Books - by John Nichol

Eject! Eject! – Escape from the Aircraft is Just the Beginning

Published May, 2023

‘Fuelled by his own lifesaving escape from a blazing jet, John Nichol catapults you into the heart of the most epic experiences of ejection, escape and survival since the days when you had to haul yourself out of a crippled aircraft and hope for the best’ Andy McNab

‘I thought the ejection seat was a rather dangerous, somewhat curious contraption. But that I would never need it . . .’

When Jo Lancaster, the first British pilot to eject in an emergency, triggered his ejection seat in 1949, it took thirty seconds before he was safely away from the aircraft and under his parachute. Since those first post-Second World War ejections, many tens of thousands of lives have been saved by increasingly sophisticated escape systems. When John Nichol’s Tornado was blasted out of the sky during the 1991 Gulf War, a mere 2.5 seconds elapsed between pulling the ejection handle and his parachute opening. Today, the newest seats can automatically initiate ejection if the system decides the pilot faces mortal danger and cannot react quickly enough.

Now, Nichol tells the incredible story of the ejection seat in war and in peace. Packed with gripping action and cutting-edge science, Eject! Eject! is fuelled by dramatic, deeply moving and previously unheard first-hand accounts by ejectees and their families.

Because pulling the yellow-and-black ejection handle is just the start of the story.

TORNADO - In the Eye of the Storm

Published June, 2021

‘A gripping account of the RAF’s Tornado force in the First Gulf War. Bringing the experience of flying and fighting the aircraft to life, and following the agonies suffered by the families who were left behind. A fitting tribute to those who did not come home.’ History of War Magazine

‘John Nichol straps you in and doesn’t let you out until the very last page’ Andy McNab, bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero

When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered the occupation of neighbouring Kuwait in 1990, he set in motion a chain of events which still reverberate around the globe today.

This is the astonishing story of the RAF’s Tornado force, and their loved ones, at the very heart of Operation Desert Storm and the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. Told by former Tornado navigator John Nichol - who was shot down during the conflict, captured, tortured and paraded on TV - it is a story of untold fear and suffering, and astounding courage in the face of hitherto unimaginable adversity. It is the story those who did not return, and of the families who watched and waited as one of the most complex conflicts in recent history unfolded live on television.

‘There was a knock at the door at 1am. I opened it to see two men in smart blue RAF uniforms accompanied by a priest. They asked, “are you the parents of Flight Lieutenant David Waddington?” I knew then that it was bad news. Very bad.’

‘When I looked into the faces of my Tornado colleagues I could see the terrible strain etched on each one of them. It was a very difficult time. Several crews were feeling the strain particularly badly as we had already lost three Tornados. It didn’t take the brains of a rocket scientist to work out that if losses continued at that rate, you might only last a matter of weeks.’

LANCASTER - The Forging of a Very British Legend

Published May, 2020

‘The epic story of an iconic aircraft and the breathtaking courage of those who flew her' Andy McNab, bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero

'Compelling, thrilling and rooted in quite extraordinary human drama' James Holland, author of Normandy 44

From John Nichol, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire, comes a passionate and profoundly moving tribute to the Lancaster bomber, its heroic crews and the men and women who kept her airborne during the country's greatest hour of need.

'The Avro Lancaster is an aviation icon; revered, romanticised, loved. Without her, and the bravery of those who flew her, the freedom we enjoy today would not exist.'

Sir Arthur Harris, the controversial chief of Royal Air Force Bomber Command, described the Lancaster as his 'shining sword' and the 'greatest single factor in winning the war'. RAF bomber squadrons carried out offensive operations from the first day of the Second World War until the very last, more than five and a half years later. They flew nearly 300,000 sorties and dropped around a million tons of explosives, as well as life-saving supplies. Over 10,000 of their aircraft never returned. Of the 7,377 Lancasters built during the conflict, more than half were lost to enemy action or training accidents.

The human cost was staggering. Of the 125,000 men who served in Bomber Command, over 55,000 were killed and another 8,400 were wounded. Some 10,000 survived being shot down, only to become prisoners of war. In simple, brutal terms, Harris's aircrew had only a 40 per cent chance of surviving the war unscathed.

This is the inspiring and moving story of this legendary aircraft, and the men who took the fight deep into the heart of Nazi Germany.

'A completely wonderful, brilliant book; surely Nichol’s best yet! I was continuously drawn into the personal stories; it’s an emotional roller coaster of a read and a brilliant tribute to the men who flew the Lancaster.' -- Clive Rowley, Squadron Leader and Former Officer Commanding, RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

SPITFIRE – A Very British Love Story

Published May, 2018

THE SUNDAY TIMES NON FICTION BESTSELLER

WHSmith NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

'The best book you will ever read about Britain's greatest warplane.' Patrick Bishop, bestselling author of Fighter Boys.
Achtung, Spitfire!

