Mind you, he fell without a parachute in the tail section of the plane, which had separated from the rest of the aircraft, and survived! Tailspin catches us up on the events leading to the plane being shot down and Gene’s travails afterwards. The story told in newspapers was that he survived falling four miles to the ground when his plane, the Rikki Tiki Tavi, was shot down over Germany. This is a WWII story centering around Wisconsin-born tail gunner Gene Moran. Tailspin is one of those nonfiction books that grip you like a thriller novel. We are always on the lookout for local authors! To find a copy of the book, please check out our catalog, Hoopla, or Libby. Tailspin will be our book club's December selection. It's a story of two men's separate journeys confronting trauma and loss. What will happen to his wife and his two young children? John must continue uncovering Gene's story of survival as he himself confronts the greatest trial of his life.

But both men persevere, bonded by their close and growing friendship.Īs the interviews go on, John faces an ordeal of his own. But John has no idea what wounds he's reopening. Gene, nearing his ninetieth birthday, recounts incredible tales. So begins a series of Thursdays with Gene interviews. But when John, a young history teacher, learns of Gene's amazing fall, he's desperate to learn more. His nine children knew little of their dad's war story. When Gene returned home, he kept those memories locked up for nearly seventy years. Captured by the Germans, he survived a harrowing eighteen months as a prisoner of war, including a six-hundred-mile death march in 1945 across Central Europe. World War II tail gunner Gene Moran fell four miles through the sky without a parachute and lived.

Tailspin john armbruster