The Aviator of Tsingtao: My War in China and Escape from a British POW Camp

Tsingtao - idyillic beach resort in China Little Germany upon the Yellow Sea home port to the Kaisers East Asia Squadron - was the scene of a historically important yet largely forgotten First World War battle. In the autumn of 1914 four thousand German defenders outnumbered six to one by Japanese and British forces and outgunned on land air and sea resisted bravely for two months. Nowhere was the fight more one-sided than in the air the remarkable Gunther Plüschow the enclaves one-man airforce. In his barely-airworthy Taube monoplane he flew alone armed with only a pistol all the while dodging ground fire and the enemys eight superior biplanes as he spied on Allied positions and movements.On the eve of Tsingtaos surrender Plüschow flew to neutral China the start of his long journey home. After crash-landing in a padi-field escaping detention and slipping out of Shanghai he made his way across the Pacific the United States and the Atlantic only to be caught in Gilbratar and sent to a POW camp in England. Within six months he would be on the run again this time successfully - the only German in either world war to escape from a POW camp in Britain and make it all the way back to Germany.Plüschow wrote a gripping account of his wartime experiences an instant bestseller in 1917 called Die Abenteuer des Fliegers von Tsingtau (The Adventures of the Airman of Tsingtao). An English translation appeared in 1922 with the underwhelming title My Escape from Donington Hall. This retitled Camphor Press edition has new material including notes throughout the text a timeline and an introduction by British author Anton Rippon whose 2009 biography Gunther Plüschow Airman Escaper Explorer is the standard work on this remarkable figure.