Although the saying, 'Pigs might fly...' may bring a smile to one's lips, even stranger things have been reported as appearing in Britain's skies over the centuries. Eye-witnesses have testified that various terrifying and bizarre forms have appeared in the skies, from ghostly planes, phantom airships and UFOs, to reports of sky serpents, celestial dragons, flying jellyfish, rains of fish (or blood, or metal, or frogs...) - even reports of a griffin seen over London! It also considers reports of haunted aircraft hangars and airfields. Shadows in the Sky compiles hundreds of accounts from the spine-chilling to the downright bizarre, that'll keep your eyes fixed looking upwards!

Cardiff Airport began life as wartime satellite airfield RAF Rhoose, officially opening on 7 April 1942, and has grown to become one of the UK's major civil airports. Home of Cambrian Airways and used by a varied mix of international airlines, the airport has been continually upgraded since civilian flying began in 1952. Aircraft maintenance has always been a vital part of the airport's activity and BAMC is one of the largest buildings in South Wales and can accommodate four Boeing 747 'jumbo jets' at one time. It is not only aircraft that comprise this airport's lively history; many people have shaped it including workers, travellers and even rugby celebrities. The supporters' 'air lifts' to and from matches are legendary. 2012 was the 70th anniversary of the first operations at this sleepy Vale of Glamorgan airfield. Little did those wartime pilots realise that one day their 'satellite airfield' would resound to the sounds of Concorde, Jumbo Jets and every contemporary aircraft imaginable.

Only in America could Walter A. Soplata, the son of penniless Czech immigrants, accomplish so much single-handedly saving historic aircraft from World War II and other periods. After a childhood spent building model airplanes while dreaming about having his own airfield, Soplata worked in a large scrapyard taking apart hundreds of warplane engines. Shocked to see a rare engine or sometimes a complete warplane on its way to the recycling furnace, he began collecting whatever he could find and afford. He eventually collected nearly 20 complete airplanes and countless pieces of others. One of his Corsair fighters included the experimental F2G Corsair #74 that won the Cleveland National Air Races in 1947. Among other priceless airplanes he rescued was an experimental XP-82 Twin Mustang, an F-82E Twin Mustang, an X-prototype Skyraider, a stainless steel BT-12, and an F7U Cutlass-Soplata hauled the Cutlass fuselage home by stuffing it inside a junked school bus for its 600-mile journey. The story of a workaholic father and his aviation-obsessed son, this book records the accomplishments of a rare bird, just like the many airplanes he saved.