The iconic Spitfire found fame during the darkest early days of World War II. But what happened to the redoubtable fighter and its crews beyond the Battle of Britain, and why is it still so loved today?

In late spring 1940, Nazi Germany’s domination of Europe had looked unstoppable. With the British Isles in easy reach since the fall of France, Adolf Hitler was convinced that Great Britain would be defeated in the skies over her southern coast, confident his Messerschmitts and Heinkels would outclass anything the Royal Air Force threw at them. What Hitler hadn’t planned for was the agility and resilience of a marvel of British engineering that would quickly pass into legend – the Spitfire.

Bestselling author John Nichol’s passionate portrait of this magnificent fighter aircraft, its many innovations and updates, and the people who flew and loved them, carries the reader beyond the dogfights over Kent and Sussex. Spanning the full global reach of the Spitfire’s deployment during WWII, from Malta to North Africa and the Far East, then over the D-Day beaches, it is always accessible, effortlessly entertaining and full of extraordinary spirit.

'As the RAF marks its centenary, Nichol has created a thrilling and often moving tribute to some of its greatest heroes.' Jon Dennis, Mail on Sunday magazine.

TORNADO DOWN (Autobiography)

Published October, 2002

RAF flight lieutenants John Peters and John Nichol were shot down over enemy territory on their first airborne mission of the Gulf War. Their capture in the desert, half a mile from their blazing Tornado bomber, began a nightmare seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation which brought both men close to death.

In Tornado Down, John Nichol and John Peters tell the incredible story of their part in the War against Saddam Hussein's regime. It is a brave and shocking and totally honest story: a story about war and its effects on the hearts and minds of men.

Return Of The Dambusters – What 617 Squadron Did Next

Published July, 2015

The legend “The Dambusters” is well known. On 17 May 1943 133 Airmen from 617 Squadron set out to attack the dams at the heart of the industrial Ruhr. Only 77 men returned from that raid and only 45 of them would survive to the end of the war. So what did “The Dambusters” do next?

Using long-forgotten documents and personal interviews with the survivors, John Nichol tells the incredible story of how the men of 617 Squadron took the fight to the heart of Hitler’s war machine and helped change the course of the war. It is a story of the most dangerous sorties, heart-breaking setbacks and incredible courage.

“Full of stirring stories that make you marvel at the aircrews’ fortitude. Deeply moving. – Patrick Bishop, Mail On Sunday

“Exciting and saddening - A tale of victory told magnificently in lip-biting detail” – Peter Lewis, Daily Mail

THE RED LINE – The Gripping Story of the RAF’s Bloodiest Raid on Nazi Germany

Published January, 2014

The extraordinary feats of the Allied fighter squadrons of World War II have been rightly celebrated. And yet Bomber Command suffered more losses in a single night than Fighter Command did during the four-month-long Battle of Britain.

The men of Royal Air Force Bomber Command were amongst the greatest heroes of the conflict. Of the 125,000 airmen who served in Bomber Command, 55,573 lost their lives.

Few of us truly understand the astonishing depth and scale of their sacrifice. On 30 March 1944, 795 aircraft assembled for a raid on Nuremberg, the iconic heart of Nazi Germany. Nearly 700 men did not return. It was the RAF’s bloodiest night of the war, and became a tragic symbol of the most enduringly controversial elements of Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris’s strategy.

John Nichol’s dramatic and compelling narrative has provided the few surviving veterans with the chance to tell the story of that terrible night - the night they flew to Nuremberg.

‘A truly epic tale of courage and sacrifice –and an intensely moving epitaph to the men of Bomber Command.’ Andy McNab

ARNHEM - The Battle For Survival

Published June, 2012

In September 1944, a mighty shock force of battle-hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II. Landing miles behind the German lines, their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well, the war could be over by Christmas.

But what many trusted would be a simple operation turned into a brutal battle. Of some 12,000 airborne soldiers, around 1500 died and 6,000 were taken prisoner. The vital bridge at Arnhem they had come to capture stayed resolutely in German hands.

But beneath this bitter military defeat was a more important story – of heroism and self-sacrifice, gallantry and survival, guts and determination unbroken in the face of impossible odds.

In the two-thirds of a century that have passed since then, historians have endlessly analysed what went wrong and squabbled over who was to blame.

Lost in the process was that other Arnhem story: the triumph of the human spirit, as seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, military and Dutch civilians side by side, in the cauldron, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour - a battle they won hands down.

