Higher Than Eagles: Spokane's World War II Pilots

by Larry Whitesitt, Phyllis Shauvin (Contribution by)

The Story of Spokane’s World War II Flying Heroes-- “We had just leveled off at approximately 800 feet above ground and I was on Lt. Gumm’s wing. His plane seemed to stop and he called me and said his engine quit. He started gliding to the left, looking for an open field. ... Lt. Gumm could have bailed out and saved his own life, but he chose to fly the P-51 to the ground so it wouldn’t crash into the village.”—Excerpt from Chapter 1-- As Bill began his turn, his B-17 and the others were attacked by ME-109s and FW-190s. Bill said, “Number one engine out, fire between one and two engines ... we became a glider and sank below the other B-17s and lost their protection. I ... ordered the crew to bail out. I stayed at the controls ... and then I jumped. Out of the 11 crew members, only five survived. I landed on top of a mountain in the Alps and hurt my leg but was able to walk. ... I walked 7 miles down the mountain to the timberline, and I didn’t know where I was. As I walked down the trail I came upon two guards and a civilian in a suit. I thought they were Germans and reached inside my flight jacket to get my revolver, but the man in the suit yelled in English, ‘Don’t shoot! You’re in Switzerland!’ He was a newsman.”—Excerpt from Chapter 9-- Includes more than 50 photographs.

201 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Fred Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful storytelling and thankfulness to our hero's!!