Product Description

On a dark desperate night in June 1943, a stricken Halifax bomber limped low over Holland and crashed in a small meadow. The aircraft itself was entirely wrecked, but its crew, amazingly, all stepped out alive and completely unhurt. This book contains one of the twenty true stories of bravery, survival and luck, and good and bad.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87446 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
"'A good, tense reporting job...the author allows these veterans to tell the key elements of their stories mainly in their own words yet still brings out the excitement and terror of their recollections.' Journal of Aircrew Association 'A very good read going a long way to helping understand what those chaps went through to achieve victory.' Bomber Command Historical Society Journal"

From the Author
Mel Rolfe on the drama of Hell on Earth
A former Bomber Command veteran has written: ‘I think this is the finest RAF book that I have read.’ I would be happy to hear from any bomber survivors who have stories to tell. The following extracts illustrate the drama in this book.

‘It is believed that when Dacey realised the aircraft was on fire he grabbed an extinguisher, hurried aft and tried, in vain, to put out the flames. Somehow he became trapped behind the spreading inferno and was unable to return to the cockpit for his parachute. Alone with his screams, he could do nothing except wait and die as his unsuspecting companions jumped into the cold night. It is likely that Dacey was already dead before the Halifax plunged into the ground and blew up, atomising his body.’

‘Unable to release Jones (mid-upper gunner) they agreed the only way was to chop off his foot, clip him to a parachute and all bale out. Jordan seized the axe, which was part of their escape gear, detaching himself from his macabre task, knowing it must be done otherwise they would all die.’

‘We were marched to a deserted and tatty industrial area, into a short cu-de-sac, where most of the property was badly damaged. A factory wall stood across the bottom and they put us against it. A line of a dozen (German) soldiers stood pavement to pavement, rifles against their shoulders. A corporal stood near them with his hand up. Stan said to me in a low, horrified voice: "They’re going to shoot us.".’

‘We could see the (Lancaster) wing flapping up and down. It could have broken off at any time and going through my mind was the thought that it probably would. But we pressed on. I took a realistic view. I knew the chances were against us getting back and this might be the time everything was going to end. But I didn’t experience fear which interfered with what I had to do.’

Customer Reviews

Made a great impact but particularly.....
The book contains the first real information on the fate suffered by my Mother law's first husband a member of the crew of a Halifax (Casey's) shot down over Warsaw. The book was picked up quite by chance and revealed that the Pilot went to his grave blaming himself for (what he thought was )the needless deaths of some of his crew. Regrettably communication between him, the other survivors, or the RAF did not take place in the intervening years with her... but at least now some of the facts are known to her. At a time when our Society has an urgent need to know and a 'someone must be to blame' attitude it's revealing (and humbling) to read these stories of courage by ordinary people and to wonder 'just how they could stare death in the face' so calmly day after day.

Extraordinary accounts from WWII
Tells twenty stories of the bravery and fortitude of pilots and their crews. The narratives are supplemented by a superb plate section which contains a number of photographs I have not seen reproduced elsewhere.