UNSHACKLED SPIRIT: Prisoners of War and The Secret Spitfire

Book number: 94387 Product format: Hardback Author: COLIN PATEMAN

In stock

Bibliophile price £6.50
Published price £20


A heartbreaking, inspirational and uplifting true story of hope and bravery. Only those who have been prisoners have any concept of the horrors of incarceration or the ineffable joy of release. In mid-1943, a British PoW in Germany began cryptic communication back to England with one goal in mind - to establish a secret trust fund that prisoners of war could use in order to purchase their very own Spitfire to soar above them in the skies over occupied Europe. It was to be named Unshackled Spirit, and this aircraft, along with this one man's selfless act, epitomised the courage and strength of thousands of men. The accounts compiled are from a collection of original YMCA personal wartime logs as issued to RAF prisoners of war in 1944. The book draws out the story of each aviator, how they became a prisoner and life in the various camps. Extensive and amazingly detailed pieces of artwork are taken from the logs and illustrated in the book. An important aspect is how agencies helped by supplying all manner of equipment to the thousands of men behind barbed wire. The role of MI9 is revealed and how it participated in those agencies exploring efforts taken to smuggle escape material into camps without breeching the Geneva Convention and finally the extraordinary measures taken to secure intelligence during the process of prisoner repatriation. Shoot the proofreader for some glaring errors in an otherwise interesting book with chapters on Wing Commander Douglas Bader and Warrant Officer Sydney Eric Hamblin and Bernard Howard Nutt among them, the RAF in Buchenwald and Stalag XII. 320pp, well illus.

Additional product information

ISBN 9781781551912

Customers who bought this product also bought

W&R LOCAL AVIATION COLLECTIONS OF BRITAIN
Book number: 94369 Product format: Paperback Author: KEN ELLIS
Bibliophile price £6.50
Published price £18.95
SPITFIRE TO REAPER
Book number: 93257 Product format: Paperback Author: ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES
Bibliophile price £4.00
Published price £20
IN MY LIFE: A Music Memoir
Book number: 93461 Product format: Hardback Author: ALAN JOHNSON
Bibliophile price £5.00
Published price £16.99
SHAKESPEARE IN AUTUMN: Select Plays and the Complete Sonnets
Book number: 94676 Product format: Hardback Author: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Bibliophile price £8.00
Published price $34.99

Browse these categories as well: War & Militaria, Transport, War Memoirs