Six Miles from Home chronicles the compelling events of one of the UK's worst urban air disasters that claimed the lives of 72 passengers and crew. Drawing on 20 years of meticulous research and extensive interviews with all those involved, the author has produced a truly remarkable and compelling book. Full of suspense and high drama, it tells a powerful account of death and survival, with compassion and understanding that leaves the reader with lasting images. As an analysis of the disaster and how it changed lives forever, this account is an important social record. The book is the achievement of a skilful writer who is passionate about his subject. This is the author's fourth book on civilian aviation accidents; in addition, he has contributed numerous articles on the subject for newspapers and magazines. He has also taken part in a number of television documentaries. Based in Cheshire, his previous books include, The Munich Air Disaster, which deals with the Manchester United tragedy; and The Devil Casts His Net, which chronicles the events surrounding the Winter Hill air disaster.

Customer Reviews

4.8

10 reviews

S. R. Dulson

This plane crash happened in my home town of Stockport, a couple of years after I left. The book is a detailed examination of the crash, the reasons it happened and the heroism by rescuers. There is a little too much of the "no one knew on that perfect Sunday morning what horrors they would go through" rhetoric, but overall a very good book about a little-known incident that changed the way DC-4-family aircraft were operated.
janice

This is about one of the worst plane crashes in England that happened in Stockport six mikes from Manchester airport in 1967.
Mrs Vivienne Blundell

A misleading title maybe As you read the story it twists and turns from the day of the story back to the past, alongside one that happened the day before and an air traffic accident point of view and many witnesses A really rounded true story of an air crash
otterman62

Excellent book. I admire the depths of research the author went to, to provide such detail. Such a sad and annoying story, both that the accident could have been avoided and then the horrible circumstances of those surviving the impact but dying in the fire, very sad.
Nigel Perry

Very detailed account of the accident. Warning some chapters of the fire and subsequent rescue of trapped passengers is heart rending. Not for bed time reading. Airline safety has improved enormously since 1967. the Captain did a difficult job in putting the aircraft down in such a confined space in Stockport town centre.
Joanne

A Stockport resident all my life, I grew up knowing this story. Before my birth, my dad and older sister, who was a small child at the time, witnessed the plane falling from the sky, and my Aunt (who was in the Wrens and stationed close by) was a first responder to the scene. Tales of the smell of burning flesh and the unbelievable greed of Hotdog sellers and ice cream vans pitching up close to the crash site were popular topics of conversation for years locally. I bought this book to find out more about the real, tragic, yet heroic story and of the people involved. However, my sister "borrowed" it before I had chance to read it and was so obsessed, she didn't want to give it back! She read it so many times that it eventually fell apart and I was forced to purchase another copy. It really is a fantastic read, but unlike my sister, I'll never have the brain capacity to say it would be my specialist subject if I were to go on Mastermind (Yes. She really does say that!)
Fenderbender

I have been fascinated by this story since I first flew to France aged 14 in an Argonaut chartered from British Midland. The outward leg was July 19 1967 aboard Hotel Golf's sister ship G-ALHY and the return journey on G-ALHS (pictured at Poitiers on August 9th). Our flight was mere weeks after the Stockport disaster and I remember the fear on my father's face when he first saw the aircraft on the tarmac. I very much enjoyed the painstaking and detailed research which the author displays to his credit in this book, although structurally it leaves a lot to be desired and occasionally feels like a disjointed collection of separate essays under one cover. Some of the time the author adopts a narrative style, sometimes almost lyrical. There is the odd annoying typo (Lichfield is not spelled with a 't'), although this may be a by-product of the e-transfer to Kindle. There is a great deal of repetition. There are chapters which seem pointless exercises (such as chapter 11). Frequently the narrative changes from third person to first, and back again. It is not always clear whose voice is being heard in the sections of first person narrative. A good editor would ensure that the punctuation is revised to make this clearer. The author occasionally allows his personal views to colour the narrative, particularly those he expresses about working class package holidaymakers. Such diversions are, at best, irritating as throughout the work he is building a body of evidence which leads him to a conclusion so compelling that it is worth reading the book for this alone.
Sarah Delaurey

This is a spectacular account of these events - incredibly informative, darkly fascinating and very humbling to read. I truly enjoyed reading this, but it really needs an editorial overhaul. There are spelling, grammar and punctuation errors throughout, and the jumping between 'voices' within the text is disorienting at times. I have the utmost respect and admiration for the time, effort and research that has gone into creating this account - it has the potential to be an extraordinarily revered piece of work.