His head protruding well over the windshield of his roofless World War II Royal Air Force Gloster Gladiator, the 23-year-old British fighter pilot dodged a barrage of enemy bullets. He carried classified documents in his pocket. But as the sunset faded into night, he soon realized he was lost—perhaps somewhere over the Libyan Desert. His fuel gauge crept closer and closer to empty. As he drifted lower, the plane’s fuselage scraped hard against a boulder, and the pilot slammed facefirst into his instrument panel.
“The impact drives his nose backward through his face. His skull fractures. Blood runs hot and thick down his skin,” as Aaron Tracy—writer, producer, and creative writing teacher at Yale University—described the scene in a 12-part podcast series. Disoriented, his overalls on fire, the pilot somehow pulled himself away from the fireball that was already consuming his plane, said Tracy. “By some miracle of chance or fate, [he] has crawled just far enough” from the machine gun fire that his plane was now unleashing due to the impact.
Decades after his harrowing escape, this plucky pilot’s name would become synonymous with his bold and enduring children’s literature, including one of his most popular stories, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Roald Dahl had already defied the odds when he left his oil industry job in Tanzania to enlist in the Royal Air Force in 1939. He became a fighter pilot during WWII despite being 6 feet 6 inches tall, which meant his head remained exposed above the windshield. Then, there was that narrow escape from the grisly crash. He’d continue to tempt fate when he resumed flying after several months of recovery, battling enemy fighters over Greece.
Dahl’s severe pain and occasional blackouts after his accident eventually pushed him out of piloting an aircraft, though he remained with the RAF. He soon leapt into another adventuresome job as one of Britain’s secret wartime spies with the covert operation known as British Security Coordination (BSC).
BSC’s agents were keeping an eye on U.S. involvement in the war, as well as scoping out any post-war plans the United States might be making. His spy work called for Dahl to attend a lot of dinners and cocktail parties, and then he relayed the tidbits of gossip he heard to BSC.
All of these experiences would leave lasting marks on the man’s imagination and would later fuel his books that captivated generations of readers, according to his biographer Donald Sturrock. In the 2010 book Storyteller, Sturrock notes that the violence Dahl faced in the war—including his own brush with death in a plane crash—is reflected in his stories, where violent encounters literally change the bodies of characters in some cases. Dahl also learned to distrust authority during the war, Sturrock wrote, a feeling that is evident in his children’s tales, in which wrongdoing adults often meet their harsh comeuppance.
Dahl found time to write while he was posted in the U.S. during the war. A piece about his crash in Libya impressed writer C.S. Forester so much that he helped Dahl get it published in the Saturday Evening Post.
But his true calling didn’t emerge fully until 1961, with the publication of James and the Giant Peach.
Over his decades-long writing career, Dahl composed 19 children’s books. Their wicked humor shocked some adults, even as they delighted their young readers and gained a massive following. Dahl didn’t shy away from portraying children’s merciless revenge on villainous adults, or frightening situations, such as the abusive aunts tormenting young James in James and the Giant Peach. James later squashed the aunts, rolling over them with the giant peach as his equally giant insect friends cheered him on. The Disney adaptation of the book softened this fate, tying up the aunts in spider silk and having them arrested.
While he received some criticism for his writing, Dahl’s reputation arguably took a far more damaging blow for his antisemitic comments, which emerged publicly for the first time in the 1980s. In a notorious 1983 interview to the New Statesman, Dahl defended his prejudices, and he reiterated them again shortly before his death in 1990. “Giant,” new play on Broadway about Dahl, starring John Lithgow, examines Dahl’s antisemitism as well as other prejudices he was accused of during his life, including broader racial prejudice and misogynistic undertones in some of his works, such as The Witches—even as his female heroine in Matilda is lovably written.
These contradictions seem an intrinsic quality of Dahl the man. Mythologized as a fighter pilot, adventurer and fearless creator of children’s stories, Dahl was unflinching about overcoming “the bad guy” in his books, which ran with an undercurrent of positive moral messaging. Yet, as his biographer Dennison wrote, “At its best, Roald’s writing... is... tender and utterly absorbing: his darkest fictions portray without regret a world of cruelty... This Roald is coarse, misogynistic and an antisemite—for all his denials, antisemitism did shape aspects of Roald’s thinking… he was also unswervingly loyal, capable of spectacular kindness and a visionary.”
February / March 2026
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Featuring:
➡ Archaeologists Found a Skeleton Wearing a Silver Amulet. The Discovery Is Rewriting the History of Christianity.
➡ The Stray Dogs of Chernobyl Are Rapidly Mutating. Scientists Are Still Trying to Figure Out What It Means.
➡ New Evidence Could Upend What We Know About the Charles Lindbergh Baby Murder
➡ Police Found Mysterious Notes in a Dead Man's Pocket. They Turned Out to Be Codes That Not Even the FBI Can Break.
December 2025 / January 2026
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Featuring:
➡ An Angel of Death Preyed on Hospital Patients for Years.
