A collection of ten stories of air battles in the sky; of the nightmare of being shot down; of the infectious madness of conflict; and of the nervy jollity of the Mess and Ops room. It conveys the reality of a wartime pilot's daily existence, where death is a constant companion and life is lived from one heartbeat to the next.



During the Second World War Roald Dahl served in the RAF and suffered horrific injuries in an air crash in the Libyan desert. Drawing on his own experience as a fighter pilot, Dahl crafted these ten spine-tingling stories: of air battles in the sky; of the nightmare of being shot down; of the infectious madness of conflict; and of the nervy jollity of the Mess and Ops room. Dahl brilliantly conveys the bizarre reality of a wartime pilot's daily existence, where death is a constant companion and life is lived from one heartbeat to the next.