Blood and Fears: How America's Bomber Boys of the 8th Air Force Saved World War II

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1681773791
Total Pages : 560 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (817 download)

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Book Synopsis Blood and Fears: How America's Bomber Boys of the 8th Air Force Saved World War II by : Kevin Wilson

Download or read book Blood and Fears: How America's Bomber Boys of the 8th Air Force Saved World War II written by Kevin Wilson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heroic, dramatic, and sometimes tragic history of how the US 8th Air Force changed the course of World War II. The US 8th Air Force came of age in 1944. With a fresh commander, it was ready to demonstrate its true power: from Operation Argument in February—targeting German aircraft production plants—to bringing the Luftwaffe to battle over Berlin, the combined US Air Force-Royal Air Force forces’ round-the clock campaign bottled up the German army in Normandy. Day after day, the American bomber boys watched their comrades burn to death in blazing bombers, or observed their comrades being thrown out of exploding aircraft without parachutes and sink with their crippled aircraft in the freezing North Sea. But by the following spring they had destroyed the Nazi’s fighting spirit and saw Germany broken in two. In this authoritative history, Kevin Wilson reveals the blood and heroism of the 8th Air Force. At the same time, he opens up the lives of the Women's Army Corps and Red Cross girls who served in England with them and feared for the men in the skies, and he hasn't flinched from recounting the devastation of bombing or the testimony of shocked German civilians. Drawing on first-hand accounts from diaries, letters, and his personal audio recordings, the author has brought to life the ebullient Americans' interaction with their British counterparts, unveiling stories of humanity and heartbreak. Thanks to America's bomber boys and girls, the tide of World War II shifted forever.

Blood and Fears

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Author :
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN 13 : 9781474601634
Total Pages : 560 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Blood and Fears by : Kevin Wilson

Download or read book Blood and Fears written by Kevin Wilson and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2017-06 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US 8th Air Force came of age in the England of 1944. With a fresh commander, it was ready to demonstrate its true power: from Big Week in February, targeting German aircraft production plants, to bringing the Luftwaffe to battle over Berlin, the combined USAAF-RAF round-the clock campaign of bottling up the German army in Normandy and the strategically vital oil offensive of the following autumn and winter. Day after day, the American bomber boys watched their comrades burn to death in blazing bombers, be thrown out of exploding aircraft without parachutes and sink with their crippled aircraft in the freezing North Sea. But by the following spring they had destroyed the Nazi fighter arm and seen Germany broken in two. In this comprehensive history, Kevin Wilson has allowed the youngsters of the 8th to tell their stories of blood and heroism in their own words

Masters of the Air

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0743235452
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis Masters of the Air by : Donald L. Miller

Download or read book Masters of the Air written by Donald L. Miller and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-09-25 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller's Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps. The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America -- white America, anyway. (African-Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the "King of Hollywood," Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland. Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: the British flew under the cover of night while American bombers attacked by day, a technique that British commanders thought was suicidal. Masters of the Air is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed. Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.

Air Force Combat Units of World War II

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Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1428915850
Total Pages : 520 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (289 download)

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Book Synopsis Air Force Combat Units of World War II by : Maurer Maurer

Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Men of Air

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1643130994
Total Pages : 661 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Men of Air by : Kevin Wilson

Download or read book Men of Air written by Kevin Wilson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bomber combat crews faced a wide array of perils as they flew over German territory. Bursts of heavy flak could tear the wings from their planes in a split second. Flaming bullets from German fighter planes could explode their fuel tanks, cut their oxygen supplies, destroy their engines. Thousands of young men were shot, blown up, or thrown from their planes five miles above the earth; and even those who returned faced the subtler dangers of ice and fog as they tried to land their battered aircraft back home.The winter of 1944 was the most dangerous time to be a combat airman in RAF Bomber Command. The chances of surviving a tour were as low as one in five, and morale had finally hit rock bottom. In this comprehensive history of the air war that year, Kevin Wilson describes the most dangerous period of the Battle of Berlin, and the unparalleled losses over Magdeburg, Leipzig and Nuremberg.Men of Air reveals how these ordinary men coped with the extraordinary pressure of flying, the loss of their colleagues, and the threat of death or capture. Brilliantly placing these stories within the context of The Great Escape, D-Day, the defeat of the V1 menace, and more, Wilson shows how the sheer grit and determination of these "Men of Air" finally turned the tide against the Germans.

