Two aging Black Magic chocolate boxes store the memories of a true hero; I am amazed by the newspaper clippings, medals and novel drafts of which I am so lucky to be in possession.  The most amazing discovery I have made is Grandad's Prisoner of War diary, which has been my main source of inspiration.  He joined the RAF in 1942 and was awarded with a Distinguished Flying Cross Medal after bailing out over France and eventually escaping through Spain to Gibraltar and back to England.  In 1943 he re-commenced his flying duties with the Halifax bombers but was shot down on his way to Dussledorf.  This time he had to bale out directly over the bombing target and was sent to a Prisoner of War Camp, Stalag Luft III.

I have chosen to begin the collection with a sequence of four poems outlining the transition from his bail-out to his landing.  I chose to present 'Bale Out' as a reverse sonnet and 'Freefall' as a conventional sonnet, to demonstrate the mirroring of what must have seemed like two eternities.  I chose to reduce 'Pendulum' to two stanzas and 'Runaway' to one which becomes reflective of Grandad's gradual decent, and becomes almost like a countdown to landing.