"Full of tales of individual courage and the serendipity of war....vividly described...this is history from the ordinary soldier's point of view and all the better for it." - Daily Express

MEDIC - Saving Lives From Dunkirk To Afghanistan

Published May, 2010

It is the desperate call for help that has echoed across battle-fields through the ages. ‘Medic! We need a medic over here! Now!’

Doctors, nurses, medics and stretcher bearers must venture where the bullets are thickest, through bomb alleys and mine fields, ducking mortars and rockets, wherever someone is injured and the cry for assistance goes up. Their job is to put themselves in the heart of danger – to run into battle to rescue the wounded and to risk their own lives to try and save the dying.

War at its rawest is their domain, an ugly place of shattered bodies, severed limbs and death. Theirs is the most selfless of acts. They fulfil society’s vital pledge to its warriors that they will not be abandoned on the battlefield. Yet, more often than not, what they do goes unnoticed – except by those who survive because of their extraordinary courage and skill.

This is the story of those brave men – and, increasingly in this day and age, women – who go to war armed with bandages not bombs, scalpels not swords, and put saving life above taking life. Many have died in the process, the ultimate sacrifice for others, to ensure that when the cry of ‘Medic!’ is heard, it will be answered. Regardless of the cost.

From the beaches of Dunkirk to the desert towns of Afghanistan, there can be no nobler cause.

“A MAGNIFICENT book. Horrifyingly vivid and jaw-droppingly moving. So much heroism and decency on every page. It's a perspective on war that takes you right in there where it matters. Great original interviews. Brilliant story-telling. A huge achievement.” – Daily Mail.

HOME RUN - Escape From Nazi Europe

Published May, 2008

They were on the run in enemy territory with just one goal - to get back to Britain and to safety. During WW2, thousands of Allied servicemen found themselves cut off behind enemy lines - soldiers stranded after the evacuation of Dunkirk and airmen blasted out of the skies during raids against German targets - they were alone and on the run. Life for the evaders hung in the balance as the made solitary treks through hundreds of miles of enemy territory, dodging enemy patrols and search parties. Many placed their lives in the hands of brave civilians who risked the wrath of a brutal regime if the offered assistance. For all involved it was a matter of life and death. This is the dramatic story of the heroes who made it home...and those who did not.

'A riveting & revealing account of WW2 bravery...I loved it' - Andy McNab, Author of Bravo Two Zero

'Enthralling, vivid and deeply moving - one of the great untold stories of the war' - Daily Mail

'Gripping, moving & thoughtful. The excellent team of Nichol & Rennell have done it again' - Patrick Bishop

TAIL-END CHARLIES - The Last Battles of The Bomber War 1944-45

Published April, 2005

Night after night they flew through the flak and packs of enemy fighters to drop the bombs that helped demolish the Third Reich - and they died in their tens of thousands. The airmen of RAF's Bomber Command were heroes who defied Hitler in the early days of the war and continued to sacrifice themselves to shatter the enemy right to the end of the conflict. But with war over they were forgotten, some of their actions seen as crimes.

John Nichol and Tony Rennell tell the astonishing and deeply moving stories of the controversial last battles in the skies above Germany, through the eyewitness accounts of the many forgotten heroes who fought them.

'Compelling, powerful, gripping, revealing' - Daily Mail

'Nichol and Rennell's objective is to reclaim the proper place of the bomber crews in history ... they succeed. They have made an important contribution towards righting a historical wrong' - Patrick Bishop, Daily Telegraph

THE LAST ESCAPE - The Untold Story Of Allied POWs 1944-45

Published April, 2005

The Last Escape, co-authored with Tony Rennell, tells the story of the hundreds of thousands of Allied POWs held in prison camps across Nazi Germany as World War II was reaching its endgame. The Red Army was advancing on the Eastern Front and British and American troops were storming the beaches of northern France. Many POWs feared they would be killed by the retreating German armies rather than be allowed to fall into the hands of the Russians. Instead, in the depths of winter, their guards forced them to march out of the camps and further into Germany, away from their would-be liberators. The marches were long and desperately arduous. Some POWs walked for more than 500 miles, hundreds died of exhaustion, disease and starvation. Those who survived were awed by their experience. How they escaped with their lives and eventually reached home is a gripping story of endurance and courage, told here for the first time.

