81 days below zero : the incredible survival story of a World War II pilot in Alaska's frozen wilderness

Author

Brian Murphy

Call Number

• 921 C8915M (CEN, EAS, OSH)

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Edition

First Da Capo Press edition.

Publication Information

Boston, MA : Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2015]

Physical Description

x, 238 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, portraits ; 24 cm.

Summary

"Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska's Ladd Field on a test flight. Only one ever returned: Leon Crane, a city kid from Philadelphia with little more than a parachute on his back when he bailed from his B-24 Liberator before it crashed into the Arctic. Alone in subzero temperatures, Crane managed to stay alive in the dead of the Yukon winter for nearly twelve weeks and, amazingly, walked out of the ordeal intact. 81 Days Below Zero recounts, for the first time, the full story of Crane's remarkable saga. In a drama of staggering resolve with moments of phenomenal luck, Crane learned to survive in the Yukon's unforgiving landscape. His is a tale of the human capacity to endure extreme conditions and intense loneliness--and emerge stronger than before. "--

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction-Mount Athos, Greece
• Chapter One-December 21, 1943
• Chapter Two-December 22, 1943
• Chapter Three-December 23, 1943
• Chapter Four-June 23, 1994
• Chapter Five-December 25, 1943
• Chapter Six-December 29, 1943
• Chapter Seven-December 29, 1943
• Chapter Eight-December 30, 1943
• Chapter Nine-August 31, 2006
• Chapter Ten-January 10, 1944
• Chapter Eleven-January 19, 1944
• Chapter Twelve-February 10, 1944
• Chapter Thirteen-September 15, 2006
• Chapter Fourteen-March 3, 1944
• Chapter Fifteen-March 9, 1944
• Chapter Sixteen-March 10, 1944
• Chapter Seventeen-March 14, 1944
• Chapter Eighteen-March 14, 1944
• Chapter Nineteen-March 7, 2007
• Chapter Twenty-September 7, 2007
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Selected Bibliography and Sources
• Index.