Crew: The story of the men who flew RAAF Lancaster J for Jig
By (Author) Mike Colman
Allen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin
21st February 2018
Australia
General
Non Fiction
Second World War
Modern warfare
Air forces and warfare
European history
940.544941
336
Width 155mm, Height 234mm, Spine 25mm
470g
On the evening of 24 February 1944, RAAF Lancaster bomber J for Jig took off from an airfield in Lincolnshire. On board was a crew of seven young men-five Australians, two Scots-whose mission was to bomb factories in Schweinfurt, Germany. But J for Jig never reached its target. It was shot down in the night skies over France.
This book is about the seven lives on that aircraft-who they were, what they did, whom they loved, and whom they left behind. Some were to die that night, and others were to survive, withstanding incredible hardships and adventures as prisoners and evaders in a war that was far from over.
Crew brilliantly recreates J for Jig's final mission but, more than that, in telling seven individuals' stories Mike Colman has captured the achievements, loss and the enduring legacy of the generation that fought in the Second World War.
Mike Colman is a highly respected journalist on the Courier Mail and Sunday Mail. He lives in Brisbane.