Mosquito Down!: A Bomber Command Pilot on the Run in Germany and Holland

Frank Dell’s perilous escape after his Mosquito is shot down exposes wartime resilience, peril, and unexpected Dutch shelter.

Frank Dell’s experience as a Second World War pilot with the Royal Air Force’s Light Night Striking Force takes an even more dramatic turn when his Mosquito is shot down over Germany on the night of 14/15 October 1944. In Mosquito Down Frank recounts his escape from the disintegrating aircraft, his descent by parachute, and how, battered and bruised, he finds himself in a field adjacent to a German V2 rocket launch pad. Determined to avoid capture Frank crosses Nazi Germany and finds refuge in Holland with a Dutch Resistance group.
A schoolboy when the conflict broke out, Frank Dell’s extraordinary war takes him from a Home Guard unit defending the English coast against enemy invasion in 1940, to a tragic incident leading to the execution of Dutch civilians only weeks before the end of the hostilities. Frank’s observant eye gives insight into what it is like to train and fly operationally with the RAF, and then there are the even greater challenges he experiences as he narrowly escapes capture while on the run from the Germans.
Through compelling narrative Frank Dell shares his unique story with honesty and candour, finding humour and camaraderie. He emerges from his traumatic experiences with heightened respect for the courageous Dutch families who risked death to shelter him and other Allied airmen.