Lost in Tibet

The Untold Story of Five American Airmen, a Doomed Plane, and the Will to Survive

By Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt

A new, non-fiction book, which Kirkus Reviews describes as "a well-rendered story with plenty of twists... For fans of The Burma Road and Into Thin Air, and other tales in the man-vs.-the elements vein."

A true story of high adventure, cultural conflict and political intrigue

In 1943, five American airmen were flying a treacherous, Himalayan supply route known as “the Hump”. They expected a routine flight from Kunming, in China, back to their base at Jorhat, in India. But a violent storm suddenly erupted and blew the men hundreds of miles off course.

Forced to bail out, just seconds before their plane ran out of fuel, the five men miraculously survived. They thought they had landed in India - or possibly in China - but instead they found they were stranded high in the mountains of central Tibet.

Their ordeal was just beginning.

After crossing some of Tibet’s most formidable mountains, the five men reached the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. They were among the first Americans ever to enter the "Forbidden City", arriving there a full two years before Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet.

While in Lhasa, the five Americans were drawn into the political turmoil that even then was swirling around Tibet’s desire to be independent from China. To avert an international incident - and to secure their own safety - the men were forced to leave the city in a hurry. They set out, in the middle of winter, on a perilous journey across the Tibetan plateau on what soon proved to be a desperate race against time...

Lost in Tibet is a gripping account of high adventure, cultural conflict and political intrigue. Among its reviews, it has been described as "an enlightening tale of survival and political expediency" that is "a welcome addition of a previously unknown experience of individuals of the Second World War."

At the same time, while being "a 'must-read' for mountaineers and history buffs alike",the book also sheds light on the extraordinary Tibetan people, just at that moment when they were struggling to come to terms with a hostile, outside world.