Between 1940 and 1945, thousands of men flew into battle in fragile unpowered aircraft considered to be little more than ‘flying coffins’. This book tells the story of the glider war from the stunning German assault by a small,hand picked force on the fortress of Eben Emael in 1940 to the huge Allied armada of troop and tank carrying planes that spearheaded the invasion of Europe. Detailing operations across France, Holland, Germany, Russia, the Mediterranean and the Far East, ‘Silent Skies’ tells the remarkable story of the ‘bamboo bombers’.