Paul Brickhill

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20 years

Posts: 5,575

With talk lately here of books, films and remakes... it got me thinking.

Paul Brickhill apparently wrote "Reach For The Sky", "The Dam Busters" and "The Great Escape". All have RAF themes, and all were bestsellers that were made into popular films.

I tried to find out a little about the author on the net and drew a blank. I wondered, was he an RAF man himself?

Did he write any other books about the RAF? And were any of his other books made into screenplays?

Also, is he considered a really accurate researcher and writer or were his books given dramatic licence to make them better for the reader? From what I know he's pretty accurate, but I wonder if there are alternate opinions out there.

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,508

Yes he was in the RAF. Shot down in North Africa while flying a Kittyhawk with the RAAF, I don't have the exact details to hand.

He had first hand experience of The Great Escape, being in the camp at the time, which also put him in contact with Douglas Bader, I'm not sure how he came to write the Dam Busters.

His books are fairly accurate, though as we have learnt in the past few weeks more details have since come to light that contradict a lot of what was written back in the 1950's. However this is due to the records now being readily available

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 2,146

Paul B

Pretty sure he was RAF Dave :) , As he was shot down over Germany during the War, And spent time in POW camps, He may have been involved in the Great escape from memory, I had all his book's at one stage, But made the mistake of lending them out :( , I think he was Bomber command, Not sure right now :confused: , Someone else can fill in the Blank's :rolleyes: , But from all I have read, Most of what he has written came straight from the horses mouths and with Bader also had to dig a little as D.B. Didn't like to really brag about what he had won(medals from different countrys and such), Cheers Lads :D , Tally Ho! Phil. :diablo:

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20 years

Posts: 5,575

Well when I Googled his name yesterday IMDb didn't come up, just a handful of sites trying to sell his books.

Not that IMDb told me as much as Ian did anyway. Cheers.

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20 years 7 months

Posts: 781

I have a First Edition of "The Dam Busters" at home. Fantastic book. Well worth a read.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 562

One of his lesser known books I think was a book on RAF Escape stories from all regions. I cant remember the title off hand - but it was one hell of a read.

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19 years 10 months

Posts: 1,174

here's the link to ISBN.nu where you can find (almost) any book:

http://isbn.nu/aisbn/brickhill%20paul

Martin

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 1,016

One of his lesser known books I think was a book on RAF Escape stories from all regions. I cant remember the title off hand - but it was one hell of a read.

Would this be Escape - or Die by Paul Brickhill? This is described as "the true stories of eight daring escapes from captivity by men of the RAF - each an epic, a feat that fires the imagination ...

S/L McCormac's horrifying and amazing escape from Malaya to Australia by way of Java.

The air gunner who was helped by a Stettin prostitute.

The escape from Sicily to Switzerland of a fighter pilot left for dead by a German firing squad.

The bomber crew saved by a mircale in the desert.

The navigator who escaped to the Russians and rode in a Cossack cavalry charge."

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 562

Ian ,

You are correct - Escape or Die it is. Mc Cormacks story was incredible - and what he went thru till the time he was rescued was amazing stuff.

I remember Brickhill used only an edited excerpt from a larger book that was in planning. Subsequently I got the Mc Cormacks story in the unabridged version.

-Jagan