Books by Paul Brickhill

“Reach for the Sky is about Douglas Bader, the legless Second World War flying ace and an extraordinary character. He lost both his legs in a flying accident in the 1930s and somehow—through bluster and bravado and connections and just doggedness—persuaded the RAF to allow him to return to combat and he flew in the Battle of Britain. He was very good pilot, obviously…Then, he was shot down and taken prisoner. He was a legend among the Germans and while he was recuperating in a hospital in Normandy, he was asked ‘Can we do anything for you?’…Bader replied that he needed new legs and the Germans arranged for the RAF to drop in these legs and they were delivered to Bader. It’s an extraordinary story. The first thing Bader did once he had fitted the legs was to try and escape. He continued to try to escape throughout the rest of the war and was placed in Colditz. Colditz was the maximum-security prison that the Germans had for serial escapers—people who thought it was their duty to try and escape and kept on doing it—along with some high-profile prisoners….Bader escaped from Colditz. Here’s a guy who couldn’t be put down, he was just indomitable.” Read more...

The best books on World War II Battles

Alex Kershaw, Historian