The Flight of the Phoenix Book

My first experience with The Flight of the Phoenix was seeing the original movie version which was released in 1965, starring James Stewart and Richard Attenborough. It's always been one of my favourites, a battle against the harsh desert after a plane crash in a sand storm. At the time I had no idea it was based on a novel. While in Dubai back in 2005, the remake starring Dennis Quaid came out and for all that it was glitzier, I enjoyed it again. Since then I've seen the original and the remake a couple of times more. It's a movie you can sit and enjoy more than once. Lucky for me, while attending a local book fair a couple of years ago, I discovered that the movies had been based on a book, written by Elleston Trevor, aka Trevor Dudley Smith. Needless to say I purchased it to see how it compared to the movies that followed the book. Well, I wasn't disappointed in the least. The movies were very respectful of the book, it's tone, it's characterization. Excellent story, suspenseful, well-paced and well-crafted. For those who might not have seen the movie, or read the book, the story is about a group of oil well workers being flown out of their camp by an old pilot. The plane is caught in a sand storm and crashes in the Libyan desert. One of the passengers is a somewhat mad aircraft designer who tells the others they can rebuild the plane from the wreckage and fly out. With the chances of rescue very slim, due to the plane flying off course during the storm, the rest of the passengers come around to the idea. The book deals with the friction between the pilot, Frank Towns and the designer, Stringer and other tests of will in a superb fashion. There are some twists and turns and surprises and I won't ruin them. Suffice it to say, the story is timeless, excellent and well worth the read. Or check out either of the movies, both excellent in their own way.