AIRMEN'S INCREDIBLE ESCAPES:

A high percentage of air crew in World War II failed to return home, but among those who did there are innumerable stories of miraculous escapes against the odds - which were that an airman would be dead before his 25th operation. This book collects 37 survivors' accounts, all of them guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat. Flight Lieutenant Lewis Bevis was delivering a Hurricane fighter to the Desert Air Force (DAF) in support of the Eighth Army in north Africa, taking the route considered the most dependable via Gibraltar and over the Sahara to Egypt. He took off in a flight of six Hurricanes, developed engine trouble, repaired at Kano, joined another flight but got separated in a sandstorm and came down among villagers who stripped the Hurricane overnight. Bevis got it airborne again but hit another sandstorm, and when it blew over he knew he only had one more chance to fire the engine. In August 1943 Flying Officer Penny took part in a raid on Berlin but was badly hit by flak and managed to bale out. Uncertain whether he was in Germany or Holland he took the risk of knocking on the door of a farm and found to his relief that the occupants were Dutch patriots who with the help of the resistance got him over into France, with a new identity and fake papers at every stage of the journey. From Paris he was smuggled to the Pyrenees which he had to cross on foot before presenting himself at a British embassy in Spain. In September 1943 Pilot Officer Alan Peart had to undertake a 30-minute defensive patrol over the Salerno beachhead to cover the Allied warships. Breaking off to give chase to three Dornier bombers, Peart found his Spitfire at the centre of a dog-fight, and only just made it back to base. Chapter headings are along the lines of "Baling out at 15000 feet - into the Battle of the Bulge", and each one is a cliff-hanging read. 290pp, glossary, maps, photos.