Serenade To The Big Bird

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Author :
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782894527
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (828 download)

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Book Synopsis Serenade To The Big Bird by : Bert Stiles

Download or read book Serenade To The Big Bird written by Bert Stiles and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After completing a tour of duty (thirty-five missions) in B-17s, Bert Stiles transferred to a fighter squadron. Just four months later he was killed in action on an escort mission to Hanover, Germany, on November 26, 1944. Stiles’ book was written in the period between his two tours. Serenade to the Big Bird portrays the tragedy of war, and specifically the loss to the world of a fine, sensitive, talented writer who had only a short time to prove his merit. He died at twenty-three.

The Boys in the B-17

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Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 146707022X
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (67 download)

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Book Synopsis The Boys in the B-17 by : T/Sgt James Lee Hutchinson EdS

Download or read book The Boys in the B-17 written by T/Sgt James Lee Hutchinson EdS and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author in flight gear after photo twelfth mission second Air Medal (age nineteen) He still wears lucky Air Cadet ring! Hutch's third book contains short stories of boys on B-17 Flying Fortress crews in deadly missions with the Eighth Air Force in World War II and stories of his own teenage combat experiences as radio/gunner on twenty missions with the Mighty Eighth. Teenagers enlisted or were drafted, trained and went into combat before they could legally vote or buy a drink. They volunteered to fly in the Army's Air Cadet Program and became a part of the greatest air armada in the world. Most of the gunners on a bomber crew were teenagers and the average age of officers was twenty-four. Veterans' memoirs and diaries give amazing reports of fighter attacks, flak damage and those who survived being shot down out to become Prisoners of War. These youngsters manned the planes that bombed and destroyed Germanys military and war industry. The price of victory was high, with an extreme loss of aircrews and planes. Eighth Air Force losses were among the highest of any military unit. Like the author, teenagers who survived to tell the stories of those great air battles are now in their mid-eighties and rapidly passing into history. See previous books "Through These Eyes" and "Bombs Away!" See a free DVD at http://video.smithville.net/?p=17 for interviews of the author with actual WW II combat film footage.

American Airpower Comes Of Age—General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries Vol. II [Illustrated Edition]

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Author :
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786251523
Total Pages : 570 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (862 download)

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Book Synopsis American Airpower Comes Of Age—General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries Vol. II [Illustrated Edition] by : Gen. Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold

Download or read book American Airpower Comes Of Age—General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries Vol. II [Illustrated Edition] written by Gen. Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 180 maps, plans, and photos. Gen Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold, US Army Air Forces (AAF) Chief of Staff during World War II, maintained diaries for his several journeys to various meetings and conferences throughout the conflict. Volume 1 introduces Hap Arnold, the setting for five of his journeys, the diaries he kept, and evaluations of those journeys and their consequences. General Arnold’s travels brought him into strategy meetings and personal conversations with virtually all leaders of Allied forces as well as many AAF troops around the world. He recorded his impressions, feelings, and expectations in his diaries. Maj Gen John W. Huston, USAF, retired, has captured the essence of Henry H. Hap Arnold—the man, the officer, the AAF chief, and his mission. Volume 2 encompasses General Arnold’s final seven journeys and the diaries he kept therein.

Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer

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Author :
Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN 13 : 0071640657
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (716 download)

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Book Synopsis Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer by : Brian D. O'Neill

Download or read book Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer written by Brian D. O'Neill and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 1999-05-21 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating a wealth of new material, here is the riveting story of the bombing raids that broke the back of Nazi Germany, praised as "a well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience ... excellent." (Roger A. Freeman, author of The Mighty Eighth)

The Bomber Boys

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101145366
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bomber Boys by : Travis L. Ayres

Download or read book The Bomber Boys written by Travis L. Ayres and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True tales of heroism and the men who fought and died in the skies of World War II Europe. In World War II, there were all too many ways for a fighting man to die. But no theater of operations offered more fatal choices than the skies above Nazi-occupied Europe. Inside of a B-17 Bomber, thousands of feet above the earth, death was always a moment away. From the hellish storms of enemy flak and relentless strafing of Luftwaffe fighters, to mid-air collisions, mechanical failure, and simple bad luck, it’s a wonder any man would volunteer for such dangerous duty. But some very brave men did. Some paid the ultimate price. Some made it home. But in the end, all would achieve victory. Here, author Travis L. Ayres has gathered a collection of previously untold personal accounts of combat and camaraderie aboard the B-17 Bombers that flew countless sorties against the enemy, as related by the men who lived and fought in the air—and survived. They are stories of heroism, sacrifice, miraculous survival and merciless warfare. But they should all be remembered... INCLUDES PHOTOS

