Suicide Jockeys

By Monique Taylor,

Book cover of Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot

Book description

On May 10, 1940, the Germans neutralized one of the most heavily fortified fortresses in Europe with a new weapon: the combat glider-an aerial vehicle capable of carrying men and equipment in close proximity to each other and crash landing behind enemy lines. The Army Air Corps soon established its…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Suicide Jockeys as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

My father was a World War II fighter pilot and told me much about what he did–but it was night and day from what a glider pilot of the same era did. I think Gen. Westmoreland described it best, as the author quotes: their duty was to “deliberately crash land, and then go on to fight as combat infantrymen.”

I cannot imagine climbing into a plane made of plywood, fabric, and glue and going off to fight, but Taylor, the daughter of one of these intrepid pilots, manages to make the experience palpable.

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