title: Shot Down in Flames: A World War II Fighter Pilot's Remarkable Tale of Survival
author: Geoffrey Page
description: Geoffrey Page specializes in Aviation and World War II History.
zlib_text: fREEFALL 
  William Hoffer 
  AND 
  Marilyn Mona Hoffer 
  St. Martin's Press 
  New York 
  
  FREEFALL. Copyright © 1989 by William Hoffer and Marilyn Mona 
  Hoffer. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 
  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner 
  whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief 
  quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, 
  address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. 
  Design by Susan Hood 
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
  Hoffer, William. 
  Freefall : a true story I William and Marilyn Hoffer. 
  p. cm. 
  "A Thomas Dunne book." 
  ISBN 0-312-02919-5 
  1. Aeronautics-Canada-Accidents-1983. 
  Marilyn. 
  II. Title. 
  TL553.5.H64 
  1989 
  363. I '2416-dcl9 
  First Edition 
  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 
  I. Hoffer, 
  89-30132 
  CIP 
  
  To Mert and Joe 
  and 
  Lucile and Frank 
  
  This is a true story. 
  
  1 
  The Cockpit 
  Captain Robert Owen Pearson, solidly built, his tanned 
  face dominated b