The Army Air Forces in World War II: Men and planes

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 920 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis The Army Air Forces in World War II: Men and planes by :

Download or read book The Army Air Forces in World War II: Men and planes written by and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Goodbye Mickey Mouse

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Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
ISBN 13 : 0007347731
Total Pages : 21 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Goodbye Mickey Mouse by : Len Deighton

Download or read book Goodbye Mickey Mouse written by Len Deighton and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Goodbye Mickey Mouse Len Deighton has written his best novel yet: a brilliant, multi-dimensional picture of what it is to be at war... and what it was to be in love in the England of 1944.

Black Cat Raiders of WWII

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Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1612512410
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (125 download)

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Book Synopsis Black Cat Raiders of WWII by : Richard C Knott

Download or read book Black Cat Raiders of WWII written by Richard C Knott and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-04-15 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to the PBY's daring pilots and their effective tactics, the slow outdated Catalina patrol bombers became the scourge of Japanese shipping in the South Pacific during World War II. Painted black and hunting at night, the Black Cats, as they were called, are credited with sinking or disabling hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo vessels, troop transports, and warships. Curiously their exploits were known to few outside the naval aviation community until the publication of this book in 1981. This testimonial to their magnificent performance is told by an experienced flying boat pilot, who has pieced together the fascinating story from reminiscences of the men who flew the long, arduous missions and from official navy records. It is an inspiring tale of fearless men in machines ill-designed for combat who wreaked havoc on a dangerous and merciless adversary. Illustrated with more than sixty photographs and detailed line drawings, it is a book to be savored by those who like their adventure stories to ring true.

Hiroshima

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Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0593082362
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Hiroshima by : John Hersey

Download or read book Hiroshima written by John Hersey and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hiroshima is the story of six people—a clerk, a widowed seamstress, a physician, a Methodist minister, a young surgeon, and a German Catholic priest—who lived through the greatest single manmade disaster in history. In vivid and indelible prose, Pulitzer Prize–winner John Hersey traces the stories of these half-dozen individuals from 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, when Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city, through the hours and days that followed. Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told, and his account of what he discovered is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.

Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 706 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939 by : Maurer Maurer

Download or read book Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939 written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Damn Lucky

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Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250274397
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Damn Lucky by : Kevin Maurer

Download or read book Damn Lucky written by Kevin Maurer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Kevin Maurer—the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning coauthor of No Easy Day—comes the true story of a World War II bomber pilot who survived twenty-five missions in Damn Lucky, “an epic, thrillingly written, utterly immersive account of a very lucky, incredible survivor of the war in the skies to defeat Hitler” (New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw). “We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.” —John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine. With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled. Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.

The Mighty Eighth

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Author :
Publisher : Dutton Caliber
ISBN 13 : 0425281574
Total Pages : 514 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (252 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mighty Eighth by : Gerald Astor

Download or read book The Mighty Eighth written by Gerald Astor and published by Dutton Caliber. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the skies of World War II Europe, the Eighth Air Force was a defining factor in turning the tide against the Nazis. In these gripping oral histories, the sacrifice, savagery, and supremacy of the “Mighty Eighth” is described by those who experienced it...and survived it. At the outbreak of World War II, America was woefully unprepared for a fight, though Europe was already years into the battle. Soon, though, America’s war machine was rolling out pilots, engineers, planes, and materials in astounding numbers. It was called the Eighth Air Force—and it would hit the Nazi juggernaut like a lightning bolt. Launching a then-groundbreaking campaign of daylight bombing runs, the men of the Eighth would suffer more casualties than the entire Marine Corps in the Pacific theater. But they would also prove to be the most effective weapon against the enemy, taking out strategic targets such as munitions plants and factories that were vital to the German war effort and grinding them to a halt. In The Mighty Eighth, the men who fought in the greatest air war in human history tell their stories of courage and camaraderie as only those who were there can tell them.