The Goldfish Club

The author of 1215 and Museum tells the gripping stories of the members of the Goldfish Club—an organization of people who have survived a jump or a crash from an aircraft into water

Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. What is it like to have to broadcast these words from the cockpit of a stricken aircraft? And what is it like to then leave that aircraft and become exposed to the elements, and sometimes the waiting enemy? The members of one of the world's most unusual clubs provide the answers in this incredible book. Formed during World War II to celebrate the survival of pilots who had been forced to bail out over water, the Goldfish Club has taken on new airmen—and one woman—ever since. The oldest member is 100, the youngest in his twenties. They share one pivotal moment, but their experiences beyond this couldn't be more different. One veteran of World War II will never forget having to walk through a hostile German town at the point of a Nazi bayonet. An American B-17 navigator found his courage in the cell of an SS prison after his Flying Fortress broke up over Italian waters. A downed British helicopter pilot struggled against the cold of the North Norwegian Sea in the middle of an Arctic winter. Their stories, and those of many other Goldfish Club members, are told in this book.