Some special fascination seems to lie in a study of the circumstances under which human beings survive disaster. It is as though such survivals offered a microcosm of man's eternal struggle against the odds. Almost invariably, too, they tell us something about human frailty and resilience.
There can be nothing more poignant than a sequence of events which gives some occupants of an aircraft a chance of escape and others none; such was the predicament of the crew of a Vulcan bomber which crashed at London Airport. Neither can there be any drama more intense than that which occurred in the cockpit of an overloaded passenger plane in mid-Atlantic when the crew suddenly realised they had no hope of reaching land.
Among the other stories are those of a man who wouldn't die - and didn't; the pilot who had a premonition ('You know I shan't be coming back, don't you,' he told his wife); the man who fell through the floor of a bomber but clung on underneath, certain ti be crushed in any normal landing; the lad who was similarly suspended beneath the aircraft's tail when the static line of the parachute fouled his pack; the naval pilot who stayed too long with his jet fighter in an effort to save his navigator; the girl who stowed away in the nose wheel housing of a plane on a transatlantic flight; and the world famous airman who took off his external elevator locks - a sure prescription for self destruction.
Told with a vividness that puts the reader right there in the aircraft, these stories are backed up by a depth of research that guarantees their authenticity.
Other Books by Ralph Barker
STORIES OF ENDURANCE
Military History
Aviation History
Cricket
