Reach For The Sky: The Story Of Douglas Bader
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: Third Impression
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few stories in the annals of wartime Britain burn as brightly as that of Douglas Bader, the indomitable RAF pilot who lost both legs in a pre-war aircraft accident, yet refused to surrender his wings — or his fighting spirit. Paul Brickhill's Reach for the Sky chronicles the astonishing life of this legendary airman, from his near-fatal 1931 crash and gruelling rehabilitation to his triumphant return to active duty, where he became one of the most celebrated fighter aces of the Second World War, commanding squadrons in the Battle of Britain before his capture and repeated escape attempts as a prisoner of war. Brickhill, himself a former RAF pilot and prisoner of war, brings an authenticity and visceral immediacy to the narrative that no outside observer could replicate, rendering Bader's story not merely as biography but as a testament to human willpower against impossible odds. The prose is propulsive and unadorned, placing the reader squarely in the cockpit and the prison camp alike, while the broader themes — of courage, defiance, and the refusal to be defined by physical limitation — resonate far beyond the theatre of war. First published in 1954, this landmark work stands as one of the finest biographical accounts of the wartime era, and leaves the reader asking one haunting question: what are the true limits of the human spirit?
Author: Paul Brickhill
Format: Hardback
Published: 1954, Collins, St James's Place, London
Genre: Biography
Edition: Third Impression
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few stories in the annals of wartime Britain burn as brightly as that of Douglas Bader, the indomitable RAF pilot who lost both legs in a pre-war aircraft accident, yet refused to surrender his wings — or his fighting spirit. Paul Brickhill's Reach for the Sky chronicles the astonishing life of this legendary airman, from his near-fatal 1931 crash and gruelling rehabilitation to his triumphant return to active duty, where he became one of the most celebrated fighter aces of the Second World War, commanding squadrons in the Battle of Britain before his capture and repeated escape attempts as a prisoner of war. Brickhill, himself a former RAF pilot and prisoner of war, brings an authenticity and visceral immediacy to the narrative that no outside observer could replicate, rendering Bader's story not merely as biography but as a testament to human willpower against impossible odds. The prose is propulsive and unadorned, placing the reader squarely in the cockpit and the prison camp alike, while the broader themes — of courage, defiance, and the refusal to be defined by physical limitation — resonate far beyond the theatre of war. First published in 1954, this landmark work stands as one of the finest biographical accounts of the wartime era, and leaves the reader asking one haunting question: what are the true limits of the human spirit?