Title: D-Day plus one : shot down and on the run in France /
Authors: Holland, Frank, 1917-; Wilkins, A. S. 1945-
Publisher: Grub Street,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Holland, Frank,; World War, 1939-1945 Underground movements France.; World War, 1939-1945 Aerial operations, British.; World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives, British.; Escapes France History; Airplane crash survival France.; Fighter pilots Great Britain Biography
Abstract: "The day after D-Day, the most momentous day of the Second World War, Frank Holland was an RAF pilot whose Typhoon aircraft had just been hit by German antiaircraft fire during a low flying attack on a marshaling yard in Normandy. He managed to take the aircraft up to 1200 feet but then the engine went dead and his Typhoon soon began heading towards the earth at an accelerating and frightening speed. Struggling frantically, he just barely got free of the cockpit and bailed out seconds before the crash. His parachute didn't open but he fell into a wood, crashing through the branches of an oak to dangle precariously fifteen feet up. Breathing hard, he experienced a few seconds of relief at survival. But then he realized German troops would be swarming around within minutes. He had to get away, and fast ... So begins Frank's adventure as he evaded capture for months, sometimes by barely a whisker, to make it back home to the city of his birth, Cambridge"--Jacket.
Contents: A Cambridge childhood, from yeast delivery boy to Trinity chorister -- The war begins and I take wing in the RAF -- The spacious open skies of Canada -- The run-up to D-Day, the Isle of Sheppey to Operation Crossbow -- June 7th, 1944, D+1 : my longest day -- On the run and hiding out in occupied Normandy -- A refuge in Norry-en-Auges and I become "Roger Gasnier" -- Journey back to Allied lines -- My war ends ... so on with the business -- My continued French connection.