➡ How America's Most Advanced Lab Brought the Killer to Justice.
➡ A 3,000-Ton Locomotive Was Loose, Unstoppable, and Filled With Toxic Cargo
➡ An Underwater Cave Promised Adventure and Glory. No One Expected It to Become a Tomb.
➡ Your Consciousness Can Predict the Future, Some Scientists Say
October / November 2025
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Featuring:
➡ Inside the Secret Island Where Death Is Optional
➡ A Legendary Ship Sank Without Warning. Fifty Years Later, Science Could Finally Solve the Mystery of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
➡ This Tech Rebel Threw Away $900 Million in a Municipal Dump. Can Robots Find His Lost Fortune?
➡ Sex Workers, LSD, and Mind Control: What Happened in the CIA's Lab of Nightmares at 225 Chestnut Street
August / September 2025
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➡ The Worst Air Disaster in American History Happened in Broad Daylight. Will More Mistakes Keep Happening?
➡ NASA Has a Plan to Save Earth from Planet-Destroying Asteroids. It Sounds Even Wilder than Science Fiction.
➡ A Naval Officer Says Underwater UFOs Are Legitimate Threats. The Evidence Is Hard to Ignore.
➡ When You Die, a Psychedelic Molecule Shapes Your Final Moments of Consciousness, a New Theory Reveals.
June/July 2025
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➡ This Undersea Explorer Found America's Greatest Sunken Treasure. Then Things Got Really Weird.
➡ Is Bigfoot Hiding in the Swamps of Florida? This Group Says It Has Proof.
➡ Scientists May Have Gotten the Global-Warming Timeline Seriously Wrong.
➡ A Third State Now Exists Between Life and Death, Some Scientists Now Believe
April/May 2025
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➡ Scientists Successfully Revive a Dead Brain, Redefining the Boundary Between Life and Death
➡ Fingerprints Keep Leading to Wrongful Convictions. Why Do Courts Still Rely on Them?
➡ For 80 Years, the North Sea Held a Deadly Killer. Now Scientists Are Racing to Defuse the Threat.
➡ They Built the Quietest Room in the World. Why Is Everyone So Afraid to Step Inside It?
February/March 2025
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➡ This Guy Says He Knows the Truth About UFOs. Should We Believe Him?
➡ Scientists Are Now One Step Away From Solving Nuclear Fusion—And Unlocking Unlimited Energy.
➡ A Million-Dollar Heist Rocked the Art World— Then Amateur Sleuths Cracked the Case
➡ A New Era of Missile Warfare Has Begun—and the U.S. Isn’t Ready
December/January 2025
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➡ A Clue Hidden in a 400-Year-Old Map Might Have Just Solved One of America's Greatest Mysteries
➡ Inside the Deranged Plot to Smuggle Cocaine With an Armed Soviet-Era Submarine
➡ This Brilliant Engineer Helped Build the B2 Bomber—Then He Sold America's Stealth Secrets to China
➡ Your Consciousness Can Connect With the Whole Universe
October/November 2024
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➡Untold Secrets Reveal How the Castle Bravo Test Became America’s Worst Nuclear Disaster
➡ This Body Was Found Preserved on a Block of Ice in a Colorado Shed. It Had Been There for 30 Years.
➡ It Was Supposed to Be America's Greatest Victory in Space—Then It Became NASA’s Worst Nightmare
➡ The Sidewinder Missile Ruled the Air—Then the Soviets Stole the Design
August/September 2024
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➡This Man Knows the Truth About Amelia Earhart. Why Doesn't Anyone Believe Him?
➡ The Army's Machine Gun Is No Match for Cheap Chinese Body Armor. So It's Making a New One.
➡ Russia Built a Stunning Rival to the Supersonic Concorde—and Then It Fell From the Sky
➡ A Navy Admiral Says Underwater UFOs Are a Threat—and the Pentagon is Withholding Secrets
June / July 2024
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➡4 Black Eggs Have Surfaced From the Depths of the Ocean— and the Mysterious Creatures Inside Are Baffling Science
➡ A $2 Million Treasure Appeared in a Kentucky Cornfield. No One Knows Where It Came From.
