Allied pilots and French Resistance

One book I can thoroughly recommend is “MAD REBEL – A YOUTH AT WAR” which is the autobiography of John H Oliphint. This guy flew Mustangs with the 359th FG, USAAF, until being shot down on 8/6/44. He was captured and tortured by the Gestapo in the hope that he might be able to divulge information about the Allied invasion. Despite serious injuries, he escaped and worked with the French Resistance for a while before being evacuated by Lysander. I don’t know if this book is available in the UK, (I bought my [signed] copy in the USA), but the ISBN number is O-9669294-0-3 if it is of any help. It is a good book but not for the squeamish!
Try his website “www.madrebel.com“

Good luck

Yes, I believe he did escape twice, from memory, but it’s been a while since I read the excellent book. Must get it from the library again one day. He’s a great man, still works for the RNZAF in their museum ven now apparently, well into his 90’s.

Daz, if you can track down ‘The Road To Biggin Hill’, by Vincent Orange, this tells of Johnny Checketts’ escape through Europe after being shot down too.

Didn’t he do it twice, actually? Or am I confusing him with some other Kiwi?

Cheers, Dave. I’ll have a sniff about for them.

Daz, if you can track down ‘The Road To Biggin Hill’, by Vincent Orange, this tells of Johnny Checketts’ escape through Europe after being shot down too.

Another is Errol Braithwaite’s book about Chalky White, called ‘Pilot On The Run’.

Both these books were written with direct input of the pilots themselves, who were both 485 Sqn Spitfire pilots when downed.

I’ll look into these. Ta mucho 🙂

Jack Ilfrey’s “Happy Jack’s Go Buggy” chronicles his experiences after being shot down over France including the time spent with a French family who owned a cafe.

I read the book about 20 years ago…but if I’m not mistaken, Chuck Yeager mentions his experiences with the resistance in his book.

This one might be worth a look

http://home.clara.net/clinchy/neeball.htm