Glen Rose was inspired to write this story by her father's experiences during World War Two...

Manchester-born Duncan Freeman joined the RAF in 1942 and trained as a Wireless Operator-Air Gunner (WOp/AG), eventually joining 50 Squadron, 5 Group, Bomber Command, based at RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincs as a member of an operational Lancaster aircrew.

Duncan always flew with the same crew, and the nerve-wracking experiences they endured together over enemy territory, facing death night after night, depending on each other's skills for their mutual survival, caused them to develop the closest of bonds.

Then, part way through their tour of operations, Duncan became seriously ill with pneumonia and was hospitalised. The very next night, 22 May 1944, his crew took off on another mission, with a stand-in WOp/AG. It was a mission from which they would never return. After an abortive raid on Brunswick, called off due to cloud cover, they were caught by a Messerschmitt 110 over the Dutch coast. Its deadly upward-firing schrage musik cannons scored a direct hit. The entire crew of Lancaster LL744 was killed.

Duncan was devastated at the loss of his brothers-in-arms and for a while lost the will to live, guilt-ridden at having survived when they had all perished, but eventually he realised that the best way he could honour his lost friends was to live - to get the most out of life he possibly could - and to never, ever forget them.

This is exactly what he did and now this book places his story - and that of his long lost aircrew pals - on permanent record after a gap of more than sixty years.

To read an extract from this book click here