Books by Paul Brickhill

 

Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader, Legless Ace of the Battle of Britain
by Paul Brickhill
Book Description: Douglas Bader was a legend in his lifetime. After losing both legs in an air crash in 1931 and being dismissed as a cripple by the Royal Air Force, he fought his way back into the cockpit of a Spitfire to become one of the great heroes of the Battle of Britain. This inspiring biography of the famous World War II fighter pilot, first published in 1954, has a following of faithful readers who come back to the book time and again to re-read, share with their children and pass along to friends. Not many books have made such an impact on people's lives. Bader's story is so extraordinary that no one would dare invent it, and Brickhill succeeds in matching the excitement of Bader's war deeds with the triumph of his greater battle over a severe handicap. Told he would never walk without a cane, Bader learned to dance, swim, golf, and play tennis. Told he would never fly again, he became not only one of the RAF's top combat pilots but a squadron leader and innovator of fighter tactics that helped win the Battle of Britain. Among the thrilling incidents chronicled in the book are Bader's first successful encounter with an enemy plane, his own shoot down, and his succession of escapes from German prisons.
Listed under Battle of Britain

The Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
Book Description: With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. 

They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from the German "ferrets" who prowled the compounds with nerve-racking tenacity and suspicion. 

It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men -- every single one of them, every minute, every hour, every day, and every night for more than a year.
Listed under Prisoners of War

Dam Busters
by Paul Brickhill
Paperback from Bantam Books
1978
 
 
 

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