Originally Posted by
Richard Dangle
FS Alkemade's story is told as the opening condensed article in a Readers Digest commemorative edition titled "The Best of 21 Years" and published in the UK in 1960. I know this because I read it (and every other story in the book) when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was the very first story to inspire my interest in the RAF and I remember it to this day. Not least because when my dad passed away, I found the book in his bookshelf...and I have it with me now.
As the article describes he was lucky thrice. To survive the fall, to escape hypothermia, and to avoid being shot as a spy!