"Gripping, astonishing & Fascinating" - Daily Mail

"Fascinating, fair-minded, thorough & readable" - Daily Telegraph

"Packed with first-hand testimony and impressive scholarship but with all the pace of a novel, this is a superb memorial of those Allied heroes who thought - wrongly - that for them the war was over" - Andrew Roberts, Historian

"The impressive research and tremendous way the survivors' stories are captured, make this a most remarkable and readable account. I couldn't put it down" - Charles Clarke, President, RAF Ex-POW Association

Team Tornado: Life on a Front-line Squadron

Published October, 1994

A sequel to "Tornado Down", this book tells the story of what made John Peters and John Nichol become pilots, what their lives have been like since the Gulf War, and what it is like to be in the RAF, flying immensely complex, million-pound machines and training for war in peacetime. John Peters, now a fourship leader and squadron authorizer, still flies Tornado bombers from a new base in Germany. John Nichol has changed to fighters, going back to basic training in a new craft. And now in the skies, rehearsing for combat, they stalk each other in a deadly game of chess in the air. Life in the RAF has changed completely in the last years. There is no longer a single defined enemy, but many small conflicts, sometimes under a command other than their own. John Nichol and John Peters have had to adapt fast to new ways, to new technical skills, and to new dangers. "Tornado Two" is suitable for anyone who wants to understand what it is like to be in the armed services in these troubled times; to fly these amazing machines in exercises which can turn into real raids, and in war games that are potentially lethal; and to see what happens to John Peters and John Nichol in the year following the Gulf War.

John has written 5 novels, now available to download as E-books

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Point Of Impact

Published March, 1997

RAF Tempests are crashing on apparently routine missions, and no one knows why. The Accident Investigation Bureau is blaming pilot error. Suspicious of a cover-up, Flight Lieutenant Drew Millar, whose own friends have been among the fatalities, determines to find out more. It soon becomes clear that the key to the mystery is in the cockpit of the Tempest - but how can he unlock it without ending up dead himself?

"John Nichol straps you in and doesn't let you out until the very last page. Point Of Impact is the most explosive thriller I've read all year." - Andy McNab

"The glimpses of aerial combat are brilliant - you can smell the hot oil, the sweat and the fear" - Daily Telegraph

"Nichol's writing skills are first rate" - Daily Express

Vanishing Point

Published June, 1998

January 1991. Tornado pilot Mark Hunter is shot down and captured in Iraq. Tortured and badly wounded, he comes home a hero. But for him, the war is far from over...

Six years later, his fellow captives have started to die. Following a trail which takes him from supersonic combat in the Nevada skies to an ultra secret research facility in the British countryside, Hunter and top UN scientist Natalie Kennedy must find out why. Because in ten days time they must both return to the place where the nightmare began.

"Startlingly pertinent...A thriller with a serious message" - The Times

"Fresh and compelling...as good as anything written by Jeffrey Archer or Dick Francis" - Daily Mail

Exclusion Zone

Published June, 1999

The Falklands, 1999 - a vital strategic stronghold in the South Atlantic, and a prize gem in the oil-rich Antarctic. for RAF pilot Sean Riever it is a place of ghosts. For Jane Clark, the only female in the squadron, a place of tough decisions. An air of menace hangs over the desolate, battle-scarred landscape; present dangers and past mysteries lurk in the shadows on the skyline. And Sean's compulsion to live up to a legendary hero leads him towards a woman whose loneliness matches his own. Then a Navy submarine disappears, and Argentine jet fighters penetrate the Exclusion Zone. As Sean and his companions stave off wave after wave of enemy attacks, their fight to protect the islands becomes an epic battle for survival - in which victory can only be achieved at a terrible price.

"A cracking combat thriller, with a delicate love story" - Mail On Sunday

"A fast paced...quality thriller" - The Mirror

Stinger

Published June, 1999

Sickened by the bloody toll of war, RAF pilot Sean Riever transfers to helicopters and heads for the mountains of Afghanistan. His work there with the mine-clearance teams takes him as close to the shadow of war as he wants to get. But when a British passenger plane is shot down by a Stinger missile over the east coast of America, Sean is forced once more into the cauldron of war.

"John Nichol is king of the aerial thriller" - Later

"Nichol has a natural feel for his subject...prepare for a breathtaking ride" - Peterborough Telegraph

Decisive Measures

Published April, 2001

When helicopter pilot Jack Griffiths leaves the RAF to join a private military company, Decisive Measures, he hopes to put behind him forever the brutal ethnic conflicts he witnessed in Bosnia and Kosovo. And to bury the memory of a disastrous mission which ended in the loss of many innocent lives. His new job takes him to Sierra Leone to carry out routine security operations in the diamond fields. Jack meets Layla, a doctor working with a local charity but their growing friendship is torn apart when civil war erupts. And Jack is sent back into combat where he has to confront once more the consequences of his past mistake. Then Decisive Measures abandon the mine workers to their fate and Jack and Layla are forced to decide where their true loyalties lie.

"John Nichol delivers another hard-hitting adventure" - The Mirror

" A terrific yarn" - Peterborough Evening Telegraph

" A topical military thriller exploding with action and yet possessed of a rare depth of conscience" - Northern Echo