Book Description

Description of Book and About the Author: A soul that is afraid of dying has never learned to live ... This is the precept by which Dick Mawson has lived his adventurous life. He was born in England during the Second World War. With his parents he crash landed into southern Africa where he grew up. In the 1940's Douglas Bader lost both his legs in a plane crash. He taught himself to fly again with artificial legs, becoming a Squadron Leader in the RAF. He went on to fly with great distinction in the Battle of Britain. During the 1950's the world was not aware of another legless fighter living in southern Africa. His name was Richard Mawson, an eleven year old boy, who lost his right leg in a farm accident. A few years later a 100 mile per hour boat accident at the Victoria Falls changes the course of his life forever. With an amputated right leg and the left badly damaged his outlook was bleak, but with tenacity and a will to win instilled in his very being, he overrides his fears and the possibility of crippling himself for life. Reminiscent of the legless Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, Mawson has defied the odds and, as he says, 'broken the boundaries of the norm'. He was lured into a life of speed and competition on water and ultimately on the race tracks of southern Africa and Europe; competing against and defeating his fellow man on a level playing field. Mawson's memoirs take us at great pace through the difficulties he has faced and the tenacity with which he turned them into the foundations of his success - as man and racer.