild life of Burma is awaiting
Chapter 14 Flying through the Alps, while running on empty!
Chapter 15 The Battle of Berlin – escape from the ‘Big City’
Chapter 16 Evading the Gestapo, climbing the Pyrenees in winter – reaching Gibraltar is the only hope
Chapter 17 Salerno survival – in the air, on the beachhead, and behind German lines
Chapter 18 Flying blind in the blackout – catastrophe beckons
Part V: 1944 January-June: Blistering fire – big beginning, big ending – luck of the Irish? – running against the odds – dicing with death in ‘Happy Valley’
Chapter 19 The jungle is the only refuge
Chapter 20 A baptism of fire in the ‘Big Week’ for B-Beer
Chapter 21 Ferry pilot for a B-17 Flying Fortress – or would it be a flying death-trap?
Chapter 22 A single Spitfire against 24 Japanese ‘Oscar’ fighters? Can there be only one ending?
Chapter 23 Bomber training in worn out aircraft, and that first raid to Germany’s Ruhr
Part VI: 1944 July- December: Free fall into Germany – no time to die – last man in, or out? – hide or flee? – somebody help me! – no way to land this plane – black night disaster – gun turret catapult – searching for Kalemyo
Chapter 24 Shot down in Germany, shot in the neck and assumed to be dead, what next?
Chapter 25 Blasted into the night sky over Stuttgart – ‘Can I walk to Switzerland?’
Chapter 26 The pilot’s dilemma – ‘All the crew have baled out, but is it now too late for me?’
Chapter 27 Surviving the Arnhem disaster – thirteen days in no man’s land
Chapter 28 Dumped in a ditch, semi-conscious, one arm hanging half-severed – night is falling, and so is oblivion
Chapter 29 Pilot dead, no-one else can fly, one engine gone, hammered by flak over Essen…yet baling out seems like suicide!
Chapter 30 Surviving those first few demanding operations – then an unimaginable and unforeseeable disaster
Chapter 31 ‘Tail-End Charlies’ can be lucky…and fearless
Chapter 32 Boxing Day night in Burma, one engine burnt out at tree-top height …the dark impenetrable jungle below lies in wait
Part VII: 1945: Is this Holland or Germany? – hiding on the battlefield – one raid too many? – involuntary ejection – going down somewhere
Chapter 33 New Year’s Day hangover – a Lancaster crew hangs together, and hangs on
Chapter 34 No ordinary day – baling out at 15,000 feet, and into the Battle of the Bulge
Chapter 35 Dangling from a parachute, lined up in the sights of a Luftwaffe night-fighter, has this 31st operation tempted fate too far?
Chapter 36 I shot upwards like a bullet!
Chapter 37 Engine gone – jump into the sea, or crash land behind German lines?
Postscript – So many more
Epilogue
Notes
Glossary and Abbreviations
Bibliography and Sources
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