In 1952 Philip Wills, by winning the World Gliding Championships in Spain, showed himself to be the best glider pilot in the world at that time. In 1953, the original publication of this book showed that he was the best writer on the subject. Many enthusiasts today still maintain that this is the most inspiring of all the books on flying that have ever been written. This new edition hopes to bring a new generation of readers Philip Wills' singular blend of fact, high adventure and humour.

It is distillation of the experience and accumulated knowledge of a sailplane pilot who has been "bitten with the bug for longer than most." He describes hair-raising tales of how sporting gliders were used in the midst of the Battle of Britain during the early days of the development of radar, and of how he once struggled to bail out of a spinning glider—finally righting himself, upside down, at three hundred feet. He writes movingly on the tragic "Dead End of the Maloja Wind," a memorial to the loss of his greatest friend.

Interspersed in the author's story of his many flights, from his first record-breaker in 1934 to the finish line of the World Championships, are lucid explanations of gliding techniques. There is much more to this sport than simply getting up and staying up. The strangest things can happen in clouds where human sensory perceptions become utterly unreliable.