The Madness of Courage describes how, when forced down by engine damage after destroying a German fighter, Gilbert ignored intensive shelling in order to repair his aircraft and return to base. But a few weeks later, he was shot down and captured. And thus began a distinguished career in prison breaking.
Jack and Gilbert (right) in 1914, when they played hockey for the University of Paris against other student teams from other countries in Europe.
It often took both horsepower and manpower to launch an aeroplane in the early years of aviation. Gilbert’s photo of an early Maurice Farman aircraft being towed out using both, probably in 1912.
The 12 Vickers FB5s of 11 Squadron left Folkestone for France on 25 July 1915. The twelfth had several mishaps, amusing the squadron but irritating the commanding officer.
An 11 Squadron Vickers FB5 on patrol behind German lines near Bapaume in 1915. This photograph was taken from another 11 Squadron Vickers at a height of 9,000 feet.
An aerial photograph taken by Jack, from the gunner's seat, behind German lines, showing the black puffs of German anti-aircraft shells which were exploding around them.
This German photo of Gilbert, taken after his capture, is one of the most remarkable of the war. On a stretcher, he’s tended by a medic he'd played hockey with in Hanover in 1914.
Gilbert’s Vickers being examined after his forced landing by German officers. The officers can be seen standing on the far side of the fuselage, behind the wing.
Gilbert in 1968, at a reception to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force.
He tunnelled out of Heidelberg prison camp and later hid among boxes on a horse-drawn cart to get away from Crefeld, each time being recaptured. Then, in Ströhen, Gilbert and several companions concealed themselves in a claustrophobically small space they had excavated under the floor of the bathhouse. They remained there for seventeen hours, while a fruitless search for them was carried out, and eventually emerged and successfully reached Holland.
Meticulously told by Gilbert’s great-nephew, the critically acclaimed intelligence historian Tony Insall, The Madness of Courage is a gripping true story about a remarkable man at a time before the Geneva Convention was signed, when conditions for prisoners of war were often appalling and the British War Office did little to help prisoners escape. Instead, Gilbert’s family, assisted by French intelligence, gave him the support he needed to break out of captivity in an extraordinary feat of bravery, resilience and ingenuity.
“This is a most extraordinary story. The intensity of Gilbert Insall’s courage – or madness – is impossible to exaggerate. His story reads like a relentless thriller. I had no idea that such events had happened or were even possible.”
“This vivid and insightful book sheds new light on the First World War through the story of a remarkable character.”
“The first, pathbreaking and brilliantly researched biography of the only man ever to have both won the Victoria Cross and escaped from a German prisoner of war camp in the First World War.”
“A fascinating, inspiring true account of gallantry over the French battlefields and under a prisoner of war camp in an era of selfless courage.”
“This book makes an important contribution to intelligence and military history while telling the exciting story of the courageous exploits of Gilbert Insall and his attempts, ultimately successful, to escape from German prison camps during the First World War.”
“This is not just a fascinating account of an extraordinarily brave man and his determination to return to active duty; it is a groundbreaking account of prisoner of war escapes during the First World War.”
“Tony Insall’s masterful and eminently readable book is more than a historical account; it offers us all a source of inspiration.”