➡ A Million-Dollar Heist Rocked the Art World— Then Amateur Sleuths Cracked the Case
➡ A New Era of Missile Warfare Has Begun—and the U.S. Isn’t Ready
April May / 2024
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Featuring:
➡The Man Who Knows Too Much About Area 51
➡ How the FBI Took Down the Internet's Most Dangerous Website
➡ A Staggering New Clue Emerges in the D.B. Cooper Hijacking Mystery
➡ The Wildest Prison Break in U.S. History
➡ The Secret to a Perfect Lawn Lies in One of These 10 Electric Lawnmowers
February / March 2024
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➡The Incredible Mystery of NASA’s Missing Moondust
➡ Inside the Final Fiery Minutes of the East Palestine Train Wreck
➡ Scientists Believe They’ve Unlocked Consciousness—and It Connects to the Entire Universe
➡ Why This Unstoppable Stealth Bomber Will Rule the Skies
➡ America Is Developing a New Nuclear Bomb—But Can’t Test Whether It Works
➡ The 8 Best, Expert-Recommended Solar-Powered Generators
Special Issue: Nukes
➡ How Deadly Nuclear Waste Is Menacing This St. Louis Neighborhood
➡ The Terrifying History of Russia's Nuclear Submarine Graveyard
➡ Strange Mutations in Stray Dogs Near Chernobyl Suggest They Are Rapidly Evolving
➡ America Dumped 56 Million Gallons of Radioactive Material Along the Columbia River—Then It Started to Leak
December 2023 / January 2024
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➡ A New Clue In Amelia Earhart's Disappearance Emerges From the Ocean
➡ How an Alleged Water Bandit Stole $25 Million in Water from Thirsty California Farms
➡ A Coal Mine Exploded and 300 Miners Died. What Went Wrong?
➡ China Just Built a Terrifying New Aircraft Carrier and May Soon Dominate the Seas
October / November 2023
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➡ How Rats Took Over Our Cities—And Why We Can't Stop Them
➡ This Language Is on the Verge of Extinction. Can It Be Saved?
➡ America's Deadliest Warplane Returns in a New Doomsday Role
➡ This Amateur Diving Group Kept Solving Cold Cases. Then Its Own Skeletons Surfaced.
➡ The Scientific Breakthrough That Could Put an End to Gray Hair.
August/September 2023
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➡ Immortality Is in Reach. But It’s Not What We Imagined.
➡ Your Next iPhone (and Nuclear Subs) Will Be Powered By Space Metal
➡Scientists Now Think We Can Build a Warp Drive
➡ China and Russia Have Cracked the Stealth Code. Can the U.S. Regain Air Dominance?
June/July 2023
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➡ The CIA’s Secret Plan to Build a Laser Beam Powered by the Human Mind
➡ The 747 Ruled the Skies—Then One Slammed Into a Mountain
➡The Race to Contain AI Before Singularity
➡ These Florida Homes Aren’t Just Hurricane-Proof—They’re Blueprints for the Future
April/May 2023
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➡ AI Is on the Cusp of Taking Control—This Is How It May All Go Wrong
➡ There’s No Weapon Russia Fears More Than the HIMARS Rocket Launcher
➡The Nuclear-Submarine Arms Race Is Getting Intense, and the U.S. Just Took a Massive Leap Forward
➡ Iran Is Becoming a Drone Superpower—By Stealing American Technology
February/March 2023
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➡ The Greatest Treasure Hunt in American History Ended—and Then Things Got Weird
➡ These Are the High-Powered Weapons Ukraine Needs to Send Russia Running
➡ The Secret War to Take Out Iran’s Fleet of F-14 Jets
➡ Russia Is Trying to Intimidate the U.S. with Hypersonic Missiles and Big, Scary Nukes—And It's More Than a Threat
December 2022/January 2023
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➡ Is Death Real?
➡ China and Russia Are Dominating the Hypersonic Arms Race—And It’s Not Even Close
➡ When the South Fork Dam Broke, a Pennsylvania City Washed Away. Which Town Is Next?
➡ The Navy’s New $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Is Already Obsolete. This Weapon Can Save It.
October/November 2022
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Featuring:
➡ Can America's M1 Abrams Still Compete With China's and Russia's Latest Battle Tanks?
➡ Inside the Final Minutes of the Concorde Disaster—and How It Doomed Supersonic Travel for Decades
➡ How the Massive Cargo Ship Felicity Ace Sank, Taking $400 Million Worth of Exotic Supercars With It
➡ I Turned My Old Gas-Guzzler Into a Zippy EV for $15,000
August/September 2022
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Featuring:
➡ Cosmic Secrets of the 17 Most Powerful Mega-Telescopes on Earth—and Beyond
➡ Can the Air Force's Secret, Hypersonic Jet Reclaim the Skies From Russia and China?
➡ For 50 Years, the Zodiac Killer's 340 Cipher Stumped the FBI—Then Three Amateurs Cracked the Code
➡ America's Most Fearsome Howitzer Has Entered the War in Ukraine
June/July 2022
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Featuring:
➡ Every Single Drone Fighting in the Skies Over Ukraine
➡ How to Buy a New Car in 2022 Without Getting Fleeced
➡ This Megastructure Could Keep Us Alive Forever
➡ The Race to Revolutionize EV Batteries
Before joining Popular Mechanics in 2022, Manasee Wagh worked as a science journalist, a newspaper reporter, a technical writer, and an engineer. She has a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and a master’s degree in journalism. Her favorite stories are about the discoveries that unearth even deeper mysteries, and she enjoys helping people understand the science behind the remarkable world we live in. She lives in the Northeast with her two favorite people and one curious, feisty feline, but always seeks to combine her love of food, nature, and travel into memorable journeys away from home.
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